บท 15: Yellow And Blue File

✿

"A thief? Who exactly is this scoundrel? The one who would dare to break into the Griggs family mansion and lay their treacherous hands on you, who is it?!"

Annabelle's father, Maverick, questioned his sobbing daughter, eyes red-rimmed with restrained rage. He recently returned from the royal palace of Wycliffe, but not once had he expected to be welcomed with his home in a terrible condition.

At first he did not believe it was his home. The main doors were starting to lose from the hinges when he walked in, a clear testament to the thieve's' violent intrusion. He thought he had stepped into the house of a complete psychopath, and like that wasn't enough shock for the day, he found his daughter sitting at a corner, shaking, with her clothes torn and red welts on her skin.

He needed no further explanation to understand what had happened to his precious daughter, and that made his jaw clench in fury. His wife, Marissa rose from the armchair where she sat, and she scrutinized her daughter's body, eyes narrowing into a vengeful look.

She of all people would certainly not sit back and take this treatment from a thief! She knew how much she spent in order to make her daughter the most beautiful, purifying woman she was today, and having a thief snatch all her hard work in one night, she won't let this particular one slide so easily! It's not possible!

"We need to find out who has committed this heinous crime." She said to Maverick in a non-playful tone, gently smoothing the crumbs on Annabelle's hair. "Her lovely body has been flawed. I'm sure you won't let those animals get away with what they've done to our daughter."

"Clearly not, my dear." Maverick answered, sounding resolute about his decision. He busily went through the secret safe that was suspiciously left open in his wardrobe, and when he checked through the files he had kept there specifically for future use, his face immediately turned ashen.

"What is this??" A look of alarm replaced his countenance, and he went through the files again, "where are the house files I kept in here? I can't find them." his voice dripped with unmistakable urgency, and his wife, who had heard him say those four abominable words, was looking at him as if he just uttered rubbish—absolute nonsense.

"What are you saying, Maverick?" She questioned in haste, eyes wide in alarm.

"What do you mean you can't find the house files? Did they suddenly develop feet and run off while we were away? You're not making any sense at all so you better stop it if it is a joke."

"Does it sound like I'm joking?" He ran his palm over his face, stuck in a daze. "The files, all the documents are gone, Marissa. Even the house ownership properties I kept here are nowhere to be seen. I can't believe this!"

"That's impossible, didn't you lock the safe where you kept it?" Marissa was already brushing past her husband to see things for herself. She brought out all the files and gazed at the headings, desperately searching, but true to her husband's words, the house property files were absent from the rest.

"No no no this cannot be!" Marissa could feel a headache rise in her head. "Are you sure you left the files here? Maybe you took them out and—"

"No Marissa, those files were in there." Her husband interjected, pointing at the safe. "You saw me keep them in there yourself, so don't ask me silly questions. Those thieves broke into my wardrobe and took those files! Cause who else would have taken it?"

"Why would they take a file that is of no use to them? Check somewhere else and don't exaggerate the matter for nothing!" Marissa countered back, "it has to be here somewhere, or maybe they moved it! Just check please!"

"Mother, Father, do you also think… Valda could have done this?" Annabelle, who remained quiet through her parent's panicked situation, finally inquired with fresh tears in her eyes. "She went missing without a trace, that doesn't mean she's dead. What if she's responsible for everything that's happening to us?"

"Valda?" Maverick's chubby face morphed into a frown at the thought of his niece, and he looked doubtful. "In what way is she responsible? She knows absolutely nothing about those property files, and what are the chances of her taking those files when she can barely spell her name?"

"See why I keep saying you should never underestimate that conniving girl. Look at what she has done!" Marissa's jaw tightened at the thought of Valda, "and so what if she can't read? She can order someone else to do her dirty job. She has gone missing all of a sudden, even the royal palace is out to get her, and there's a chance she sent someone to rob us while we were away. Look at my daughter's body for goodness sake!"

Marissa brought her daughter forward, "she's supposed to meet with King Sebastian tomorrow night when we attend the royalty ball. What do you think will happen if she shows up like this? Do you think he will agree to marry a woman who has been defiled overnight?"

"Royalty ball?" Annabelle nearly dropped her pretense upon hearing it, and she glanced at her mother for confirmation.

"Yes, thanks to your late uncle's good relationship with the palace, we got an invite." Her mother explained, but no longer seemed happy about it.

"So I'm meeting with his Majesty tomorrow night?"

"Not like this, we have to get you treated first, and hopefully the marks fade. Listen, you shall not utter a word of this to his Highness, and after you forge an alliance with him, it won't matter anymore once you're married. Come with me." Holding her daughter's wrist, she took her out of her bedroom.

"Find that girl!" She said to her husband with finality.

Annabelle, who was presently being led through the corridor, wanted to smack herself badly in the head. If she knew she'd meet with His Majesty this soon, she wouldn't have hurt herself this much to frame Valda. Chucks told her the intruder looked like a young woman, that information alarmed her senses that she resulted to this, and who else with ulterior motives would break into their home if it wasn't Valda?

Concurrently, in a clearing within the center of a small forest, Valda and Nelson stayed perched on a moss-covered rock, the gentle murmur of the nearby stream providing a soothing backdrop to the peaceful environment.

The sun was fully out by this time, and it casted a warm glow on Valda who happily munched down the pastries Nelson had brought for her. He was practically overworking himself here by going through the documents again, but the silly silver-haired woman was stuffing her mouth with the pastries he brought.

"These are soooo good, Nel!" She glanced at the young man who was busy arranging the files, "did you make them yourself?"

"I didn't have a choice, "he remarked softly, "had to stay up late to make those extras for you, and for the umpteenth time, will you stop doing that in front of me."

Valda, who was busy licking off the cream from her fingers, paused at his nagging. She met his judging stare, but instead of behaving properly like he wanted her to, she leaned into his face and did the same thing with a wide challenging grin.

Nelson's face scrunched into a look of annoyance, he could see she was testing him, but he took out his handkerchief and carefully wiped off the cream on her cheek.

"I honestly have no idea what to do with you," he shook his head with a defeated sigh, meeting her eyes that twinkled with innocence, "Do as you wish as long as it makes you happy."

"Hmph! Even if I was blessed with a second brain, I'll never understand why you're so nice to me." Valda received the handkerchief from him and wiped her hands clean. "Tell me, where you able to go through all of them?"

"Uhm.. yeah. You said you wanted to know about the properties real ownership, right? This is the actual file." He brought out a yellow document, and he explained, "these papers… they tell a different story. Your uncle has always been a wily old fox, and he had you deceived all these years. You won't believe what I found out."

"What do you mean? What did you find out?" Valda inched closer, her pulse quickening at how serious he suddenly sounded, "is something wrong with the file?"

"The Griggs mansion." he inserted, "it was never your uncle's to give away. Your name is on the original file, and this file?" He raised the blue document, "it has your uncle's name and signature. I strongly believe it was a duplicate made, but with his name instead. One of the documents looks far more authentic once you study them together, but you won't notice with just a single document."

"The issuance date does not align, the one with your name holds an older date, and that alone proves its validity. I compared the consistency in property descriptions, and well other pertinent details if you understand. The file with your uncle's name holds too many discrepancies.

"Discrepancies?" Valda blinked confusedly, and it took a while for her to grasp his information, "you mean the file with my uncle's name indicates tampering?"

"Forgery, yes."

Valda practically zoned out at his confirmation. A smile spread across her cheeks after processing everything he just said to her, but it wasn't a happy smile. She was staring into the distance, and a soft disbelievable chuckle escaped her throat.

"All this time, I was suffering in a home that was rightfully mine? They tricked me into believing that I was… and I just—"

She sighed at the realization, "it's because I couldn't read, wasn't it?" Valda glanced briefly at Nelson, "they knew exactly what they had in mind when they stopped my learning all those years. They knew I'd never question the words they whispered into my ear, and it seems… the local office were a part of this, cause how can they not differentiate between what isn't authentic and what is?"

"There's more." Nelson got off the moss-covered rock and extended his hand for her to take.

"I'll tell you in the middle of our walk, come with me."