Chapter 20

Christopher thanked Carl and held Ingrid closer to him, "Don't worry miss Ingrid, You are safe now, let's go home." Ingrid was silent. She was a little traumatised but Christopher insisted that she would be okay. They drove back home, where Mrs. Brown made Ingrid some soup and prepared a nice warm bath for her.

Christopher called Giovanni and explained everything that had happened; "You should have gone into the mall with her!" Giovanni yelled. "I'm so sorry boss, it will never happen again. It's just that she insisted that she would feel better if she went alone," Christopher explained. Giovanni sighed and told him that he would try to get off work early, "I'm just glad that the threat is under arrest."

Later that evening, Giovanni was getting ready to leave and go back home, but first, he stopped to send James a text; "Hey bro, I just want to say, thank you so much what happened today. Do tell Carl that he has my deepest thanks for being there on time to save the love of my life. Have a goodnight bro."

On his way back home, he couldn't but wonder how Ingrid was feeling, "She's probably too traumatised to even go anywhere tonight, I wasn't there to protect her, Its already evening, I'm late, she won't be talking to me for a while," he thought.

He finally got home and parked his car, his anxiety level rising, all he wanted was to be closer to her. "Ingrid!!" he yelled as he opened the door. "Good evening, Vanni," Mrs. Brown walked up to him. "Where is she? I need to see her," he went into the bedroom but he didn't find her there. He walked out and went back to Mrs. Brown, "Did she go out?" he asked. Mrs. Brown was about to speak when she heard a voice, "I hope you don't mind me using the mirror in the room upstairs, I wanted to check myself," Ingrid said as she stood on the staircase.

Giovanni's mouth dropped, it's like he saw an angel, her hair was curled and it fell over her shoulders, the dress she wore matched the ginger colour in her head, her simple V-necklace was stunning like it was made just for her neckline. She walked down the stairs slowly and carefully, "what do you think?" she asked. Giovanni took her by the hand and kissed it, "You look beautiful, my Ingrid." The pencil dress brought out the shape of her thin hourglass body.

Giovanni placed his hands around her waist and kissed her forehead, "I was so worried about you, my love. I don't want to lose someone as precious as you." Ingrid held his face up and gave him a peck on his lips, "what matters is that I'm okay and I'm here now. So, lets celebrate and...take me for that dinner date."

Kate was calling Clover's number, she tried a couple of times but he wasn't picking up. Kate made herself something to eat and she sat down to watch some tv;

"Apparently there was a shooting at the Apollo Bay mall. The victim was a woman who once worked for Clover Williams. This man had threatened to shoot her and her driver in the car park if anyone interfered in his business. Fortunately, the police got there early enough and saved the victim, with the criminal being put in cuffs after sustaining an injury on his arm from the...."

Kate yelled after she saw Clover being taken into the police car, "Its happening! it's all happening! And it's all because of that Idiot, Ingrid!"

Suddenly, the telephone rang, "Hello? Is anyone there?" the voice said, "Yes, who is this?" Kate responded. "We are Clover's parents, he is our son, who are you?" they asked. Kate wanted to sound sweet and innocent to gain the sympathy from Clover's parents just in case they would take her in. "I am Clover's girlfriend, he asked me to move into this house yesterday but when I got here, he wasn't home. I'm so sorry about what happened to your son, he gave me a home when I had nowhere to go," Kate said while sobbing.

"Oh sweety, thank you so much. However, as his parents we are quite disappointed in him for all this. You said he gave you a home? Have you got nowhere else to go? Because we plan on putting that house on rent," Clover's parents told Kate that the only way they could help her was if she paid rent every month. They couldn't just let her stay for free because they didn't know who she was exactly.

"So, when am I due to pay my rent?" Kate asked, "You could just pay at the end of the month, dear. We won't stress you much. That way, you can even find a better job if the one that you have isn't paying you much," they said. Kate agreed and hang up in anger, "fuck! Now I have to get a real job. Clover is in jail so the strip club has been shut down. Ah! I'm going to regret this!"

*phone rings*

"Hello, Matilda here, what can I..."

"Matilda, it's me, Kate...."

Matilda chuckled, she knew what had happened. It made her feel good when she was right and people came back begging. Matilda asked Kate what the call was all about. "Listen, I'm not here to hear you tell me that you told me so. I just want to let you know that I'm in on helping you plan out your stupid idea. But before I actually carry those plans out, my conditions are that you help me pay my rent when I demand the money," Kate said.

She told Matilda everything that had happened between her and Clover's parents and explained that she needed the help in the meantime. "Your rent is not an issue, I'll send you six months rent money to pay in advance, because our plan will take a lot of strategy, spying and thinking before we do anything. Also, I'll need time to buy two guns," Matilda said.

Immediately, money was credited into Kate's account and she got a notification. "Sweet!" she thought. Kate and Matilda made a deal. Now all she had to do was pay the rent and get a peace of mind.

***

"Ingrid, I see no reason why I should waste any time. For it is clear to see that you, my sunshine, are the only one for me," Giovanni started. "Oh, you have no idea how grateful I am to have you in my life, Giovanni," Ingrid said. Giovanni pulled his chair and stood up from his seat. He got down on one knee and the slow music playing in the restaurant died down. Everyone turned their heads to see what was happening.

"I will do anything to make your dreams come true, because I love you. Ingrid Kramer, will you marry me?"

Giovanni opened a red case to reveal a beautiful diamond ring. Ingrid gasped, she could not believe it. She started to drop tears as she stood up from her seat, the audience in shock, she turned away from Giovanni but turned back and smashed her lips into his;

"Yes, yes I will marry you!"

The crowd applauded. Giovanni wiped a tear from his eye and gave his bride to be a tight hug.

Not so long after that day, a wedding was held in the church. Ingrid got to meet Giovanni's sister and she got his mother's blessings. Even on that day, no one would have ever guessed that a lady like her once had a past as dark as the most evil hour of the night. Although Ingrid had no family left to support her, she had managed to find Kate and gave her a personal invitation to her wedding.

Kate did attend, but her malicious purposes stretched out to her presence there, she observed quietly at the back, almost not being noticed by the bride. Even as Ingrid walked out of the church with her husband by her side, Kate walked past them and glared in jealousy and hate.

***

Things were going well for Ingrid, she never went to sleep without thinking about how dark her life had been before it was unbroken; She felt like she owed Giovanni a lot but he insisted that she was not obligated to do anything for him in return.

Ingrid didn't want to just sit home and do nothing. She asked Giovanni to be his personal assistant, that she could help him with things like organising his meetings well or sending emails, among other things. This actually made Giovanni's work easier for him and they were able to spend more time together.

Giovanni had, however, asked Ingrid to get off work when she was six months pregnant. The baby bump was beginning to look very visible. "But you're saying that I have to stay home now because I'm 'too pregnant', that doesn't make any sense," Ingrid said.

"Yes my love, you heard what the doctor said; carrying twins at 28 weeks is a crucial milestone, since it officially welcomes the third trimester for you. You'll have to have regular hospital appointments because even the doctors, too, would begin to focus more intensely on various aspects of our two babies, ensuring that they are at their fittest and best when they come out into the real world," Giovanni explained.

Ingrid rolled her eyes as she sat carefully on the bed, "I never imagined that I would carry twins. Any ideas on what names you would like them to have," Ingrid asked. "Oh, my beloved, you'll stress about that later. Besides, in my family tradition, we always let the lady give the name to the first birth," he said.

Giovanni got dressed for work and told Ingrid that he already let Christopher know about her hospital appointment, "have your breakfast and call me when you get to the hospital, I love you. See you later," he kissed her and left. Ingrid stood up in front of the mirror and pulled up her shirt to reveal her belly. She rubbed it and smiled at the thought of her becoming a mother.

Giovanni was driving out of his garage when he saw a black SUV parked a distance away from his house. A woman walked out of the car and started heading towards him, "I admit that I haven't been around here in a while my love, I missed you." "I told you that I never wanted to see you here ever again, Matilda," Giovanni said.