Sister Pact: Surrendering to Mr Snow

CHAPTER FIVE: CHANGES

“Mother she’s going to be okay, don’t you worry about it” Viola tried to calm her mother one last time, it had been almost five days since Scarlet had left and since then she had not called back.

Viola tried to calm her mother and at the very same time she tried to remain calm herself too, to avoid her mother panicking even more than she already was.

“Viola my dear, I know your sister very well and I don’t trust those people that she’s with” Her mother told her with concern laced in her voice, causing shivers to run down Viola’s spine.

“Mother they are her biological family, why wouldn’t you trust them?” her mother went silent and that is when Viola knew that something was definitely not right.

“Mother is there something that you are not telling me?” Viola asked her mother.

“It’s nothing really”

“Mother, please don’t lie to me” Viola asked her mother calmly.

“It’s just that your father and I have never had such a good feeling about them”

“Why would you say that mother?”

“It’s just that when we first took your sister from them, they seemed so detached, like they were relieved that we were taking Scarlet with us”

Viola had always been good at solving puzzles but even she had to admit that this was one that she could not solve. If her mother was right about what she was saying then there must be ore to this than what meets the eye.

“Mother—” Viola tried to ask her mother more about her suspicions but there was a sudden surge on noise and ruffling and Viola knew that it was probably one of the workers, because her mother was in her office doing some work.

“My dear, I’ll speak to you later. It’s just that I have to be in a meeting in a few minutes” Her mother made her excuses and Viola said goodbye to her mother as well and the call came to an end.

“Who were you on the phone with?” Viola turned around, only to see her sister Amber, standing with a cup of coffee and smiling down at Viola.

Viola placed the phone back down onto the table and looked at her younger sister, she could not believe that more than a year ago they both of them were not on speaking terms and now the two of them were best of friends again.

“I was speaking to mother about Scarlet,” Viola told Amber and her younger sister’s mood changed. Amber walked over to the dining g table and she pulled out a chair to sit down.

“So what did mother say?”

“She’s trying to contact Scarlet but Scarlet either had trouble getting back to mother or she simply refuses to speak to her”

“Why do I have a feeling that Scarlet is refusing to speak to mother or either of us for that matter?” Amber said. She hated negative thinking but living with Scarlet had thought her to always expect the unexpected when it came to Scarlet.

“I hope she can find it in her heart to forgive us for keeping this secret from her for so long” Viola said, although Scarlet had a love hate with Viola, Viola still loved her little sister with all her heart.

As both women sat there in the dining area talking, they could not help but wonder what was going on with their younger sister but they truly hoped that she was all right.

**

“Look I thought I told the both of you not to disturb me at this time, I was talking to my daughter on the phone,” Mrs. Albertson told her accountant, who barged into her office, causing her to end the call with her daughter.

“I’m so sorry madam but I had to see you, it’s urgent,” The accountant told her and immediately chills ran down her spine. Mrs. Albertson gestured the accountant to sit down, deep down she hoped that it was good news.

“What news do you have about my daughter?” She asked, impatient. She needed to get answers urgently, she had no idea how this family had changed ever since they had adopted Scarlet, and therefore she had to look into them as soon as possible.

“Well your daughter has been doing a lot of spending lately,” the accountant told Mrs. Albertson and she smiled that the accountant found that surprising.

“Well my youngest daughter has been known for her ridiculous shopping habits, therefore I don’t see why you are surprised”

It was the serious look on the accountant’s face that worried Mrs. Albertson; he looked too serious for what she was saying.

“Mrs. Albertson, I’ve been handling this family’s finances for the past fifteen years and I know how Scarlet can go overboard. All I’m saying is that she’s spending money on very unusual things”

Mrs. Albertson positioned herself properly, readying herself for the news that she was about to receive and uncertain if it was going to be good or bad news.

“What is Scarlet spending money on?” Mrs. Albertson asked the lawyer, her voice cool and collective.

The lawyer picked up his suitcase and pulled out a file and he looked through it.

“Where should I begin?” the accountant asked her.

“From the very beginning” Mrs. Albertson answered, not really knowing if she was ready or not.

“Well she’s definitely not spending it on designer clothes and jewelry; instead she’s been spending it on things such as furniture, medications”

Mrs. Albertson thought about it for a while and she made up her mind that it was fine that Scarlet was helping her biological family out even though deep down in her gut she had a bad feeling about it.

“Well it’s good that my daughter is developing the need to help people,” Mrs. Albertson said, trying to make light of the situation.

“I’m afraid I was not finished madam”

“What else is there to say?” Mr. Albertson asked the accountant.

“She withdrew ten thousand dollars from her account” hearing that from the accountant made Mrs. Albertson worried a bit, something was not right but she could not place her finger on it just yet.

“My daughter has been known to spend a lot of money on luxurious things,” Mrs. Albertson said, trying her best to make excuses for her daughter’s outrageous spending habits.

“Mrs. Albertson why are you trying to cover up for her”

“I am not trying to cover up for my daughter! She’s going through a lot of things right now and she needs all the support that she could get”

The accountant did not seem too sympathetic with Mrs. Albertson but she knew just why, men like him did such things, they were logical thinkers and emotions did not deter them from the spreadsheets in front of them.

“If you’re not trying to cover up for her mistakes then explain to me why she withdrew the money rather than buying what she needed with a credit card or better yet, she could have transferred the money to whomever she needed to transfer it to”

“But the thing is that—” Mrs. Albertson stopped herself, now she saw what was wrong with Scarlet withdrawing that amount of money from the bank.

“Mrs. Albertson, is anything the matter?” The accountant asked her and even then, she was speechless.

“Scarlet doesn’t like standing at the banks, she hated the long queues and she always thought that it was tacky and time consuming” Mrs. Albertson answered and now her nerves was on edge.

“I can arrange for security to go and fetch her,” the accountant suggested to Mrs. Albertson.

“No! Scarlet would not like it and it will just make her mad at us more than she already is” Mrs. Albertson knew that taking back her daughter by force was not the correct way with dealing with this matter.

Scarlet had already spent years away from her biological family and the last thing Mrs. Albertson wanted was for Scarlet to be ripped away from her family so soon.

“But how would you get her back then?”

Mrs. Albertson thought about it for a while and a light bulb went off in her head, she had an idea but it was risky.

“I need you to contact the best private investigator in the whole of New York, I don’t feel comfortable with my daughter staying with a family” The accountant smiled at Mrs. Albertson as if he was waiting for her to do just that.

“I’ll do just that” the accountant answered her and just like that he stepped out of Mrs. Albertson’s office. Now that the accountant was gone, there was utter silence and that was not good for her.

She hated silence, because now she was forced to think, thinking lead to worrying and that would mean that she would be stressed.

**

Scarlet was happier here with her biological family in the past five days than she had ever been before, everything here flowed slowly and it did not feel forced. Surely, there were no clubbing and busy streets but she did like the quiet and peaceful serenity that this town brought about.

Scarlet was in the kitchen, doing the dishes something she never thought that she would have ever done. All her life she had been catered for. She had private tutors, house cleaners and even drivers to drive her around to all her rehearsals and here she was in a small cottage kitchen, doing dishes.

Her aunt was in her grandmother’s room, tending to her grandmothers cold. The poor woman had been coughing the entire night and her aunt was about to step out into the cold to get her some medicine.

“Oh dear! You don’t have to do this” Scarlet turned around only to find her aunt standing at the kitchen doorway, horrified that Scarlet was doing dishes. Scarlet smiled at her aunt, for the past few days both her aunt and grandmother disliked the idea of Scarlet doing and house choirs.

Her aunt walked over to Scarlet and she reached for her hands and it out of the water, where she was washing dishes.

“Aunt, please don’t make me stop. I need to help both you and grandmother; I cannot just sit here and be idle. Look instead of worrying about me, you should go ahead and go and get grandmother’s medication”.

Her aunt smiled at her and planted a light kiss on Scarlet’s forehead, with sadness written over her face.

“I’m sorry you have to be doing dishes like this, I mean you kids of today like all these dishwashers and unfortunately we don’t have it here”

Scarlet felt terrible that her aunt was worrying over such pitiful matters such as dishwashers. Once upon a time Scarlet would have thought that such a thing was an essential and now she thought nothing of it.

“I can buy it if we need it” Scarlet offered and her aunt’s immediate reaction to it was negative.

“No you will not, my dear you have helped your grandmother and I enough these past few days and I will not have you spending so much money on us any longer”

“But aunt—”

“There’s no but. I’ll be going to pay some of your grandmother’s medical bills, please take care of her,” Her aunt begged Scarlet. Scarlet had learned to love her grandmother in the past few days and she was pleased to see that they loved her too.

At first Scarlet was mad that both her aunt and grandmother had left her when she was nothing more than a baby, but now she understood why they did it. As much as her grandmother and aunt tried to hide it, Scarlet knew that they were passing through hard times lately.

Her aunt said her goodbyes, leaving Scarlet in the kitchen alone to gather her thoughts. She had been trying her best to help her family for the past few days but it seemed that her best was simply not good enough.

Scarlet left the dishes and she walked all the ways to her grandmother’s room, the frail old woman laid in her bed, sleeping peacefully. Scarlet watched the rise and fall of her chest and she was glad that for now her grandmother was safe,, she had already lost her mother and her family and the last thing she wanted was to lose her grandmother as well.

For the past few days, Scarlet had been regretting the thought of doing what she wanted to do but now she had no choice, she would have to swallow her pride in order to save her family from this crisis, her real family.

Scarlet walked over to her room, it was not as big as her room back at the Albertson mansion and surely not as comfortable but Scarlet was glad that at least she had a place in her grandmother’s home.

She picked up her phone and she dialed the number, it was ringing. That was the longest ring in her entire life and that was the longest her mother had ever taken to answer her call.

“Hello, Scarlet” her mother finally answered the phone, relief flooded through Scarlet’s body as she placed her hand onto her chest, feeling her quickening heartbeat.

“I need your help,” Scarlet told her mother.

“Yes my dear what is it? Are you hurt?” Mrs. Albertson frantically asked her daughter from the other end of the phone.

“I need some money and I can’t get it unless you authorize that amount of money from the accountant”

“How much money do you need?” Her mother asked her, willing to help her daughter at any cost.

Scarlet swallowed the lump in her throat,, she knew that what she was asking was a lot of money but she had to do it for her family.

“I need two hundred thousand dollars,” Scarlet told her mother. The line went silent and Scarlet wondered if her mother was still there.

“Hello” Scarlet called out too her mother.

“Yes! I am here my dear. Ohm, why do you need that amount of money?” Scarlet rolled her eyes, she was in no mood to be answering such questions.

“It doesn’t matter what I need it for, just give it to me!” Scarlet yelled, she was shocked at her won reaction, because he had never been this mean to her before. Her mother was silent and that was enough to worry Scarlet.

“I’m so sorry my dear, unfortunately I will not authorize that amount of money until I know what you intend doing with it”

Scarlet was shocked that her mother would deny giving her money that had never happened before. Scarlet was so mad that she ended the call, she was not going to speak to her mother until she got what she wanted.

Scarlet paced her room brainstorming ways that’s he could get that amount of money,, she had no skills so that was totally out of the questions.

“Damn it Scarlet, you should have just finished college!” She scolded herself out, stressed that she had not gotten her qualification like the one her eldest sister did.