YOKED TO A BILLIONAIRE BY VENNEH LISAH

At that moment, Barbra's phone rang. When she saw who the caller was, her face changed, and she immediately gave another hand signal.

The two bodyguards stopped in their tracks immediately.

"Martin!" Barbra quickly took the call.

"Barbra, are you with Violla?" Martin asked.

His question took Barbra by surprise. She raised her head to look at Violla. Her eyes were cold, but her voice sounded sweet. "She told you about it?"

"Yes. Violla told me you asked her for lunch." Martin happily continued, "Before I left, I told you to take care of her. You definitely did not let me down."

"Of course, I have to take good care of your sweetheart." Barbra's smile looked forced. "How is it over there? Is the weather in West Nation good?"

"It's alright. Barbra, Violla is alone there, and I am worried about her. If you find out that she is having any difficulties in work or life, do try to help her," her cousin requested.

"Sure, I understand."

"Pass the phone and let me speak to her," Martin asked.

"Okay." With that, Barbra pushed the phone to the other woman.

Violla walked over and answered the phone. Turning it to speaker mode, she greeted, "Martin!"

"Violla, where are you ladies eating?"

When Martin was speaking to Violla, he sounded extra gentle.

"At Diamond," Violla replied. "Franklin comes to this restaurant quite often."

"Oh, I see." Martin paused for a moment in confusion before he asked, "I heard that he is divorced?"

"I think so." Violla glanced at Barbra, who had an ugly expression on her face. The latter frantically gestured for her not to reveal too much.

"I also heard that…" Martin trailed off. "Nevermind. Violla, you don't have to be so polite to Barbra. She is my cousin, so she is also your sister. If you need anything, you can just let her know, and she will do as instructed. Right, Barbra?"

"Yes," Barbra replied as soon as she heard her name. Then, she deliberately mocked, "How can I not listen to the words of my future sister-in-law?"

"Stop messing around," Martin scolded. "Alright, I shall not disturb your ladies now. Violla, my hotline is open to you all day. If you need anything, feel free to call me anytime."

"Yes, sure. Be mindful of your health and take care," after Violla spoke, the call ended.

She passed the phone back to Barbra.

"A smart move." Barbra glared at Violla. "How dare you use my cousin as your shield?"

"You are a dangerous person, so I have to do that." Violla growled, "Barbra, I have never hurt you, but you treated me like your enemy. You had an affair with Franklin, but you blamed it on me. Additionally, you even made Leila harm me. I have yet to settle the scores with you, and you want to threaten me? Do you think I am a pushover?"

"You never thought of harming me? I see that you have forgotten all about what happened." Gritting her teeth, Barbra seethed, "Back then, I wrote a love letter to Franklin, but he used it to lift the foot of your table.

"I prepared a lunchbox for him, but he gave it to you instead. In the end, you fed it to the dogs.

"I gave Franklin so much, but he never looked my way. Everything I did for him went to you. Do you understand the pain and sadness I went through? Is this not harming me?"

"You are blaming me for all that?" Violla asked in disbelief.

"Of course, you are to be blamed. Without you around, Franklin would probably love me from the start." Barbra stubbornly insisted, "You have destroyed my dreams of having a beautiful first love.Regardless, life is fair. Your family business soon went downhill. I exhausted all my means to announce the bankruptcy of Milan's Corporation and caused your engagement to be called off. Despite that, I never imagined that you would be so foolish to be deceived by Leila, who took advantage of the situation and reaped all the benefits from it.

"I hated you for four long years. After those four years, I finally found the opportunity to use you to destroy his marriage with Leila by making her turn against you. Finally, my goal has been achieved, and Franklin is finally mine!"

Violla was struck dumb. "You're the one who leaked the information about our family? You did all that behind our back?"

"That's right. I did it," Barbra admitted. "Your father might have declared bankruptcy, but he was capable of hiding this from everyone, including the Stanley family. Initially, they even thought that they could benefit from working closely with your family."

"But once the information got out, the Stanley family immediately regretted. Franklin, too, ditched you. Eventually, Amira and Leila tricked you and caused you to lose everything. I was glad to see how things turned out, and seeing your clueless and dumb face made me happy. But too bad,Leila got ahead of me and married Franklin."

Violla gritted her teeth. "But Franklin is yours now. You could have taught Leila a lesson if you wish to instead of destroying her. Why did you do that?"

"Excuse me?" Barbra immediately spoke in a more hostile manner. "I've never done anything against the law, and you have no evidence against me. You better don't test my patience. I'm warning you!"

"You'll get what you deserve," Violla said and turned to leave.

"Don't you want to know who ruined your father's life?" Barbra asked all of a sudden.

Violla stopped walking, but she did not turn around. "What makes you think I'll believe you?"

"Make your own judgment then. I'm sure you're not an idiot." Barbra took out a letter and said, "Your father wrote this to my cousin, and I have a copy of it. I'm sure you can recognize your father's handwriting, right?"

Violla took a glance at the letter and hesitated for a moment, but decided to turn around.

Just when she was about to retrieve the letter, Barbra retracted her hand and raised her brows. "What can I get in return for giving you this letter?"

"What do you want from me?" Violla asked icily.

I want you to stay away from Franklin," Barbra said condescendingly. "Even if he wants to see you, you have to think of ways to avoid him!"

"You don't have to tell me that. I don't even want to see him anymore," Violla said with disdain.

"And stay away from Martin," Barbra added.

"That should be least of your worries."

Violla knew what was on her mind. Blacks family business depended heavily on Martin, and she would not allow anyone to sabotage her relationship with Martin.

Barbra was worried that Violla might destroy that relationship if the she decided to be with Martin.

That was why Barbra had to be mindful of Violla.

"You better not break your promise." Barbra then gave her the letter. "I'll destroy you if you dare. I still know your other secrets, mind you."

A line formed between Violla's brows. "What secrets?"

"You'll know on the day you break your promise." Barbra let out a mirthless laugh. "You're one lucky women, Violla. "You have both Davon and my cousin on your side, so I'll spare you for now. But if you ever try stepping on my toes…"

Barbra squinted her eyes and gave Violla a sullen glare.

Violla did not know what kind of dirt Barbra had on her, but she decided to ignore that vicious woman.She just wanted to stay away from her.

As Violla walked away, Barbra looked at her back and put on a baffling smile.

Barbra's assistant, who had been observing their interaction, asked, "Why did you give her the letter, Miss. Black?

"If you want her to stay away from Mr. Stanley and Mr. Black, you should have just let her be with the man who killed her father."

"What do you know?" Barbra glowered. "She being close with Davon will only pose a greater threat to our future."

With the letter in her hand, Violla left in a hurry. She opened and read it after she reached home.

The letter read: Hope this letter finds you well, Martin. I decided to write to you because I can't think of anyone else who can take good care of Violla.

We're living in a dog-eat-dog world, and it can be cruel. This is why I've been steering Violla away from the business world.

I want her to live a carefree life, but I can't be there for her anymore.

I've always been very fond of you because you're a simple man with a pure heart.

Unfortunately, we can't control how someone feels, like how I, the father, can't stop Violla from falling in love with Franklin, even though I knew that's a bad choice.

I can't help her make life decisions. She has to experience it herself and find the best answer on her own.

I know I'm selfish for asking your help, but I have no other options. Please take care of Violla on my behalf!

Whenever she's in trouble, please lend her a helping hand!

She's the only person I worry about the most. I'm afraid people like the Romans will take advantage of her when I'm not around anymore.

I hope my passing can bring all the hostility and resentment to an end. I don't want the younger generation to suffer anymore.

I'd probably be gone by the time you read this letter. Please note that I decided to end my life of my own accord.

I have to do this to protect Violla.

Take good care of Violla for me, Martin. Please keep an eye on her and make sure she stays away from the Romans family so she can live an ordinary life.

The letter ended.

Violla was utterly stunned. Martin had told her many times to stay away from the Romans family, but all his warnings fell on deaf ears.

No wonder Martin had always been hostile toward Davon and stirred up a lot of misunderstandings. Violla had always thought Martin acted in such a manner because he was jealous, but then, she finally knew there was more to that than meets the eye.

'The Romans family was father's arch-enemy?'

The letter stated the rivalry between the two families.

His father even wrote that the reason he sacrificed his life was to protect her from the Romans family.

'What was it all about?'

Violla could hardly breathe at that point. She clenched her chest and tried to calm herself down.

Instead of letting her emotions get the better of her, she started analyzing the situation more objectively. Business rivalry might not be the sole reason for all that had happened, she believed. Something else must have happened between the two families.

'But what exactly is it?Why didn't Davon tell me anything? Unless he is not aware of it? Furthermore this letter doesn't indicate that Davon killed him. My father ended his own life but what triggered that? '

Violla unconsciously crumpled the letter. She thought for a while and decided to confront Davon when he returned.

Yet, he did not come back.

On and off, Violla peeped out of the window to check if Davon was home, but he did not appear.

Violla waited until three in the morning and fell asleep on the couch with a quilt in her arms.

At one point, a nightmare jolted her awake. She dreamt that Davon pushed her father off a building. It was so terrifying that she broke into cold sweat.

She opened her eyes, looked around, and realized she was the only one at home. The clock struck six, yet Davon was still not home.

Violla could not help but sent him a text: Are you coming back?

Davon did not reply.

She sent him another text: Something happened?

Again, he left her hanging.

'Perhaps D'barl is not feeling well, and Davon had to take care of him.I'm sure he'll be back.'

Violla kept the letter away and went downstairs to prepare breakfast for the children.

During breakfast, Ryan asked, "Mommy, I tried calling grandpa on the phone, but his phone was off. We're worried about him. Do you have any news about Grandpa?"

"Nope." Violla rubbed Ryan's head gently. "Don't worry. I'm sure a lot of people are taking good care of grandpa."

"You're right, mommy." Ryan lowered his head and pouted.

"Why don't you call your ex-boss, Mommy?" Jason suggested, "He's grandpa's grandson, right? I'm sure he can tell us more."

"But…" Violla thought about it and said, "He's a busy man. I'm not sure if he'll answer my call, but let's try."

"Erm. Let's see what else we can do." Ryan put on his thinking cap.

"What is it?" Violla then gave him a serious look. "Grandpa will call when he feels better, so do not disturb him. You hear me?"

"Okay, Mommy." Ryan nodded.

"Come on, the school bus is going to be here soon," the medical staff urged.

"Okay."

The three children put down the utensils and put on their jackets and their bags. They waved their Mommy goodbye and left with the medical staff.

After bidding farewell to them at the elevator, Violla went home and remembered what the children said. She sent Davon another text message: Are you all right? Text me or call me when you read my message.

She waited a while but still did not get a reply.

'Did something bad happen to him?' Violla was worried.

'Or is Mr. Old Roman really under the weather?'

As someone who grew up in a prominent family, Violla knew how chaotic a powerful family would become when the patriarch fell ill.

Not only would news like that instantly cause the Romans Group's share price to fluctuate, but it also would attract the Romans family members to fight for the inheritance.

D'barl might have appointed Davon as his successor, but the fact that he was not married and did not have his parents by his side could put him at a disadvantage. Besides, being a loner in the family would not do him any good as he would need to fight the battle on his own.

While Violla was worried about the battle that Davon had to go through, she was still waiting for him to explain the things her father wrote in the letter. 'What exactly happened between the Milan's and Romans?

'And didn't father mention anything about this in his letter to me?'

All of a sudden, Olympia called. "Hey, are you all right? Miss Faith told me something happened last night."

"Yeah, we had an accident, but I'm okay."

"That incident made headlines in social media, and netizens pinned the blame on both the Black and Stanley families. Everything has been blown out of proportion."

Hearing that, Violla froze for a moment. As someone who seldom used social media, she had no idea that it had snowballed into a big issue.

She took out her phone and started checking the news on social media. It was all about how Leila was assaulted after she went to the banquet hall to look for Franklin. The news also mentioned how Barbra humiliated her publicly.

Now netizens pointed fingers at Franklin and Barbra, and they called Franklin a heartless man and Barbra a homewrecker. They also claimed that Barbra was the mastermind who orchestrated the assault.

The news even included a flashback on Franklin's s*x scandal. A few months ago, the media thought the woman he had s*x with was his secretary, but now, everyone knew it was Barbra!

The news explained everything in detail and provided solid evidence to support their claims. This had led netizens to sympathize with Leila and berate Franklin and Barbra.

Clearly, the person who stirred up that chaos was Amira. She must have resorted to that kind of dirty trick when she knew she could not take Franklin and Barbra down.

Now that Leila's life had been destroyed, Amira would definitely make them pay the price.

Of course, it would take her a lot of courage to tell the world that her daughter was a victim of assault.