Hell & Heaven | Yoon Jeonghan

XLIV. Reveal

The last time Elijah walked through the gates of Riva mansion was when she was 4, when her father took her to meet her mother's family, only to be shunned by them, well that was how Abigail had described what had happened. Now many years later here she was standing in front of the same people who turned her away.

"Take a seat Ms Barone, Ms Riva will be here shortly." Enzo instructed as he stood behind.

"Why do you still call her 'Ms Riva ' she's married to Yoon isn't she or was that also some scheme" she taunted only to be met with silence from Enzo.

"She's happily married but that's not the Riva he was talking about" Markus came in followed by a women who was of her stepmother's age who certainly was not Katheryn, her aunt.

"Hello Elijah, I'm Catalin, Catalin Riva" The woman smiled at her as the other's face morphed from confusion to shock. "I bet we have so much to discuss" she went on.

Meanwhile

"So what happens now.?" Ruth asked, the trio had met up at Veronika's office.

"Now Catalin will talk to Elijah and they will do the blood work, and the evidence we have is the hospital records from the time of Elijah's birth, which states her as 'Abigail's baby' but it all depends whether she still sticks with her stubbornness or she complies. What do you think will happen Ver.?" Alessia explained as Veronika was deep in thought.

"Well I was talking to Enzo, who has been one of my grandmother's shadow for more than thirty years and he recalled an instant where she said that if Elijah is made to believe she is a Riva heir and to think like one she'll comply, otherwise it's her parents who stands in the way. She also said that its such a pity that a smart woman's life is being controlled like that, and that through lies too." Veronika thought out loud.

Yes, Elijah has been framed as her rival ever since she entered the business but deep down she also felt conflicted on how things took a turn in the past years.

"Well all we can do is wait now, and you should call your husband back, he must be worried." Alessia pointed to the phone lighting up with notifications.

"It's nothing we just had a little fight, he'll survive." She smiled at the messages left by him.

"Lovers' quarrel" Ruth whispered while Alessia chuckled.

"But my dear ladies, do tell me what's your" she said as she pointed at Alessia "deal with Joshua Hong and what is up with Seungcheol and you ?" She said as her eyes moved to Ruth. Both friends looked at her like deer caught in headlights as Veronika huffed. "After all this Elijah thing is settled we are so in need of a girl's night" She declared while the other two agreed. "And I am been summoned by father." She said as she stood up, going through her phone.

At the Riva mansion

"You are a smart woman Elijah, in this house we don't drag other woman down unless they did something unforgiven. I hope you understand everything now." Catalin shared her thoughts while she sipped on her tea. Elijah couldn't believe what she was seeing, in fact the woman who was supposedly her dead mother, was sitting right in front of her.

The revelations that had been brought out, painfully made sense to her, she might be arrogant and stubborn but she was smart enough to identify truth when presented with evidence. She didn't know whether it was the overwhelming feeling of seeing the woman who has been told to be her mother all her life and hearing everything from her that made it all seem true. She couldn't believe it took her these much years to finally face the truth. The story presented by her father and 'stepmother' who infact is actually her mother had its fallaciousness and fabrication she suspected.

"What did they gain from this?" Claude Riva had also joined his sister in talking to the other. Elijah let out humorless laugh to the question.

"Well I'm also thinking about that, I should have seen through the hesitation of my father at instances where Abigail silenced him. You know I've never called her mother after I became of age, she never let me, just 'Abigail' was fine." She scoffed "She posed you as my mother and wove this huge web of lies to cover her responsibility as a parent, that's what happened." Anger had settled in Elijah as the elder Rivas looked at her in pity.

"So what happens now ?" Elijah asked.

"That's upto you child, the results of the blood test are still to be presented then you can have the solid evidence that Catalin is not your mother and accept the truth or you can turn a blind eye to all this and listen to your parents and move ahead and take it to the court to get your false right but you will lose and that's a given." Claude laid out the outcomes as it is. Just then the Riva siblings, who had been summoned by their father entered the room.

"I believe you owe my niece and nephews some apologies Elijah but know that you are not at fault here. You are here because the person responsible is immature enough to not own up to their mistakes." Catalin said as she placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "I don't have children of my own but them" she looked at her brother's children "they are all I have as children and I don't mind you considering me as a parent figure as long as you act on the truth." she remarked.