meet her mother

Author POV

At 9:00 PM, Brandon parked his car in the Elordy family mansion's driveway, then promptly got out and assessed the situation while straightening his white shirt. The handsome man with a thin beard walked towards the main white door and knocked.

After just a few seconds, the door swung open, revealing Juliana who stared at him blankly, not with surprise but with a look of dislike.

"Mr. Elordy isn't here," Juliana, looking slightly pale and tired in her slender figure clad in black and grey attire with neatly tied hair, said flatly.

"I don't want to talk to him, but to you," Brandon replied.

"Speak now, I don't have the authority to have guests at night, it could get me in trouble."

Brandon sighed, then glanced around, noticing the absence of chairs or seating on the porch until he spotted his car again.

"Let's talk in my car," he suggested.

"No," Juliana retorted bluntly. "That would only make it difficult for my masters' children to call me," she added.

"Fine..."

Brandon turned and walked towards the edge of the porch, then sat down there. After a moment, Juliana sat beside him, keeping a distance, but they didn't exchange glances, tension, and awkwardness were evident on their faces.

"I know everything," Brandon whispered in his baritone voice.

"How much do you know?" Juliana asked without turning, but her heart raced, instantly worrying about Victoria and Sophia's fate.

"As far as the core of it."

"Impossible..."

"Nothing is impossible, Victoria has told me," Brandon said, turning to Juliana. "She couldn't hide from me when I saw her again, even without her explaining, I knew that the little girl with her is my daughter!" he continued firmly.

Juliana swallowed her saliva, feeling nervous, now genuinely concerned for Victoria and Sophia.

"I just don't understand why you're so selfish... Hiding my daughter... For so long, until I couldn't even get a chance to see how she grew from a baby to four years old... You act as if I would bring trouble to her..."

"Of course, you would bring trouble!" Juliana exclaimed sharply, cutting off Brandon's sentence. "You don't know how your arrogant mother insulted my daughter, even though you're also at fault... she seems to think that Victoria is just a cunning, despicable, lowly girl, even though she knows that it's you who ruined her life! I can't forget that insult!"

"I didn't ruin her life, not at all!" Brandon asserted.

"Then why did you impregnate her?" Juliana asked. "You made her pregnant when she had to finish her education when she hadn't been acknowledged by you as a girlfriend? Do you think that's not ruining? Eventually, your parents didn't believe that you loved her, even accusing her of deliberately getting pregnant to trap you so she could live as a rich person... Those accusations were painful to me... While my daughter's future is ruined because of you!" She finally let out her anger, then sighed, trying to regain composure.

"Sorry... It's my fault," Brandon murmured anxiously.

"You should have been open about your relationship from the beginning so that my mother wouldn't insult my daughter," Juliana replied with irritation but slowly turned into sadness when memories of Victoria's pregnant days without a husband resurfaced in her mind. "Now my daughter lives in hardship, fear... Your mother never stops hurting her... She tried to distance herself from you, but for some reason, your mother keeps trying to come just to remind her that she won't be a daughter-in-law in your family, and then Sophia will never be part of your family even though she's the first grandchild!"

Brandon nodded sadly, feeling ashamed of his mother's behavior.

"And that's enough to explain that whatever you do now, it will only make Victoria continue to receive insults from your mother, she will suffer," Juliana added.

"I don't want that to happen, but I can't stay away from her because I want to give our daughter the best life, I want to give her love, I want her to feel the presence of a father, and of course, it's also because I love her so much!" Brandon replied, occasionally touching his chest. "Maybe in the past, I couldn't save Victoria because I didn't know where the problem was... There were no clues at all, and then both of you kept hiding... but now I know everything... I can protect her, I can make her happy... I will oppose my mother!"

Juliana fell silent with a serious look on her face, as if contemplating.

"I'm not a five-year-old boy who will obey all my mother's wishes, especially if it's something wrong. I don't care about her anymore, I have everything, and I have the right to give it to my daughter even if she doesn't agree!" Brandon reiterated.

"Are you trying to promise me something?" Juliana asked.

"This is not a promise," Brandon replied, shaking his head. "This is something that works in me starting from today... And actually, you don't need to say whether you agree or not because I have more right to determine my daughter's future."

"What do you mean?"

Brandon turned his face away and looked ahead, remembering Sophia.

"I've already bought a house for her, a car, and anything she needs... And maybe I will stay with her more often," he said.

Juliana immediately widened her eyes. "How can you make that decision without my consent? That means you will live with Victoria too... Living together without a relationship... Are you going to demean her for the second time?" She asked with a mixture of surprise and emotion.

Brandon just remained silent, recalling how Victoria had continuously rejected him, yet he still felt her love.

"Don't use Sophia as a stepping stone to manipulate Victoria again... Maybe now you're living together because she wants to stay with Sophia, then you'll charm her again, then your mother will know and think that Victoria is wrong, thinking Victoria is using Sophia to get you back..."

"Don't keep thinking about my mother!" Brandon interrupted Juliana before she spoke further.

Instantly Juliana fell silent.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude to you." Brandon sighed heavily and turned his face away. "I just... I just don't want to involve my mother in this matter. She's just a source of trouble for us, and I don't care about her anymore. I don't mean to use Sophia... Even from the beginning, when we first met, I asked Victoria to come back to me, but she refused... She always wanted to keep me away from Sophia but I can't accept that... I accepted her rejection but I can't accept if I have to be away from them again... Sophia is something new to me and she has captivated my heart... I can't imagine how to continue living without them."

Juliana remained silent, puzzled.

"Of course, it would be better if Victoria took me back ... So it would be wonderful to see us together, living together as a married couple .... Because we love each other ..." Brandon lowered his gaze, remembering your acceptance a year ago. "And actually, we've never betrayed each other ... We've never really had any issues that kept us apart. We love each other, we're faithful to each other, we even had beautiful plans to get married ... So why can't we be together?" he asked, his eyes teary, unable to hide his sadness anymore.

"Five years, I've been in confusion. And now all that confusion is answered, I want to fix everything ... But my mother has already ruined Victoria's trust in me ... All I can do now is show that I can be a good father to Sophia ... And behind all that, I still hope that she takes me back ... Because I can't love any other girl except her," he said again.

"But your mother ..."

"Don't mention my mother again!" Brandon exclaimed before Juliana could say much. He immediately stood up. "The purpose of my coming here is to inform you that I'm fighting for my rights as Sophia's father. Whether you like it or not, you have to let me give her what she deserves all this time, and if Victoria also lives with us, it's because she doesn't want to be far from Sophia. So never be angry with her ... Never interfere in our affair again ... And if my mother comes here to scold you over this issue, just tell me, I'll deal with her," he continued flatly, then quickly left.

Juliana swallowed her saliva, watching Brandon hastily get into the car.

'What should I do now? Why is it so hard to confront him? Casilla will surely do something bad to Victoria or even Sophia ... He won't be able to take care of them because he won't always be able to be with them, like now,' she thought anxiously.