THE BILLIONAIRE’S PERFECT MATE

“Mom” Hillary said, upon waking up from her slumber and seeing Natalia’s eyes fixed on her.

“Is it really you darling? Are you really the one?” Natalia asked, touching Hillary’s face with tears rolling down her eyes, not believing it was really her daughter that was in front of her.

“It’s really is me, mum. It’s your Lily, your Ray of Sunshine” Hillary responded, also touching her mother’s face with uncontrollable tears rolling down her cheeks.

“My baby, my darling baby” Natalia said, getting up from her lying position, not minding that her body was still weak and pulling her daughter in for a hug.

“My baby, I am sorry, Mum is sincerely sorry. Mum is sorry for leaving you to bear alone all the hurt and pains. Mum is sorry for not being able to fulfil her promise of standing by you through thick and thin. I am sorry, baby” Natalia said hugging Hillary tightly, while crying profusely. They both stayed in that position for quite a while, crying their hearts out and at the same time, grateful that they found their ways back into each other’s arms. Richard, who had been witnessing the emotional scene before him couldn’t bear to watch the scene anymore and felt the need to excuse himself. He felt the need to give the mother and daughter space and so, he walked out of the room with pain in his heart.

“She is awake now but if you do not mind, can you leave them alone for a while?” Richard had said to Mr. Evans, upon him getting out of the room and setting his eyes on him, sitting very close to the entrance..

“I think they need some time alone” he further stated, looking at the mother and daughter through the door. Mr. Evans’ eyes followed his gaze and his also landed on the duo and he saw how emotional they were.

“Yes, they really do” he said, also getting emotional.

“Excuse me” Richard said, slowly walking away. His legs were heavy for him to carry and at the same time, his heart. He was kind of jealous of Hillary.

“Why can’t my mother be like Natalia? Why can’t she show me the kind of love Hillary is getting from her mother? Is it that I am that bad? Am I that incompetent? Does she really hates me that much?” Richard had thought as he walked away, with tears slowly rolling down from his eyes. His mother had never showered him with any motherly love. She had always been focused on revenge and bringing the Lion Family down that she barely noticed him. She always treated him like he was invincible and only used him as her tool of getting the power she wanted. She didn’t even know when he was hurting and when he needed her to console him. All she wanted was power and wealth. He went to the male gent, where he locked himself up and cried as much as he could.

Back to Natalia’s ward, both mother and daughter had stopped crying. They were just there, still in each other’s embrace without saying a word and reminiscing on their past memories together. Eventually, they let each other go and Hillary sat on the bed, opposite her mother.

“You have grown up so well. You have grown up all pretty and strong. I admire your courage, my love” Natalia said, touching her daughter’s face and admiring her courage. Hillary just smiled at her, not knowing the right words to fix together.

“Despite me not being there to stand by you during your life ordeals, you still overcame them and came out strong and brave. I am sorry, my love. I am sorry once again. I didn’t know you survived that night. I was told you died in the fire 15 years ago. If I had known you survived, I would have come looking for you. I never meant to abandon you darling. Believe me” Natalia said while sobbing softly, holding her daughter’s hands in hers.

“It’s fine, mum. I thought you had died too. I would have come looking for you too if I knew you are alive. But how did you survive? I clearly saw you get burnt in the fire that night’ Hillary asked, wiping away her mother’s tears. She was confused as she had seen her mother get burnt in the fire 15 years ago.

“That night, while I tried protecting you from getting burnt by the fire and had instructed you to run away as far as your legs could carry you, I had also tried escaping from the fire. While trying to make my way out of the burning house, a plank which had caught fire hit my head, which made me fall and lost my consciousness. That was the last thing I remembered and when I finally opened my eyes, I saw your grandfather, which is my dad beside me at the hospital. He had saved me from the fire that night. My body and face got burnt behind recognition and I had to undergo several plastic surgeries” Natalia recounted to her daughter, who was feeling lost and confused.

“Grandfather? What do you mean by that mum? I thought you said you had no family?” Hillary queried.

“I am sorry I lied to you , Princess. I actually do have a father. In fact, he is the Chairman of Linus Corporation” Natalia explained to Hillary’s astonishment.

“What? Why then did you lie to me? Why didn’t you go seeking for his help when we were in trouble?” she further probed her mother.

“That’s a long story and a story for another day. Now tell me about yours. What happened to you that night? How did you escape?” Natalia questioned.

“Actually, I ……” Hillary narrated her experiences so far, from how she met Kevin, to how she got to meet Edward and what led to her disappearance five years ago. She also stated the reason she was back, which was to bring down the people that hurt her. Natalia just stared at her, with her heart shattering into pieces and tearing rolling down her eyes, upon hearing the pains her daughter had gone through.

“What? Austin is my grandchild? Sophia did all that to you? That bitch!!!!! I am going to kill her” Natalia yelled angrily, getting worked up and clenching her fist.

“Calm down, mum. I will deal with her. I just need you to support me. That’s all” Hillary said, smiling at her mother while trying to calm her nerves down.

“Are you sure? I can have her trampled all over in the twinkle of an eye” Natalia further said, showing how willing she was in assisting her daughter to get her revenge on Sophia.

“I am okay, mum. I want to frustrate her and put her in agony for a while and afterwards, strike her when she least expected and thought she was winning” Natalia said, with the desire for vengeance evident in her eyes.

“If that’s what you want, it’s fine. I will make sure to stand by you. I will try and make up for all the times I have failed to support you as your mother and be by your side. I truly am sorry for all the pains and traumas you have gone through. I really am. If not for that man, this wouldn’t have happened. If he hadn’t deceived me into marrying him, you wouldn’t have suffered like that. I regret the day I met him. I really do. I will make sure I make him suffer for what he did. Not only him, but also his devilish wife and daughter ” Natalia said, feeling sad as she thought about the man who had brought about the unfortunate fate on her. Hillary knew whom her mother was talking about but what Natalia didn’t know was that, her daughter was about dropping a bomb shell on her.

“I met with him” Hillary said abruptly, her gaze fixed on Natalia.

“Him? Who is that?” Natalia asked, sounding confused. She looked into her daughter’s eyes, searching for answers and from the look in her eyes, she got the answer she wanted.

“Don’t tell me it is who I am thinking about” Natalia said, shaking her head, while slowly letting go of her daughter’s hand.

“Yes, it is” she responded, confirming her mother’s suspicion.

“What?” Natalia yelled loudly, with a shocked expression on her face.