Maria had been working as a housekeeper for the Rachford family ever since she was young and had been staying by Genevieve’s side for years to take care of her. Wrinkles had since grown around her eyes, and her hair had turned white.
Maria had reached the age where she was nearing death.
When Genevieve was a kid, she would hug Maria and cry and whine at her. That was the second time Maria had cried in front of her, but she was unmoved. Her gaze was cold.
Genevieve crouched down in front of Maria and used a piece of tissue to wipe her tears away. “Maria, you began working for my mom when she married my dad, and even now, you still regard me as Ms. Rachford. You have always seen yourself as a member of the Rachford family and claimed that you never wanted to hurt me. Yet, you attacked me… twice.”
Maria’s entire being trembled. “Ms. Rachford—”
“If you truly had no desire to hurt me, you would’ve told me about how someone had threatened you. You should’ve done that the second it happened, and I would’ve helped you deal with the issue. But you didn’t come to me. You were worried about your grandson, and you didn’t trust me.
“Maria, you know that I have no one else. I have always seen you as family, and everyone close to you is important to me as well. I even said that I would earn enough money so that I could take good care of you and buy you a house where you could live comfortably in retirement. Yet, you’ve been treating me as an outsider.”
Every single word stabbed Maria’s heart. She regretted what she had done and was drowning in guilt. She cried so much that even her wrinkles were trembling, and there was nothing she could say to refute Genevieve’s words.
She’s right. The Rachford family has always been kind to me. Her mom even bought me a house. And how did I repay that kindness? I almost killed Genevieve…
“Someone once told me that a person should always bear the responsibility of their action. There is no point in apologizing at all,” said Genevieve. She handed the piece of tissue to Maria, then stood up. “Give me back the house my mom gave you and put it under my name, then turn yourself in at the police station.”
“Ms. Rachford…” Maria panicked. “I will do whatever you want me to do. All I ask is that you forgive me. I-I can’t go to jail.”
Genevieve simply responded by saying, “I want to hear the news that you’ve turned yourself in at the police station by one o’clock tomorrow. If you haven’t done that by then, I will go to them myself. Things will be so much worse for you, and you may have to spend years in prison, Maria.”
With that, she ignored Maria’s constant begging and entered the house, walking all the way to the pantry.
Armand had been standing by the entrance and observing Genevieve when she spoke to Maria. The way she dealt with the matter in such a calm manner was a side that Armand had never seen before.
It was at that moment that he realized she had changed.
Armand did not give Maria the chance to talk to Genevieve again. He had her pack up and leave Regality Gardens right away.
As he watched Maria leave, he warned, “You’d better do as she said, Maria. Don’t even try contacting the guy who threatened you earlier. If you do, I will make you regret doing that for the rest of your life.”
Maria saw how emotionless his gaze was and trembled violently. She bowed to him, then entered the elevator with her luggage.
Armand closed the door and entered the house, only to see that Genevieve was no longer in the pantry.
He walked down the corridor and made his way to the bedroom.
Maria had kept the house clean over the past few days. The curtains in the bedroom remained open. Bright, natural light streamed into the room, making it seem so pleasant.
Just then, he heard the noise of a wooden material being smashed onto a marble surface from the bathroom and hurried over.
When he entered, he saw Genevieve smashing a copper-colored violin underneath the sink. The strings on the violin had already broken, but she did not stop there as she gave it another smash. She used so much force that a loud thud could be heard this time.
The wooden frame of the violin broke into pieces, and it looked so broken that anyone would feel bad for it.
Some time ago, Genevieve had fine-tuned the strings on that violin, so Armand could recognize that it was the violin that she had asked Cooper to retrieve for her. She had claimed that it was a birthday gift from her father.
Even the song she had gifted him with seemed to have been composed with that violin.
Armand frowned deeply when he thought about the reason she smashed that violin. He hurried to her and grabbed her wrist.
“Genevieve, why are you smashing it?”
