Chapter 1 Flight Back Home

• 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.