98. “Yes boss, they won’t leave and we have tried everything,” that was Moses, Mr Philips personal assistant said through the phone.
Since the day they found out that Macy had been the good one in the story all along and that their favourite daughter was the villain, they had felt so remorseful that Mr. Philips could barely go to work. Mrs Philips, the one who was usually and always everywhere, wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
The two, at the command of old Mrs Philips who was now calling the shots, were cooped up inside the house. They couldn’t even show their faces to the world because they were too embarrassed to.
Angela was the person they introduced to everyone as their daughter. In fact, some of their closest friends didn’t know the truth.
The media, the public, the Board of Directors of Philips Enterprises and the authorities were all at their necks. Everyone wanted Angela.
The media – the story would sell and they thrived on such gossip
The public – she had killed a teacher and a child and had lied to them for years that she was a good woman. They felt cheated and maybe throwing some rotten eggs at her would make them feel better and most probably, the humiliation would take back some of the love they had showed her all along.
The Board of Directors – they wanted to know why Angela was a part of the directors of the company seeing that’s she wasn’t a Philips
The police – there was a criminal on the run and maybe, just maybe, they hoped that she would return and they would apprehend her.
All in all, Mr Philips needed to be in the company and face all those people and maybe make peace with some but then again, his mother couldn’t let him.
“Sebastian, explain it to me. How did that… that… how did she end up as a director in the company? I told you time and again to give those shares to Macy but you wouldn’t! You lied to me you unfilial son!
I told you from the moment Macy came to this hose that she was a good girl and you wouldn’t listen to me. All along I thought that that child was happy and look at what you idiots did to her!
Meimei, do you call yourself a mother? What have you done to your own blood? She is the spitting image of you buy you threw her out for a murderer. That crazy bitch killed my grandson and made my baby suffer for eight years!
I want her body in a polythene bag and in a million pieces!” Mama Philips was shouting herself horse and then she sighed heavily when she realized that shouting at those two could not change anything as the damage was done but she was going to punish them.
In fact, her punishment was on the way and they would regret messing with her granddaughter.
“A good thing is that I hadn’t relinquished the company totally to you. Otherwise…” she said with another sigh.
“Mama, please don’t get angry. Remember your heart,” her daughter in law tried but Mama Philips gave her a side eye.
“Don’t mama me because I am done with you two. And even if I die, it will be both your faults,” she said making the two cower.
It was at that moment, Robert or as he was commonly referred to as, Bob, who was old mama Philips right hand man and confidante whom she had worked with for years decided to show up.
He was carrying papers and files as usual and he greeted the three respectively.
“Are the documents done?” Old mama Philips asked.
“Yes ma’am, they are done,” he said as he sat beside her on the couch and started getting papers from the files he was carrying.
“Good. Good. This is good work Bash. Thank you very much.
Now, you two, take these and sign them,” she ordered the two who were just looking at them without realizing what was happening.
“What are they mom?” Her son asked.
“Document one allows you to denounce that leach as a Philips and we will strike her name off our family tree and the second one is for you to temporarily relinquish your shares in the company to your legitimate daughter and the only heir this family has, Macy Smith-Philips,” mama Philips said and the two looked at her with their eyes bobbing out as if they wanted to run away from their sockets and their mouths agape.
“Mom!”
“Mama!”
They both called her after a while.
The old woman was arranging the documents in order on the table and she looked at them.
“What? And oh, she may choose to give you your shares back if you don’t behave yourselves and the conditions are all here.
Make sure you read them well because it means that your rights to the company may be taken off by the person I am giving full rights to the company,” Old mama said and Sebastian had had enough.
“Mom, Macy is just a child and you know that she isn’t fit to run the company,” Sebastian lamented and his mother gave him a long look that made him cower back into the seat wondering what she was thinking.
“Let me ask you Sebastian, have you ever taken your time to know anything about your daughter? Tell me honestly, how much do you know her?” mama Philips asked her son who couldn’t answer that question.
He could remember the first day he saw her and he thought how beautiful she looked.
He married Meimei Wang because of her beauty and this daughter looked exactly like the love of his life. But a few days into her living in the mansion, his wife started telling him negative things about their daughter.
She was misbehaved, badly mannered, uneducated and humiliated them wherever they went. Her behavior and mannerisms became so bad that they stopped taking her to any events especially after she humiliated them at the annual celebrations of the company with all the Board members, selected guests and all workers present.
But now thinking about it, he had never seen her become rude to any of them or seen her humiliate them and everything he knew about her were just reports he was receiving either from his wife or from Angela.
“I am sorry mama,” he finally said after realizing that his mother was right.
He was a bad father who had failed to protect both his daughter and son from a killer he had brought up himself.
“Don’t apologize to me. I am the wrong the person and not the one you need to apologize to,” she said and he hang his head in shame.
“Consider this your punishment and warning. If you mistreat that girl again or I catch a whiff that one of you is thinking of mistreating her, your names will be stricken off of the family registry.
Are we clear?” She asked and they both looked at her without saying anything.
“Okay. Seems we aren’t. Bob, go back and do what I had told you first before you pleaded for them. Strike them off of the registry, sue them for mistreating my granddaughter and gather as much evidence as you can and get a lawyer that will make them sign over their shares to me without a single penny.
I also want to sue them for the years they and their daughter have stayed in my house, eating my food and using my amenities without pay.
Finally, freeze their accounts and make sure that they don’t access even the cash they have hidden in the saves in their bedroom and office.
Oh, that wasn’t final. Finally, get me strong bodyguards because for all you know, they might be killers just like that daughter of theirs,” she finished and stood up with Bob’s help.
She stretched and looked at Bob again, “hurry up. If it can be done within two days, I would be very grateful.
I want them evicted from my property,” she finished without looking at them.
She didn’t even care that they were sitting there and just treated them like air.
On the other hand, the two were looking at their mother who had always treated them like kings with disbelief in their eyes.
For Sebastian, words failed him. He saw his world crumble right before their eyes.
Mrs Philips imagined herself without all the jewelry and expensive clothes she always wore and even before her body could fathom what her body was telling her to do, she slid from the couch and fell on her knees.
She turned and looked at her husband who was too stunned to speak and pulled him and he followed her don to his knees.
She kowtowed and kept her head down.
“Mother, we are sorry and very regretful for all we have done. We will sign the documents and support our daughter in everything she will do, we promise,” Meimei said and she chanced a look at her husband and he was just kneeling there like a fool and she raised her hand and smacked him upside his head and he followed her down and his head reached the ground with a thud.