Chapter 49: Chapter 49
Annabelle's POV
I boarded the flight and reached Chicago around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Campbell had sent his assistant to receive me. He escorted me to the hotel where Mr. Campbell had arranged for my stay. He left me with the message to be ready at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He would escort me to Mr. Campbell's office.
I wasn't hungry. My appetite was already down so I curled up on the bed and when exhaustion took over, I fell asleep. It was a fitful sleep that made me more tired.
I woke up from a very disturbing dream where Stefan was throwing me out of his house as well as his life and I was crying, begging him to let me stay. I had tears in my eyes when I woke up. It was 3 o'clock already, so I freshened up and started to get ready. With my haggard appearance, I didn't want to meet anyone, but I couldn't avoid Mr. Campbell.
At 4 o'clock sharp, Mr. Campbell's assistant, Richard, came to fetch me. A short drive led to his office in an upscale area of Chicago, with skyscrapers all around. In one of them, we entered and took the glass elevator up to the 29th floor. The building accommodated many offices. Mr. Campbell's office was tastefully decorated in white and pale yellow with potted plants throwing some color in between.
He came out to receive me. We sat at his office and he immediately informed me about my grandfather's will. He handed it out to me to study later at the hotel. He also made me read the letter and instructions that Pops had left for Mr. Campbell to follow.
He told me about the payments that he already made for my education and gave me the necessary documents and proof of the same. He showed me all the papers that I had to sign and explained the documents in detail. It was a lot and all of it required my complete focus, which I tried my best to do. Mr. Campbell was patient with me and explained things again and again. I noted them all down on my mobile.
I was now my own guardian. All the money that Pops left me was my responsibility from now on. I left with a heavy heart, a feeling that I was really alone in the world, with no one to call my own. The feeling made my heart pain and I knew that I was losing my focus. Thankfully Mr.Campbell seemed to understand that it was too much for me to understand at one go.
He asked me to take time and read the documents well and sign them the next day. Then we would visit my dad's second family. I didn't want to visit them but I just couldn't voice my opinion.
At the hotel, I sat with all the documents for nearly two hours but still couldn't concentrate on a single word. So I just gave up, had a light dinner, and went to bed. It was another useless day for me as I didn't get to do any work that I had set out to do.
Thoughts of Stefan and his wife kept revolving inside my mind and I broke down into uncontrollable sobs and drained my heart out onto the pillow. At last, when there were no more tears left in me, I dozed off to a fitful sleep.
The next whole day, I read the documents like a robot. I didn't want absolute control over the inheritance, I wanted to be able to consult someone and invest wisely. But my mental state was too weak to even go into all that at the moment. I had to get a grip over myself and concentrate on my life. My Pops had brought me up stronger and I couldn't let him down. I had to set my priorities straight and move on from Stefan. But it was easier said than done as every thought led to him making my resolves break down.
I called up the dance institute and spoke to Harry asking for a few days' leave. My phone had 30 missed calls from Stefan and 5 missed calls from Tristan and 2 from gran and many text messages from Stefan. I was shocked beyond words. I hadn't expected so many people to call me. I felt guilty about not informing gran, she would be so worried about me. I wanted to call her and speak to her but I didn't want to face her questions about Stefan and me. As far as I was concerned there never was anything between us. Just an unrequited love that I would have to live with my whole life. I knew that I was being immature but I was hurt and I had the right to wallow in self-pity.
I didn't want to read any of the messages further, so I switched my phone off again. I didn't want to face anyone at the moment when my thoughts were all jumbled up.
Instead, I concentrated on the documents at hand and tried my level best to understand them. After getting an idea about all the documents that Mr. Campbell gave me, I relaxed and thought about my life.
I couldn't continue living with Stefan at his mansion. I also didn't want to live at gran's house in New Jersey. I wanted to transfer my dance studio elsewhere far from gran's garage in Princeton. So I decided to shift to New Jersey and move my dance studio out and manage my business from there.
Having decided that I called Mr. Campbell to inform him that I had read the documents minutely. He wanted to complete all formalities in the evening after he returned from court. I agreed, the sooner everything got done the better. I could move on with my life, away from Stefan and away from the Hendersons.
Still, I was unhappy. My heart didn't feel any sort of contentment with my decision. It seemed as if I was just surviving, not living my life. There was a painful feeling somewhere in my heart and mind that was suffocating me. Maybe I was never meant for love and to be loved in return. I would never be happy ever after in my life. Last four years, I had measured all men against Stefan, the only one with whom I wanted to spend my life. The only one with whom I wanted a happily ever after.
Heaving a sign I got up to get ready and explore Chicago to get my mind off things. After spending nearly the whole day exploring, I came back to my hotel to get ready to meet Mr. Campbell. We completed all the signing and handover by dinner time and I returned to the hotel. Tomorrow Mr. Campbell will take me to meet my dad's second family. I dreaded the meeting but did not have much choice. I had to face reality.