The Billionaire's Betrayed Love.

59: A plus one.

ALMA

"Now, that's just disrespectful!" I snapped as I turned to her and her unwavering gaze on my daughter. That wasn't something I'd intended to hear.

Suspecting me was rude, but now, my daughter? That was the height of it. It felt like a string snapped in my head as I bore my eyes into hers.

The other sales rep who had made such a careless suggestion walked away immediately after she saw the look on my face, but this one here, remained unfazed in a way that pissed me off more.

"I'm sorry, it's just the procedure," she repeated like clockwork as she stepped closer, and I balled my fists, holding back the urge to throw a slap to her face. It was almost impossible not to. Her audacity was alarming.

"Do not lay a finger on her!" I demanded when she reached for Velma. "I'll check it myself. If I don't find it here, I'd like to have a talk with your manager. If you do, you can do whatever you want."

I could see the fear momentarily cross her eyes before she finally responded, nodding slowly. It looked like she was about to take back that decision for a while, but eventually decided not to. It was a leap of faith, even for her. Regardless, I was fuming as to how insulting this was.

"Baby, I need to check something, okay?" I said in a cool tone as I took the purse from her slowly. For no reason at all did I feel my heart thump in my chest.

What if I opened it, and it ended up being in there? My daughter was no petty thief, so there was no way- except this was a nasty set up. I unzipped the purse slowly and set the edges apart with both my hands, taking a peek inside.

It was a tiny purse, so I dipped my hand inside to feel the contents of it. And while I was doing that, I felt that tiny string of cold silver kiss my finger, and I froze in shock. I suddenly ran out of breath, my eyes widening as though I'd seen a ghost. It wasn't a funny moment at all and I couldn't believe it just yet.

Still in disbelief, mouth falling open, I pulled out the string and it really was the same necklace that was missing. Oh. My. God! The 'i told you so' look was apparent on the staff's face, while I seethed in deep embarrassment.

"How did that get there?!" I asked in bewilderment. I was sure- sure as hell that my daughter had nothing to do with the missing necklace and that made it even harder to believe. "How did that get there!?"

"Same thing I'm asking," The staff responded, tone drenched in painful sarcasm that took a pinch to my stomach. "How did that get there, ma'am? Was it a misunderstanding?"

So annoying.

"Do you have any CCTV in the store? You should, right?"

"We do."

"Good. Let's check," I responded as I slipped by her and walked deeper into the store, still holding Velma. "Don't worry. Mama is gonna handle this."

We dived right in and while I had the pressure of dealing with their dirty looks and unflattering murmurs, the security officials went through the recordings from the moment we walked into the shop. It got to the part where it displayed Velma showing the necklace to me.

"Stop, right here. There it is," I announced, being thr first and the most eager to see the end of it. There wasn't a way in hell I was getting insulted like this, or my daughter. "Slow down from this part."

I watched carefully with scrutinizing eyes, and so did the staff. I was ready to follow every move if it meant I was going to unravel the truth. There was no going away from that. Immediately after Velma had shown me the necklace, she'd subconsciously dropped her purse on the stand next to it, and we moved away from that direction, towards other goods.

There and then, after a few minutes, a figure, seemingly smart enough to conceal their identity from the camera, grabbed her purse, and the necklace off its display stand!

I got goosebumps immediately.

"Who's that? Where'd they go?" I questioned, keeping my eyes on the video entries.

"That's...a CCTV blindspot, ma'am," the security announced as he tried to trail the figure's whereabouts. They were probably cloaked in a hoodie and baggy trousers that I couldn't tell what the gender was.

And the static quality of the video wasn't encouraging, either. We could barely see who it was. The next thing we saw was the purse being placed back to its original position by the same person and Velma remembering to grab it on our way out.

That was seriously so messed up.

So messed up.

"What's this? Who could this be?" I asked, trying to find a calm in my voice and resist throwing an I demand to see your manager! In their face. "Can we find this person?"

The staff had gone quiet, just as she should, while the security official typed away furiously. "It's possible, but it might be a bit difficult, considering they could have ventured into many of the several stores in the mall. It would require a collated effort of each security official assigned to a section of this building."

That sounded like a lot of work. A lot of work that they had to do because my daughter almost got framed for stealing a necklace worth thousands of dollars. "I'd like to see the head of security then. I'd like to see that collated effort as I find the bastard who tried to frame my daughter and me for something this trivial."

"Yes, ma'am," His response was swift and direct. "If you'll just wait a few more minutes, he'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you," I said as he walked past. The other lady moved closer, and I acted like I didn't see her shuffling.

"I'm so sorry for this misunderstanding. It was never my intention to be rude."

"Yes, it was. And this isn't about you anymore so that you may go back to work. I'll take it from here."

"I'm sorry, and thank you, ma'am."

"It's no problem."

After a few minutes of waiting, I was able to speak to the man in question, and I was assured that a proper solution would be found for this issue.


*

Nope. No proper solution had been found for that issue, and it had been three days, which led to my next course of action. I now had a security officiant by the gate. He was employed from an organization that Rodney vouched for specifically.

Not only that, I was going to have an aide over, three times a week to help with the house chores and someone I could trust with Velma. Trust was a huge word that didn't appear in my dictionary, in all honesty, but I needed a plus one. If she was diligent enough, caring for Velma might be a part of her job, too.

Though, I wasn't sure I wanted anyone to care for my daughter except me, but with Linda around, I needed as many eyes and hands as I could get. Today was an interview for the lady who I'd eye on from the website I sought through. She had all the qualifications I required and was a personified nanny. That wasn't bad, after all. I was meeting her today to read into her personality.

The lady arrived. I hated that the interview took place in my home, but I had to take this step if I planned on letting anyone into my house at all. "Welcome, come in."

I opened the door for her, and she stepped in, a low gasp spilling from her mouth as she looked around. "I'm sorry," She immediately said with a cheeky smile. "You have such a lovely home."

"Thank you," I smiled back. "Please sit, Agatha."

She did, still smiling brightly. Agatha seemed younger than me, with bright blue eyes and red hair. She had a unique sort of beauty, and her personality was certainly bubbly. It had a nice aura on her surroundings.

"So, hi, welcome again. This will be very brief. I just have a few questions, and wouldn't take much of your time."

She sat up, nodding. "Yes, please go ahead."

"Why should I hire you?"

"Because I'm the perfect person for this job, ma'am. I'm a certified nanny and housekeeper, and I have worked with so many parents successfully. I chose this part because of my acute fondness for children, but in my line of work, I realized housekeeping and nannying goes hand in hand, more often than not. Though, one of the reasons I do this job is to make ends meet, but I cannot deny that I am immensely in love with my job and will work to your satisfaction."

Sounds convincing, but don't they all? She was sweet, regardless. I asked a few more questions, and I got more positive and impressive answers from her. I loved the way her eyes sparkled as she spoke of her interests.

"Last question? What would you say is the key to a successful motherhood?"

Agatha leaned in, holding back a smile. "Keeping away your expensive makeup products?"

It got a giggle out of me, and I knew Velma would love her humor, too. "Miss, you're hired."