1 Chapter 1: Zelma's Story

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I woke up in the middle of the night due to the heavy rains outside, still caught up in a dilemma of how it all happened.

I know my stepmom didn't like me because she felt like I was a threat to Lia, my half sister, so she planned all sorts of things to get me out of the way but I can't believe her plan worked. How could they be so inconsiderate by accepting the proposal of the Rhodes family? How could they sell me out to the Rhodes family in exchange for the family vineyards and a couple of millions?

I know that the family vineyards are very

important to the Montgomery family, my family, because it was passed down to my father by many generations before us but wasn't there any other way to negotiate with the Rhodes family? They just had to sell me out to them.

The most disheartening part is that, they sold me to Lucius Rhodes, who is rumored to be an arrogant and cold CEO.

He is the heir of the Rhodes Real Estate and Architectural Firm, which specialise in land acquisition, building construction and selling of houses and needed to expand their business by buying more plots of land to build more houses on. Unfortunately, my family vineyards was part of those plots of land.

I was against the idea of selling me off to them when I first heard the news just because the Rhodes family asked for one of the Montgomery daughters because, according to them, he had no interest in women hence, stayed single.

My family vineyard was a place I had my happiest and saddest memories. My family produced one of the best wines in G Country on that land. We grow strawberries, blueberries, apples and grapes on the vineyard which we process into different flavors of wine.

My happiest day on the vineyard was my tenth birthday. My mom was very much alive then and that was the last birthday I spent with her. She fell very ill and joined the heavenly choir two weeks after my tenth birthday. My mom's death was indeed a shock, since I found it very hard to believe. Especially the fact that she had been battling leukemia for two good years without me knowing. No wonder she had lost so much hair. She collapsed on the day of my party which crashed the whole party but I wasn't angry because she was my mom and her health was more important to me. She went into a coma upon reaching the hospital. She woke up eight days after which made me very elated because she had woken up after being virtually asleep for what seemed like years to me but was actually days in reality. She gave up her ghost . I was heartbroken and wrecked by now only my mom's death but also to the fact that my my dad married Monica, my stepmom, right after my mom's death and found out that they had a child together who was older than me as she was born during my mom and dad's marriage. I was heartbroken to the extent of attempting to commit suicide which takes the intervention of my one and only friend, whom I lost contact with since she moved out of the neighborhood along with her family, to make me give up on that idea. Ever since, my life became a living hell.

After my stepmom and dad's marriage , I then found out that, indeed living without a mother was difficult because she made me a maid in my own father's house. While I worked like an animal all day, Lia, would play with her friends or sleep all day.

Eventually, she manipulated my dad into hating me and he eventually sold me off to the Rhodes family.

I kept asking myself how they could give my hand out to the Rhodes family when my life hasn't even began yet. I was still in university for goodness sake.

I eventually fell into slumber while pondering over this matter.