The Billionaires Too (#2)

10 || Redemption

Why wouldn’t everyone just leave her alone?

It was not like she committed a murder; it was only fraud and tax invasion.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Why are people always banging on my door?!" She groaned as she climbed out of bed.

She switched on the side lamp and put on her gown, and then she wore her sleepers and strode out of the room.

It was past midnight and someone was knocking at her door. Considering everything that she went through, one would expect her to be careful with who she let in, but to no avail. She switched on the dining room light, and opened the door while rubbing her eyes.

She had spent her day staring at her laptop since she came back from the office. Her boxes from the office were still sitting on the floor next to the door.

She had been checking her social media accounts. The things people were saying about her were bad.

People were speaking as if they knew her. She had read over twenty articles that were written on her, fifteen that were mainly about Billings Corporations.

Jorge was right; her scandal was costing the company a lot of money. She could still see the looks everyone in the office was giving her when Anita escorted her out of the building.

When Anita said she would drive her home, someone made a comment about how it was possible to earn so much money and not be able to afford her own car.

Someone cleared their throat, and she looked up, the image in front of her freezing her on the spot. She had expected it to be Anita; but instead, her entire family was standing outside her door.

Her eyes scanned the faces in front of her. Her father looked tired, her mother looked angry, the others just looked…indifferent, well, at least the twins were. Her brother and his wife looked worried.

Behind them all stood the couple of the century; Javier Mendoza and Danielle Grayson-Mendoza in their full glory, and they rather looked proud than anything. “Can we come in?” Brianna asked, and Samantha stepped aside so that they could get in.

Everyone got inside and she had the urge to slam the door in Javier and Danielle’s faces. “Why do people think I’m dead?” Her mother threw her handbag on the couch and turned to Samantha.

“Meryl.” Paul warned.

“Which one are you referring to? The fraud or mom?” Danielle asked with a smirk and her father shot her a glare.

“Samantha, come here.” Paul patted on the empty space next to him on the couch, and Samantha joined him. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry this is happening to you. Now more than ever, I wish I’d made you get rid of the two ID’s when I found out.” Her father said.

“You knew?” Adam asked. “Dad, all this time you knew and you did not say anything?” He shouted and Brianna held his hand to calm him down.

“Well, you know your sister is not exactly a good listener. I tried to get her to destroy the other ID’s.” Brianna said cautiously and Adam jerked away from her. All eyes were on her now. Her mother-in-law’s stare was burning into her. Before her husband could say anything, she quickly added, “I overheard her and dad talking and I confronted them about it, but they made me swear to keep it a secret.”

Meryl, the mother-in-law, snorted. Adam sighed and crossed his arms. “I don’t get it though, and whoever did this was clearly trying to get back at you. Who could have done this? I don’t know you to have any enemies.” He said while looking at Samantha.

Samantha chuckled darkly. “Tried? Brother, they ruined me. And apparently, I do have enemies and I know who they are, but I’m not gonna tell you. MJ is going to deal with them.” Samantha said with confidence and threw a sharp look at her sister and her husband, and her sister flinched slightly, but covered it up.

As if on cue, her laptop started to blink, signalling an incoming call. Meryl took it from the table where her father had placed it, and answered. “Speak of the devil, why are you sitting in the dark?” Samantha spoke, and everyone looked at her intently.

“And I thought you’d still be crying your eyes out.” MJ commented, and Samantha frowned.

“I’m done with crying; I won’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry.” Samantha lifted her head to prove her point. “Hey, is everything okay?” She asked worriedly.

“Yes, why?” MJ asked and cleared her throat.

“I don’t know. Maybe perhaps because you are sitting in the dark and your voice sounds a bit raspy?” Samantha raised an eyebrow.

“I did not call to talk about me; I called to talk about you.” MJ said sternly and the people in the room exchanged looks while Samantha sighed. “I had all your money moved to one account, and made sure that all the banks cleared any history of those cards ever existing, and then I had them cancelled, so if you still have them on you, cut them off with sharp scissors.” MJ said.

“Really, how did you do that so fast?” Samantha asked, a ghost of a smile on her face.

“I needed to clear my head, so I did that about an hour ago.”

“Clear your head of what?”

“That does not matter, and I’m not about to discuss my issues with you while your entire family is listening on our conversation.” MJ said and some of the people blushed from embarrassment while Samantha suppressed a laugh. “Anyway, as I was saying; I moved all your money to your original account registered under Samantha Grayson, and then I paid back all your tax money.” This time, no one said anything.

An unusual silence settled as the people started exchanging looks again, while Samantha gaped at the screen. “You…you paid back all my tax money?” She asked and MJ nodded although Meryl could not see it.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave you hanging, didn’t I?” Samantha turned to her father with moisture in her eyes.

“Remember when I told you that MJ would come through for me if I ever got into trouble?” She asked, fresh tears streaming down her face.

Her father’s face softened and an understanding passed between the two. Her father squeezed her hand and turned to the screen. “Thank you, Miss Billings.” He said, his voice laced with respect.

“It is a pleasure, Paul.” MJ said and Javier frowned at the way the two were addressing each other. Paul addressed MJ as if she were someone of high authority, while she just referred to him as if he were someone under her authority.

Danielle felt her husband tense next to her. “Who the hell is she and why is she calling him Paul while he calls her Miss?” He gritted into her ear.

“Uhm… my love, dad prefers being called Paul than Mr Grayson.” Danielle tried to ease the situation, although she knew it was a lie.

“I called him Mr Grayson at the dinner, and if I remember well, he wasn’t that warm towards me, thanks to your sister.” Javier said and Danielle squeezed his hand, trying to tell him to calm down before anyone heard him. “Who is she?” He asked gravely and Danielle felt a shiver run up her spine.

“Her name is MJ Billings. She’s the owner of Billings Corporations and the sister of Jorge Billings.” Danielle said in an uneasy voice as she watched her husband’s mood darken tenfold.

Javier Mendoza was not used to knowing anyone being more superior than he was. He did not like the idea of a woman being more powerful than he was.

“I’ll put everything to rest tomorrow. I will be doing a conference call, make sure to watch it. And when this is over, I want a name.” MJ said and Samantha nodded. “I want you to give me the name of the bastard who did this to you.” MJ said in a deadly voice, and again silence fell. “Goodnight, Samantha.”

“Goodnight, MJ, and thank you for everything.” Samantha said and the screen went blank as the call disconnected. Samantha closed her laptop and placed it back on the coffee table, and then she sat back on the couch and crossed her arms.

The room was unusually quiet because no one knew what to say. Everyone was confused because Samantha had cost MJ Billings a lot of money, but she was helping her clear her name. On top of that, the family was prepared for the worst, but it seemed like they had nothing to worry about, as far as Samantha was concerned.

“Wow!” Samantha gasped. “I can’t believe this is over.” She laughed, and looked at everyone in the room. “It is actually over, daddy!” She laughed and her father pulled her into a hug.

“Even if it is, it still doesn’t answer why people think I am dead!” Her mother snapped, and Samantha pulled away from her father and cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Uhm, we should get going, Javier has a long meeting tomorrow.” Danielle said and everyone turned to look at them. They could feel that there was something going on between the two. “Bye, mom!” She hugged her mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Dad.” She gave him a small smile. Javier gave a curt nod and they left.

“I should also get going, it is late already, and I don’t like the idea of leaving the kids with the nanny alone this time of the night.” Adam said and walked to where Samantha was seated, and kissed her on the head. “You have a lot of explaining to do.” He said and she chuckled. “Mom and dad.” He greeted and went to the twins. “Girls.” He hugged them and kissed them on the cheek.

“We are also going.” Rachel said. “Samantha, we will see you around.” She smiled awkwardly. Samantha did not have any good relationship with any of her siblings except for her brother. “We’ll come over…say tomorrow so that we can catch up.” Tiffany, the more cheerful and free spirited twin, said.

Rachel nodded in agreement and Brianna beamed. “Me too! I’m sure your brother wouldn’t mind watching the kids for a night, right, honey?” She asked him with puppy eyes and he groaned.

“You can come. Sam, will talk soon.” The four of them left, and Samantha was left with her parents.

Her mother seemed to be a little conflicted with discovering that people thought Samantha’s mother was dead, and she was her stepmother. She was reading through some comments on f*******: when she stumbled on a comment from one of Samantha’s teachers. The comment said that if Samantha’s mother were still alive, maybe Samantha would not be doing such crazy things, and that she was honouring the memory of her mother, Meryl Anderson, by using her name.

One of Meryl’s friends commented that Meryl was very much still alive and that she was the girl’s biological mother, but the teacher argued that Samantha told them that her mother was dead at school. “You told people that I was dead, and that I was your stepmom.” She said in a broken whisper, her own words not making sense in her ears, but Samantha kept quiet and just stared at her. “But why? I don’t understand.” Meryl asked.

“Do you even have to ask?” Samantha laughed humourlessly. “Mom, you were never there for me!” She yelled and her mother’s feet nearly gave away but her father was quick to catch her. “Mom, are you okay?” Samantha panicked, and all the things she wanted to say to her mother were suddenly forgotten as she rushed forth and helped her father move her mother to the couch.

“Get her a glass of water!” Her father said, and she ran faster than one can say “Jack Daniels!” She gave her mother the glass of water, and after a while, Meryl calmed down. “Samantha, let’s have this talk some other time, okay? Your mom is not well.” Her father said gently and she nodded in understanding, but her mother protested.

“No, let’s have this talk right now! We can’t keep this up forever; I need to know what I did wrong so that I can fix it.” Meryl said, her eyes softening as she looked at her daughter.

Samantha shook her head, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes as she counted all the things her mother did wrong in her head. From forgotten birthdays, unattended meetings, and all the times she woke up screaming in the middle of the night and her father would come running into her room and comfort her, while her mother would wear earplugs and go back to sleep. “You can’t fix anything, mom, it’s too late; I’m 25 now.” She said with a sad smile, and her mom gave her a pleading look. Samantha sat down on the coffee table and took hold of her mother’s hands, and stared at their entwined hands. “I am a grown up now. A woman. I can pick out my own clothes, I can tie my own shoelaces, I can brush my own hair, and I can read romance novels on k****e until I fall asleep…” She laughed, tears leaking out at the corners of her eyes. “I can make my own bed, I know how to wear pads, jeez, I’ve even become a genius at forging your signature!” She played with their hands. “I can braid my own hair, I can cook for myself, I have a First Aid kit in my carpet, I know which sized bra I should wear, I have my own place to stay, I-”

“Samantha.” Her father’s broken voice pleaded, and she looked up to meet his eyes. “Please.” He said. Samantha looked at her mother, and she was shaking while crying. Her father held her tightly against his chest and hushed her. “It’s okay, Meryl. What’s done is done, there’s nothing you can do now.” He said in a hoarse voice and kissed her on the head.

Making her mother cry was not part of the plan, but she suddenly felt free. She had a light feeling in her chest, like a heavy burden had been finally lifted off her shoulders. Her life had changed overnight, and finally, she could be herself; no Meryl Anderson or Samantha Anderson.

Just Samantha Grayson.