Pampered by my Billionaire CEO Husband

Third Person POV

It was the previous night when Evelyn was watching her mother walk through the door.

"You could hang it up here," Natalie instructed one of the movers with a polite smile etched onto her face as she pointed at the wall in front of them.

Evelyn walked over, watching as the movers helped to hang up the painting, curiosity laced her tone as she questioned her mother. "Mum, what’s going on? Why did you suddenly buy a new painting again? Didn’t you just get one a couple of days ago?"

Natalie only smiled. "Why not? I love this piece of work. There’s no harm in getting more, right?"

Evelyn knitted her brows together in confusion as a frown crept onto her face. "I don’t get why you like this painting, it’s broken and it looks messy," she commented as her nose scrunched up together in disapproval.

A soft chuckle left Natalie’s parted lips. "You see... that’s the beauty of this artwork. There’s meaning behind this," she went on to explain when she was rudely interrupted by her daughter.

"Mum, where did you get this painting?"

"I got it from the art exhibition downtown, why?"

"You mean the art exhibition that I got kicked out of? Are you serious?" She pouted as she folded her arms over her chest. "Why would you even be there? You knew how upset I was about the whole situation!" She shrieked, turning away from her mother with her back facing her.

Natalie quickly rushed to place her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, trying to comfort her but it was already too late, Evelyn was upset and angry at her mother by now. "Eve, I’m sorry," she apologised as her features softened. "I didn’t mean any harm, I happen to be in the area so I went in to take a look. I saw Aurelia and –"

As soon as Evelyn heard the name, recognition flashed past her eyes in an instant and realisation dawned upon her. She was wondering why this painting seemed so familiar and it finally clicked inside her head, it all made sense now.

She snapped her head around to meet her mother’s eyes. "Aurelia? Oh my god... Is this her painting? You bought her painting?!" She screamed.

"Eve, I..."

"You knew what she did right? She stole my boyfriend and she ruined my chances at becoming an artist! She robbed me of my spot at the art exhibition! How could you buy her painting?! Gosh, I hate you!" She shrieked and spun on her heels to stomp off into her room, slamming the door loudly behind her and Natalie could only let out a sigh.

Later that night, Evelyn had sneaked into Jennifer’s room.

Jennifer was unaware as she was too engrossed, her eyes fixed on the pictures in her hand. She didn’t even notice that someone had opened her door and came up behind her until the voice broke her out of her little reverie.

"Auntie Jennifer, what are you looking at?"

Evelyn’s voice startled her and she quickly shoved the pictures underneath her pillow. "It’s nothing, just some baby pictures of Aurelia," she explained with a slight smile and Evelyn didn’t ask any more. "What are you doing here?"

"Well... there’s something I thought you should know..."

***

First Person POV

"Aurelia, you should be ashamed of yourself!"

That familiar voice rang in my ears and recognition crossed my face within the next second. I could recognise that voice from anywhere almost immediately. Gasps and murmurs rose from the crowd, and their whispers filled the air in no time.

I snapped my head around, my eyes swept through the crowd and I saw a woman standing up at the very last row, sticking out from the crowd like a sore thumb. We locked eyes from a distance and I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach in an instant.

What is she doing here? Why is she doing this?

I thought everything that I have worked so hard for had been destroyed in a matter of seconds. A frown immediately crept onto my face as I narrowed my eyes at her while my heart pounded loudly against my chest and my mind continued to race with thoughts.

"Mum? What are you doing here?" I questioned, my voice laced with a hint of confusion and a puzzled expression masked my features. "What are you talking about?"

By this time, everyone in the studio was watching us with anticipation hanging on their faces and curiosity swirling in their eyes. Even the host herself remained quiet, watching with a surprised expression that was plastered across her face, just like everyone else here.

My mother let out a loud scoff, rolling her eyes. "You should know what you have done!" She sneered with a disdainful scorn. "Evelyn told me everything that you did and said about me. I can’t believe this is what you will do after you become successful," she spat the words out like they were poison in her mouth.

The guards were about to rush forward when the host stopped them, after all, they would like to see how the events unfolded.

A cold chuckle left my parted lips upon hearing the words that left her mouth. "Of course she did..." I muttered under my breath.

Evelyn remained seated beside her, her hands reaching up to tug at her arm as her brows were knitted together, acting concerned and worried.

"Mrs Holt, don’t do this here, you are embarrassing her in front of everyone," she pointed out, seemingly out of concern but I didn’t miss the subtle glint in her eyes and the smirk that was tugging at the corners of her lips.

My mother’s voice softened this time and I watched as she put on a pitiful look on her face and tears started to fill the brim of her eyes. She placed her hand on her chest as she drew in a deep breath. "You know what she said about me, right? She said she wanted nothing to do with me! That she doesn’t care about me!" She yelled out loud, her voice dripping with accusation as her cheeks began to turn red. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

As soon as the words left her lips, her legs wobbled and eventually buckled under her weight as she almost collapsed onto the ground, but Evelyn quickly rose from her seat and grabbed her before she could hit the ground.

Evelyn held my mother steady, helping her stand on her feet as her eyes were filled with concern and worry. She turned to face me and our gaze met. "Aurelia, look at what you have done..."

"After everything I have done for her... this is what she does to repay me..." my mother continued her sob story, reaching up to wipe the single tear that fell down her cheek. "What did I do in my previous life to deserve being treated like this?"

Whispers lingered in the air as rumours started to spread like wildfire that I couldn’t seem to control. They were doing this on purpose. Somehow they must have known about my interview and appeared here to ruin everything for me.

"Oh my god, what did she do?"

"How could she say that she wanted nothing to do with her own mother?" Another person remarked in a judgemental tone as she glanced over at me with disdain.

Evelyn looked up this time. "Aurelia, you need to apologise to your mother. You know how much auntie Jennifer did for you, right?"

It was at this moment when a loud screeching sound echoed in the studio, ringing in my ears. My eyes immediately flickered over to see that it was Xavier who had stood up from his seat. His jaws were clenched tightly as he had his fists balled up tightly beside him.

"That’s enough!" Xavier’s deep voice boomed loudly, capturing everyone’s attention effortlessly. "She is not apologising to her mother," he declared, his voice remained cold and unwavering as his dark eyes held an intense look.

The crowd burst into gasps of shock.

Evelyn frowned, as she snapped her head to look at him. "What do you mean she is not apologising?" She questioned, her tone carrying a slight edge to it. "That’s the very least she could do after everything she had said. Do you know that Auntie Jennifer could barely get enough sleep each night and she couldn’t even eat because she simply didn’t have the appetite."

They continued to play the victim, trying desperately to garner everyone’s sympathy as they painted me out to be the bad person, the woman who doesn’t care about her own mother because of her success.

I cleared my throat inaudibly before my voice sliced through the tension that was brewing in the air.

"Xavier is right," I began, my voice filled with certainty as I kept my gaze steady. "I am not apologising."

I saw the way Evelyn’s face fell and the smirk was wiped off her face when she finally realised that I wasn’t going to give in. She must have mistakenly thought that I would have caved in and lowered my head to apologise in front of everyone here. But that’s far from the truth. I didn’t care that we were on live television.

"Is it that difficult to apologise to your own mother?" She hissed. "Or are you trying to deny that you said anything like that?" she accused, her sharp voice cutting through the air.

There was a brief pause as silence stretched between us for a moment before she continued.

"Perhaps, this might help jolt your memory."