Chapter 1 Last night calls

Late night calls, it was the last thing that someone wanted to receive especially if you are a Mexican and you are not leaving there but more than a hundred miles away.

The only set of people that can make late night calls are the most important people in the life of an individual; the first people that an individual associates with before moving out to the world- familia.

That was why Bella was really alarmed and worried when she was woken up by the ringing of her phone at midnight.

"Tio Philip" she called when the call was connected.

"Bell, you need to come home tomorrow, it is very urgent" was the reply of Bella's uncle.

"What is going on uncle?" She asked but he just told her to obey him and ended the call.

Bella kept the phone back on the table close to her bed and started thinking about the call.

"Why did Tio Philip call me this late?.What could have happened?" Bella thought but she couldn't come up with anything.

She got up and went to her kitchen and drank some water hoping it would calm her down.

It didn't help though so she then walked back to her room and sat on the bed, a quick glance at the calendar on her table rang something in her mind.

"Yeah that's right, tomorrow is the court hearing" she thought.

"That must be why he was coming towards me, gosh he should have said so," Bella muttered.

She then took a deep breath and took her phone from the table, she booked a flight and slept off.

The next morning she woke up by 5:00 am and started packing her clothes.

By 7:00 am she was already ready and she came out of her room with her bags.

"Going somewhere Ella?" her landlady who was coming to her room asked.

"Yeah, there is something going on at home," she replied.

"Okay, take care of yourself, I wanted to ask you something but I guess it will wait" the landlady said and hugged her.

"Thank you ma" Bella replied.

They broke up the hug and she dragged her bag downstairs and entered a cab to the airport.

Bella's flight was leaving at 8:30 and she arrived at the airport at half past seven. She had to wait for another hour and then boarded the plane.

It was then that she remembered she didn't tell her friend Riley that she was travelling.

"Shit, I will call her when we land" she thought then proceeded to switch off all her gadgets.

After a five hour flight the flight finally landed in Mexico city and the passengers boarded out of the plane.

Bella went to the baggage reclaim immediately and took her bags.

She came out of the airport and boarded a cab straight to her family house.

It was on her way home that she then called her best friend Riley, "oh my goodness, I wish that I saw you before you go" Riley said.

"It is fine, Rile, I will be back soon in no time" Bella replied.

"New York won't be the same without you, Ella. Anywhere I will just hang on till you come back, love you".

"Love you too, another call is coming I am going to hang up" she said and ended the call.

She then answered the other call, "hello Tio Philip"

"Are you in Mexico now?" He asked and she told him yes that she was on her way.

"Be fast, everybody is waiting for you" her uncle said and ended the call.

"Everybody is waiting for me?, this has never happened before," she thought.

After a thirty minute drive, the cab arrived at her family house and she got out and dragged her bags in.

Their house was strangely quiet when she walked in, there was no sign of the puppies which were owned by her mother.

She had a weird feeling but she shook it out and walked into the entrance door.

"Oh, sweet Bella !" a woman in her sixties exclaimed and hugged her when she entered the house.

"Señora Conti, I missed you so much," Bella replied and hugged her tighter.

Señora Conti was the head maid in the house and was very fond of Gemma.

They heard footsteps and then broke the hug, "Tio Philip" Ella said and walked towards her uncle.

He reached him and hugged him and he hugged her back.

"Sobrina, I hope that your flight was great" Tio Philip asked.

"It was fine," she replied.

He then released her and looked at her, "how about New York?.

"New York is fine too, what is going on, Tio?"

"Come, you will find out later" he replied and led her to the living room.

Bella was expecting to see her lovely parents in the living room but she was disappointed.

She was greeted by her cousins and her other family members when they entered the living room.

"Sit down, Bell" Tio Philip ordered and she sat down.

He sat down too and began, "we called you here because of something important, Bell".

"Before we start discussing that, where is mamá and papa?" Bella asked.

"You need to listen to me first..."

"No, anything that you want to say to me must be heard by every member of the family but mamá and papá are not here. That is a total disrespect to them and..."

"Your mamá and papá are dead!" Tio Philip snapped.

Have you ever been in a situation where you heard something but you are just wishing that you heard that wrong.

That was exactly how Bella felt when she heard her uncle say those words.

She looked around trying to read the expressions of the people sitting in the living room.

"They must be pulling a prank at me, yeah it is expensive but I want it to be a prank" she thought but her uncle then said something that shattered her heart into pieces.