11
Chapter Eleven
When Tyra got back from the party, she found her mother waiting in her apartment. Elizabeth Okello was a tall woman in her early fifties.
There was a resemblance between mother and daughter, but the lines lining the older woman’s face make it harder to notice. There was always a frown on her face, or a sneer.
Elizabeth was standing at the windows, looking at the city skyline beyond. Tyra’s apartment was on the twelfth floor of a high-rise residential building in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city.
“Mother?” Tyra called as she placed her keys on the side table near the door and walked into the room.
Elizabeth turned, and Tyra noticed the lit cigarette in her hand. She wished she wouldn’t smoke indoors, but she knew better than tell her mother what to do.
“You’re finally here,” Elizabeth muttered, walking from the windows. She crushed the cigarette end on an ash tray on the coffee table and left it there.
“The party just ended.” Tyra approached the couch and took off her high heels.
“What party?”
Tyra frowned. “I told you, mother. Lemaiyan Fits was having a welcome party for the new CEO tonight.”
Elizabeth flicked her wrist in dismissal. “Oh, that. I told you I don’t want to hear that name again unless you have good news for me. How much longer will it take you to bring me something?”
“You know my plans were going fine until that idiot got discovered. I need time to think of something else.”
Elizabeth scoffed. “Time? You’ve been following that privileged brat around for five years, and what have you managed to do? Nothing!”
“Mum, I’m one of the few people she trusts after what happened. It won’t be hard to get what I want soon.”
Elizabeth reached for her handbag that she’d left lying on the couch. It was a snakeskin handbag, every inch as expensive as the clothes she wore. She took out a new cigarette and held it between her lips. She regarded her daughter. “Have you looked into the new CEO? Can he be of any help?”
Tyra shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s not a nobody like Ocen. He comes from money.”
“What’s his name?”
“Lucas Erikson. He worked for a fashion company in New York before coming to Lemaiyan. The Chairman poached him.”
When Elizabeth heard the name, she put her lighter back into the bag and removed the cigarette from between her lips. “Lucas Erikson?”
Tyra nodded. “Yes. Amanda mentioned about him being the son of her father’s friend.”
“Peter Erikson. Have I not mentioned the name to you before?”
“Yes, the one who started the company with my father and—”
Elizabeth groaned out loud and slapped her palm to her forehead. “Are you brainless, young lady? Why did you not tell me about his identity before?”
Tyra frowned, unsure what she had done wrong. “Lucas? I don’t really know who he is.”
“He is Peter’s son!” Elizabeth yelled and began pacing. “Lucas is Peter Erikson’s son! He sent him to university in the States and he took his first job there too.”
“You never mentioned that Peter had a son named Lucas.”
“That’s because I didn’t think he was important. He’s the third born son, and he has never been involved in the family business. But now, he’s back and what’s more, he’s working for the Lemaiyans!”
Tyra realised that had she paid more attention, she would have found out his identity much earlier. But she was too busy trying to gauge Amanda’s mood and look for an opportunity to outsmart her.
Her mother’s sharp voice cut across the room. “We are changing tactic.”
Tyra’s eyes followed her as she paced. “What?”
“Since you’ve been unable to get anything substantial from the Lemaiyans, we’re going to target the Eriksons. With Lucas working for Charles, we’ll be able to target both of them at once.”
Tyra frowned, trying to understand what her mother was driving at. How could they use Lucas to gain advantage of the two families? He was nothing like Samuel, who was greedy for more and had Amanda in the palm of his hands.
“I want you to get close to the new CEO.”
“What?”
“Seduce him.”
Tyra shot to her feet and approached her mother. “How will that work for us?”
Elizabeth pinned her with a heated glare. “Have I taught you nothing?”
Tyra’s gaze fell to the floor.
“If you don’t get him first, that little slut will. Oh my God!” Tyra’s eyes lifted to find her mother pressing her palm to her chest dramatically. “Maybe they’re trying to join their families in marriage!”
“What?”
“Why else would Peter’s son get back from the States to head an insignificant fashion company? He could have joined his family’s business instead.”
Tyra shook her head. “Mum, I don’t think Amanda is the kind of woman to get led by the nose into an arranged marriage.”
“Even when she has disgraced her family and is offered a chance to redeem herself?”
“The Chairman dotes on her. I doubt he’ll ask her to do that.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “You have no idea what these men will do for wealth and power. Whether that’s their plan or not, you need to get close to Lucas. Rebecca might be targeting him too as an ally. After all, she wants to make sure her sister doesn’t get the company in the end. This could be our best chance at getting our revenge.”
For five years, Tyra had been executing her mother’s revenge schemes, but so far, she hadn’t managed to inflict any serious damage on the Lemaiyan family. The biggest win was when she discovered Samuel’s plan to become co-owner of the company by virtue of being Amanda’s husband. She had threatened to tell on him to Amanda unless he paid her fifty thousand dollars.
Too bad for him that he couldn’t guard his secret to the end.
Elizabeth’s enmity with the two families—the Lemaiyans and the Eriksons—was decades-old. Her first husband, Daniel, who was also Amanda’s father, had been friend and business partner to the two. The trio founded their first company together. They took part in several illegal activities, including tax fraud and bribery.
When they were discovered and landed in legal trouble, Peter and Charles convinced Daniel to take the fall, promising to get him out of prison as soon as possible. When he was convicted, he didn’t last two weeks in prison before he was murdered in a brawl. Elizabeth believed the two had Daniel killed in prison to completely cover their tracks.
Peter and Charles went on to become successful businessmen. Now, they each owned conglomerates that dabbled in almost every industry in the country.
Elizabeth never forgot the day she appeared at Charles Lemaiyan’s office, begging for money to pay for her bills. She had believed that since her husband had began the company with them and taken the fall for them, the least they could do was ensure his widow and child were well taken care of. Charles refused to see her and instructed his bodyguards to throw her out of the building.
That was the day she vowed to get back at the two.
She got remarried and when her first born grew up, she let her know of what happened to her biological father and of those responsible.
Tyra was more than willing to help her mother get revenge and get back the wealth that should have belonged to them.
“We cannot let these two families get joined, Tyra. It’ll be harder to fight them.”
Tyra took her mother’s hand in her own. “It’s okay, mother. I know what to do. I’ll not let you down this time.”
What better revenge than to get married into one of the families that ruined hers?
