“I’m sure deep in your heart you know. How we in the family have treated you in the past, is it not clear to you? Now that you are about to become the young lady of the Giordano family, as soon as Mother brings me here to you at the hotel to say a few words, you immediately start to get impatient? What do the words you just said mean? You think Mother just wants money, don’t you? I want to tell you that we don’t care at all!”
Aurora was really very angry, because their fate so unfairly made her feel as if God had ignored her, her mother did her best before she managed to calm her down, but who would have thought her daughter would get angry again?
“Aurora, you don’t have to talk in circles.” The mother quickly grabbed her arm and approached her, “What did you promise mother before you came?”
“But mom, don’t you see how arrogant she is and now she hasn’t joined the Giordano family yet, once she does, don’t you think she will step on our toes?”
Serena listened to the side a little helplessly; she had just woken up and didn’t have much energy.
She had no intention of confronting them head-on, however, she also did not like that every time her mother appeared before her she mentioned those past events, they had been relatives for so many years, how could Serena not have known what her mother wanted?
The woman only wanted money.
From the time she had taken three hundred thousand euros onward, she had always wanted to get money from her, including the tens of thousands of euros from her savings that she had taken from her.
“Serena, you just said that you would not treat me unfairly and that the Giordano family would give me what I am entitled to, is that true?” The mother did not resent her daughter’s words, for in her heart and mind there was only money. Four or five days had already passed, and of the five million she had been promised, she had not yet seen a single euro, so she was deeply impatient.
It wasn’t that Giulia didn’t want that five million, but she thought she could have had more, after all, the Giordano family was so rich that she could have gotten more.
“Mom!” Aurora was furious, she contracted her lips and said, “Don’t ask her for money, look at her, we don’t want that money!”
“Aurora, shut up! What do you understand?”
Giulia pulled her youngest daughter to one side and continued herself, “Serena, mother is not venial, however since she raised you for so many years, indeed she has merit. At first Mr. Giordano said he would give me five million, but think about it… Besides raising you, didn’t I also guarantee you all the conditions to study? Besides, if it were not for Aurora, you would not have become Mrs. Ferrari, you see all these were indirect aids we gave you, weren’t they?
Serena understood from his words that he was asking her for money, because he had little money.
“Mrs. Gallo, how much money do you think the Giordano family should give you?”
Hearing those words, Giulia’s eyes lit up, “Actually I don’t need that much, fifty million is enough, besides Aurora is your sister, I hope in the future the Giordano family can take care of her.”
Fifty million…
Serena opened her eyes wide and smiled weakly, “You are overestimating my value, why don’t you sell me to the Giordano family and see if you can get fifty million that way? When my mother, at the time, sold me to the Ferrari family, she didn’t get this amount, right?”
“This…”
Giulia stood still for a moment, at that time when she had joined through marriage to the Ferrari family, she had indeed received money, but it was definitely not fifty million.
Thinking about this, Giulia promptly said, “Now it’s not like before, at that time you were on your second marriage, you know? But now it’s different, you are the natural daughter of the Giordano family, you can get more.”
Serena was speechless.
Aurora, who, on the side, heard this conversation, could not help but bite her lower lip and go wide-eyed, “Mom, do you mean that–when Serena entered the Ferrari family through marriage she was sold? If it had not been her, the person who would have married would have been me and I too would have been sold?
Hearing her daughter’s words, the expression on Giulia’s face changed, “Aurora, things did not turn out the way you think, what does selling mean? How do you speak? It’s about dowry — when you marry someone you have to receive a dowry, okay? The Ferrari family is very big and the value of the dowry is very high, who would give their daughter in marriage without receiving a dowry?”
Serena continued to stand by the wall, having no reaction.
“Dowry? To get your daughter married you wanted an exorbitantly valuable dowry, now you want to sell it at a high price, right?” Mrs. Gallo, rest assured, go ahead and return home today, when I have some concrete news, I will be sure to inform you.”
As he spoke these words, a mocking smile formed at the corners of his mouth and in his eyes.
She was not, however, mocking someone else, but rather herself.
Perhaps it was she who had not been a good daughter, in fact she had been a failure, and so her mother had thought countless times of using her as a means to get money instead of caring what she thought or whether she was alive or dead.
Julia hearing that Serena was going to inform her about the situation, although at first she was not happy deep in her heart about the tone of her words, at that moment her sadness vanished, she nodded and said, “Then remember to let me know, I’ll be back home waiting to hear from you, don’t take too long, eh. You know the tax collectors are scary too, if I’m late maybe you might not see me again.”
Serena did not utter a word, but only looked at her with a cold gaze.
After a moment, Julia looked as if embarrassed and coughed faintly, saying, “I’ll go back home then, right, you’re bored here alone, aren’t you? I can get Aurora to stay here and keep you company.”
Serena would have liked to say it was unnecessary, but when her gaze fell on her sister, her heart softened, again.
No matter what happened, to her they were just husband and wife of the Gallo family, they had nothing to do with her.
Aurora had never known that she was not her blood sister.
Serena had always considered herself stubbornly, as her rightful sister.
Thinking of this, she did not add anything more and after Julia left, Aurora stood alone in the same place where she was before, looked at her for a moment and suddenly spoke, “You don’t like me, how come you allow me to stay?”
Hearing those words, Serena strangely sighed, “Aurora, I would like to ask you, the fact that I am not the natural daughter of the Gallo family, did you know this from childhood?”
The girl opened her eyes wide, “How is it possible, they hid it from me too, I also only learned about it recently!” After uttering that sentence, Aurora’s heart was very tried, “I’m really mad as hell, of course you are the young lady of the Giordano family, they brought you home and over the years they will spend so much money on you, why isn’t that person me?”
These last words he had more like muttered them in an unclear way, Serena had not been able to hear them well, but even if they were unclear, she understood that the tone was rather angry or something like that and, helplessly, he approached her.
“I know you have considered me a real sister all these years, but they are different, they had always known that I was not their natural daughter, so they made me do many things for you.”
“Of course I know your heart is very tried, but an older sister has to take care of the younger one, even in case they are blood sisters!”
“Aurora, in this world there is nothing taken for granted, including relatives, if I treat you well, it is not because I am your sister, but because I truly consider you as such and for that reason I am willing to accommodate you and be understanding. It’s not because you think I have to, you know what I mean?”