Albina drew a teasing smile on her lips and said to herself mentally:
“Does she want to put all the blame on Grandma? I wonder how the old lady will feel when she finds out that her eldest son, whom she has been spoiling, has put all the blame on her to please me. She’ll surely die of anger…”
As Albina thought, she noticed that Ramon was looking at her expectantly, so she pretended to have a surprised expression and asked with anxiety and fake curiosity:
-Don’t try to lie to me. I personally heard that you gave the order to Alex to throw me and my mother out.
Hearing this, Ramon became a little nervous and was quick to let out a bitter laugh:
-It was your grandmother who gave me the order, how could I refute her? You know your grandmother raised me and I have always respected her. She forced me to send them away or she would leave. At that point I had no choice but to do it.
This one spoke bitterly and, seeing that Albina was not completely convinced, continued:
-Do you know why your grandmother did not like your father? She was quite strong and capable when she was young, and if she hadn’t unexpectedly gotten pregnant by your father, she wouldn’t be just any old lady now, so she has always held a grudge for what happened.
As he spoke, Ramon handed his niece a photo album he was holding in his hand.
Albina, a bit confused, took it from his hand and opened it to discover that it contained many photos between her father and Ramon.
Some of them were old black and white photos, and were yellowed with age, but there were also photos taken in the last ten years.
In each photo, you could see that Juan and Ramon were close and had a good relationship.
Albina flipped through them one after another, frowning more and more, then looked at her uncle with conflicted eyes and twisted her lips before speaking with some confusion:
-Why are you showing them to me?
Ramon looked at the photo album with some melancholy on his face.
-Your father was my only brother, how was it possible that I didn’t have any family feelings for him? But, because of the pressure from the old woman, I didn’t dare to look for him openly or treat him kindly as an older brother, so we could only see each other in private. All these photos were taken back then, and I have always been keeping them carefully and properly.
After saying that, Ramon looked up to look at Albina, with a loving smile on his face, and continued:
-When you were born, I even secretly went to your house to see you without daring to tell your grandmother. I even offered some of the money to your father for his business.
Listening to her uncle’s nonsense, Albina felt extremely ridiculous and if it wasn’t for her revenge plan, she would burst out laughing loudly and mock him as best she could.
“Bah, you big liar! Ramon, I didn’t expect you to be so good at making up lies, do you think my parents haven’t told me all those things!”
As an only child, Albina’s parents did not merely love and pamper her, but also frequently communicated with her with an egalitarian attitude.
As a child without good judgment, Albina was very naughty and would sneakily throw away food when she didn’t want to eat. One day her mother found this out and talked to her at length about how difficult her father was having a hard time setting up his own business.
During the venture, his father went to beg Ramon and the old woman to lend him some money and promised them that he would pay them back with interest when he succeeded in his business, but the Espina’s, who did not believe that he could achieve success, not only did not lend him money, but even humiliated him in the presence of his mother.
After that day, Albina’s mother hated the Espina family to death.
The money to set up the business was saved by her parents working hard day and night. When Albina was a little older, her mother used to talk about this difficult experience with her, so she knew her father’s difficult undertaking during those years inside out.
“Ramon wants to cheat on me!”
Albina lowered her head and stroked her father in the photo, her gaze softening a bit.
She had seen those pictures before. Her father had cheerfully shown them to her one by one, telling her that the person next to him in the photos was her uncle.
However, these photos had not been taken in the private meetings between Ramo and her father. On the contrary, it had been Albina’s father, in order to ease the strained relationship with the Espina’s, who gave them many benefits, took the initiative to invite them out to meet and took these photos at those few family gatherings.
Her father cherished these photos as if they were the most valuable treasure in the world and would flip through them whenever he was free. When Albina was a child, she was quite mischievous and liked to draw everywhere and would accidentally leave marks on the photos.
Her father was very distressed and reprimanded her. It was the first time her father scolded her, so she remembered it to this day.
Looking at one of the photos, Albina glimpsed a small drawing in the top corner and instantly made a very ugly face.
“This photo album isn’t Ramon’s – it’s Dad’s!”
Albina’s eyes became increasingly indifferent, but since she had her head down, Ramon didn’t notice.
The latter, waiting for Albina’s reaction with great expectation, said cautiously:
-If your father were still alive, I’m afraid he wouldn’t want to see you have such a strained relationship with our family and I think he would certainly want you to return to the Espina family
Hearing him mention her late father, Albina clenched her fists tightly, to such a degree that her fingernails almost dug into her palms.
She would very much like to question Ramon: “How could you do something so cruel to your own brother! Is money really worth more than your younger brother’s life to you!”
But she knew inside that both Ramon and his relatives were greedy and did not understand family feelings at all.
Albina took a deep breath and looked up to look at her uncle, pretending to be moved.
-Ramon, I really didn’t expect you to still keep these photos.
This one had an uneasy conscience, but he didn’t dare to let Albina perceive it and hurried to say:
-Of course. Your father was my only brother after all. We were very close since we were little.
After a brief pause, she continued:
-Girl, your grandmother you know she was wrong. Go home, okay? Let us take care of you and make it up to you.
Albina pursed her lips and shook her head:
-I don’t want to go back now. I’m not ready yet. Please give me some time to adjust.
After saying that, she raised her eyes full of consideration to look at Ramon, as if she was looking at her most respected elder, and said:
-Uncle, I’m so sorry I misunderstood you. I didn’t know I was in such a difficult situation in the Espina family. I’m sorry I said so many bad words to you.
Seeing that the attitude towards him softened quite a bit, Ramon was very glad deep down and was quick to say:
-It’s all right. You are my niece, how can I afford to blame you? I can understand that you don’t want to go home at the moment. But I want you to know that you are always welcome in the Espina family and you can come back at any time…..
After saying this, she showed an embarrassed expression and looked at her niece wanting to say something.
Knowing that her chance had finally come, Albina asked:
-Ramon, what is it?
Only then did Ramon speak a little embarrassed:
-Albina, I feel guilty for you. Your father’s inheritance has been squandered by that damned Alex. Besides, I’ve been fired from my job and lost a lot of money as a result…. If you come back to the Espina family, I’m afraid we are not in a position to give you a good life…. Alas…
Ramon pretended to be embarrassed and regretful in order to gain sympathy, and looked cautiously at Albina.
“Heh, heh, this fox has finally revealed his true intentions. Ramon, I have to admit, your disguise is great.”
After ridiculing her uncle inside, Albina said:
-I’m sorry, Ramon. It’s because of my recklessness that you lost the job. I’ll think of a way to remedy it, okay?
He lowered his head and pretended to think about it for a while before continuing:
-Yesterday, Grandma asked me to look for Umberto to get you a job at the Santangel Group. Well, I’m going to talk to Umberto about it tomorrow.
Hearing this, Ramon got so excited that his hands couldn’t help but tremble.
In his innermost self, he kept exclaiming:
“Ay, this little girl really is as kind and foolish as her cowardly father. With a few good words, she’s already let herself be taken in by me.”
After obtaining the promise from this one, Ramon again said:
-Then I thank you in advance. By the way, your grandmother originally told me to throw away all the things left by your parents, but I’ve been keeping them in the attic secretly.
Albina was really shocked to hear his words.
“Is this guy still keeping my parents’ things?”
But after thinking it over, this didn’t deserve any surprise at all. Her parents had put a lot of effort into decorating this house, using the furniture, curtains and everything of the highest quality. The old lady, with her stingy nature, would surely not throw away any object that was still useful to her.
“Since Ramon has found these pictures of Dad, I’m afraid they should keep most of the things that have value. How nice that Mom and Dad’s items are still in the house!”
Thinking about that, Albina put herself in a good mood.