Time To Heal [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: A PEEK IN THE PAST

Eyes darting furtively across the room, Ana tried not to let it seem too conspicuous that she was searching for Dev who seemed to have vanished into thin air. It was silly that she was trying to avoid him but any sign of weakness would be a dead giveaway that she cared.

Mood spoilt when he was not found, she returned back to her apartment, not after having succumbed to the temptation of asking around for Dev. The guard had duly informed her that the latter's car was no longer in the parking lot which had inexorably meant that he was already gone. Puzzled, she tried to figure out the reason for his second reappearance in her life although she had a pretty good idea. It was to thank her for returning back his bloody money.

However, she was not in the mood to attach any undue importance to that man that evening. The mention of her mother's name had aroused a terrible nostalgia inside her leaving her with a trace of melancholy. Reminiscences of the past always rendered her gloomy, the fact that she'd lost her mother at the age of two still a blistering weakness. The most pathetic side of the story was that she'd only discovered about the identity of her mother on her disastrous wedding day.

In the beginning, she'd always assumed that her mother had been a nobody since she'd never been mentioned in their household, thinking herself to be the result of one of her father's numerous affairs. She'd never asked, had been too grateful to have been granted a place in their family to have the audacity to ask about her other parent. Her father had chosen the worst day of her life to reveal the truth about her mother, the very day she'd been left stranded by the man who had pledged to love her forever.

Like it hadn't been hard enough to be standing in her ridiculous white dress, waiting desperately after the guests were whispering awkwardly among themselves, with no one to protect her from the cruel humiliation she'd experienced.

Closing her eyes in pain, she finally dropped herself on her bed with flashes of that horrible day invading her mind.

When she'd finally acknowledged that Devin was not coming, her limp body had dropped in a pool of white on the floor, the vision on front of her blurring as the stress and mortification took its toll on her. It hadn't been easy maintaining a courageous demeanor in front of a bickering crowd, holding her head with false pride while her heart had been breaking into multitudes of pieces.

Her father had been trying Dev's phone repeatedly muttering furiously about what a fool that Crighton was to have refused the deal. Ana had been too numb to pay any attention, her mind reeling with the disgrace and shame as she contemplated the bleak future ahead without the man she loved. Ignoring her father's ramblings, she had felt her cheeks flame with heat like somebody had just slapped her hard still unable to understand her fiancé's deceit, only to look up in dazed wonder when Alastair started mentioning her mother.

"You're as useless as your mother," he spat spitefully, looking at her his face distorted with rage and so much hate that she flinched at the intensity of emotions directed towards her.

No one had bothered to pick her up, she registered faintly that in the background, Melanie was desperately apologizing to the few remaining guests, with Melissa in toe and she was leading them towards the exit, away from her father's manic explosion most probably.

Knowing what to expect from her father, Ana bent her head despondently expecting more insults coming her way. She was used to bearing invectives in the name of her mother, Melanie took great relish describing what kind of tramp Elizabeth Richmond had been, how she'd slept with her father for financial gains leaving her no better than a whore.

"I should never have married her," he admitted regret laced in his voice, and unheeding to the fact that Ana's head had whirled in his direction with shock at the recent statement. Her parents had been married? "Such a wasted investment because of that bloody William Richmond who never spared me a penny. Now, her daughter fails to keep a man like Crighton. Do you even know how much the man's worth?"