The Lost Heiress

The scorching sun hit the land making the little girl who was busy farming stand up and wipe the sweat on her forehead.

She looked up at the sky and sighed as she wondered when she would be able to complete the work so that she could go into the house.

“Annabelle, how are you able to keep your skin fair and white when you are always under the scorching sun?” another girl asked as she walked to why Annabelle was.

“Liv, why are you here?” Anabelle asked with a smile when she saw her best friend.

“Why can’t I be here? I have to come and help you so that you can rest. Although you don’t get sunburns, I know how uncomfortable you always are,” the girl named Olivia answered as she took out a hoe and started weeding.

“Guess my parents had good genes!” Anabelle said as she stuck out her tongue making Olivia laugh before she became serious.

“I have seen your family. They are nothing like you!” Olivia said causing Anabelle to look at her.

“Can you please stop that? Haven’t you been saying since we were little? Also, if they aren’t my parents then who are my parents?” Anabelle asked in a low tone as different emotions flashed in her eyes.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it, it was just that she didn’t have enough evidence that could prove that she wasn’t a Lopez.

“Let’s go,” Olivia said after thirty minutes of her wedding.

“Are you serious? It has only been half an hour since you arrived and you are telling me that we should leave? What’s up?” Anabelle asked her best friend.

Although she had been helped, Olivia had always helped her then she would share the money she got.

“Nothing. It's just that I remembered that on my way here, I came across several items of sportswear which seemed to be more than tens of millions. It was going to our village. Let’s go and see who is the owner and which family has been visited. Your herbs and vegetables will always be here and we can come back another day, unlike those cars. After all, we all know that your grandmother is the only one who comes here with a car but hers is just a few hundreds thousands. I never understand why she can’t take you with her and they all hate you,” Olivia said the last words as she choked when she remembered the sufferings Anabelle had endured.

This scene made Anabelle sigh then she patted Olivia’s back.

“Okay let’s go,” she said as she was afraid Olivia would bring up the past and start crying loudly as if she was the one who had passed through all that.

“Sure,” Olivia said then they started packing their things.

Anabelle glanced at the land and sadness overcame her as she was used to spending her time in the mountains or at her master's place.

They walked down the mountain as they played, talked, and laughed.

“As I said, your daughter isn’t here! I don’t even live with anyone else here!” A loud angry voice sounded in the house making the two girls who were in the gate halt and look at each other.

“Anabelle, what’s going on? Why is your great-grandmother claiming that she lives alone?” Olivia asked in confusion while Anabelle had an indifferent look.

“I don’t know, let’s go and see,” Anabelle said as she felt that things weren’t simple but nothing new since she knew how the old woman hated strangers knowing that I was her great-granddaughter.

Every time anyone asked, her great-grandma would say that she was her worker. At first, when she was young, she felt hurt upon hearing those words but after she grew up, she got used to and her heart became accosted to the pain till it no longer hurt.

“Wow, the car I saw is your courtyard, Anabelle. Who do you think comes to visit your great-grandma?” Olivia asked cheerfully as she looked at the car with her lit eyes.

Seeing her reaction, Anabelle shook her head but still answered her, “How can I know? We will only know when we walk in.”

The two girls walked hurriedly.

“If you lost your child, why are you here? Just because you hate my granddaughter doesn’t mean that she is the one who has your child! You already sent my granddaughter to prison, do you want to destroy us completely?” the old woman’s voice was heard once more.

When Olivia heard this, her eyes turned cold as she looked at the house.

Although her great-grandmother didn’t love her and always let her feed herself, she was still her flesh and blood thus she didn’t appreciate anyone who came to cause trouble for the old woman.

Furthermore, she heard that the people who had visited were the ones who made her an orphan and sent her here since her mother was imprisoned.

With all these in her mind, she quickens her steps.

“Enough! We have been giving you face and respecting you since we came here but you are still claiming that my daughter isn’t here! We have been taking care of the wrong child! Not just any child but my sister’s enemy's child! Marie’s child!” a cold voice shocked both Anabelle and Olivia just as they were on the doorstep.

“No need to claim that that isn’t true! When we found Leilani wasn’t our child, we checked the hospital’s CCTV cameras and saw how the children were swapped. We later saw where our child was taken and discovered that it was Marie’s baby’s cot thus we did a DNA on the two without any of them knowing and it came positive! We know that you have my niece you better tell us where she is,” another cold voice said.

The old woman started laughing out like a maniac.

“Yes, so what? My daughter got someone greedy enough to swap the kids! Did you think that just because you are richer than us we will let you guys off? You ruined my granddaughter’s life thus we had to ruin yours! You can’t imagine how pleasing and satisfying it is to see Amanda taking care of her enemy’s child! She spoiled the wrong child while her daughter suffered and starved to death,” the old woman said as she laughed.

“No! You are lying!” Amanda said as she screamed.

“Where is my daughter? Give me back my daughter!” Amanda said as she wanted to charge at the woman but was held back by Antonio.

“Pfft, I already said that she is dead!” the old woman replied with a snort.

To her, Anabelle was used to going to the mountain early in the morning and coming back late thus there is no way she would close paths with her real family.

“Mom, please come down. Although sister is dead, you still have me,” a soft voice said as tears flowed down with her head lowered.

She was smiling. If Amanda’s daughter was dead, she was the one who would enjoy the riches but when she lifted her head, she cried out loudly.

All these fell in Olivia’s and Anabelle’s eyes who were watching everything from the window.

Amanda stopped crying and looked at the girl she had always thought was her daughter. Her heart softened a little bit when she saw the face but when she remembered who her mother was and how her daughter died, her heart turned cold.

“Don’t call me Mom, I am not your mother! Your family killed my daughter and I will make sure that you all pay!” she said coldly making Leilani forget that she was pretending since she was so frightened.

Anabelle watched everything with mixed emotions. She had always wanted her parents' love, and now seeing her mother claiming she would destroy the family cause she was dead, she was touched and her heart ached when she saw her mother crying and in pain.

She forgot everything and walked toward the door.

Olivia was worried and her heart aching for her best friend. Although she had always said that Anabelle didn’t look like any of her family members and maybe she wasn’t part of the family, she never expected that she would be true.

If it was her, she would be so hurt and run away and then come back after calming down but when she heard how the old woman kept on claiming that Annabelle was dead, she knew that if Anabelle hadn’t met her parents now, she would never find them as she didn’t know where they lived or who were they.

With all these in her mind, she hurriedly followed her friend into the house.

The house was full of wailing, screams, laughter, and talking thus they didn’t realize when someone walked in.

“There is no need to keep crying here. As I said, your child is dead. I have to thank you for taking care of my family’s child all these years. Even now, I will have to ask you to go back with her as my great-granddaughter isn’t used to the countryside life,” the old woman said in between laughter causing the men in the house to look at her gloomily.

“No! You have to give my child back today! Also, don’t think that I will take this child away with me,” Amanda said coldly as she wiped her tears telling herself that her child wasn’t dead and she should be strong enough.

“Mom, Leilani will go back to us,” a soft yet cold voice sounded in the room causing Anabelle to stand still and look at the young boy.

“Octavius, what are you saying? She took your sister’s place. Everything she enjoyed was supposed to be your sister’s!” Antonio said angrily as he couldn’t believe his son.

Leilani had a smile when she heard that and knew that the time spent with Octavius since was a child wasn’t wasted as he still chose her instead of her dead sister.

Anabelle on the other hand was hurt when she heard that the boy was her brother. She had thought that she had gotten a great family that loved her unconditionally from the way they were behaving and saying but she never thought her brother was so indifferent to the fact the girl she grew up with wasn’t her sister while his biological sister was dead.

He had always thought that his son was wise enough but upon hearing his words, he shook his head in disappointment.

Octavius’ mouth switched when he heard that and looked at his family’s faces, he understood that they had misunderstood him.

“Dad, you misunderstood me! Since she took my sister’s place and has enjoyed everything let her pay for them now. Also, didn’t her great-grandmother say that my sister starved to death? I can only imagine the suffering that she endured when she was in this place. Let their child go back to us and we let her go through what my sister went through,” he said coldly shocking everyone.

They never expected that such a kid could be so heartless at a young age.

Anabelle was also shocked, she had always thought that she was the only young person who could be so cold and indifferent but never expected that even her brother was like that. She found herself smiling at how the blood relationship worked.

“Brother,” Leilani said in shock and as she squeezed tears out of her eyes.

“Don’t call me your brother! Your family killed my twin!” Octavius said coldly causing the little girl to stagger and nearly fall.

“I would have regarded you as my sister if my sister was still and was been taken good care of and loved the same way we loved you but what happened? How can I, Octavius Hamilton associate myself with you, a child from such a despicable family? Their blood runs through your veins, am afraid that you are just like them although you grew up in our family,” the little boy continued saying not caring who was in the room or whether his words were hurting the little girl.

“Brother, how could you say such a thing? So what if I have their blood running in my veins, can’t I just draw the blood and get a transfusion from our family? That way, I will still be your little sister, your Leilani,” Leilani said in between cries.

“No! How can I share my blood with you? You want to draw your family’s blood but have you forgotten that you bore some similarities with them? You aren’t my sister! Your family killed my sister!” the little bore said coldly but choked on his words upon uttering the last words.

“Brother…” Leilani said as she tried to hold Octavius but she was thrown to the ground.

Leilani was so frightened that she curled herself on the floor as she cried waiting for ‘her family’ to sympathise with her.

She had always known that Octavius was always cold but he had never treated her that the way he did. She felt wronged and hated her biological family for what they did. She wondered how a sample of her mother’s hair could be found when she was still in prison.

‘That woman is just a fool. Can’t she be on guards all the time or does she think that that place is her home that she can be so carefree?’ she asked herself as her eyes darkened and filled with hatred.

She blamed Marie without knowing how the latter was coping in prison or why did the Andersons got the sample so smoothly.

The old woman felt conflicted when she watched the scene and blamed herself for whatever was happening in front of him. She regretted saying that Anabelle was dead. If she knew that Leilani would still get the chance to go back with the family, she would have been so precautious and tried to curry favor with them while narrating how well she had taken care of Anabelle.

Anabelle watched the scene in front of her coldly and caught the guilty look on the old woman. She mocked herself as she couldn’t believe that the old woman loved her great-granddaughter so much that she regretted what she had done. Never had she seen the love, worry, and guilt in the old woman when she was with her.

Seeing her about to open her mouth to speak, Anabelle’s face darkened as she already knew what the latter wanted to say and she couldn’t believe that there was such a shameless person in the universe.

“Grandma, who are these people?” she said softly as she knew that she had to show her weak appearance to her parents if she wanted things to go her way.