12

Chapter Twelve

On Sunday evening, Amanda walked into the dining room at her family home and instantly wished to turn around and walk away.

Her father and Rebecca were already occupying two of the seats, with Rebecca taking the seat to the right of their father. There was no sign of their brother, Simon.

When Amanda received the call from her father asking her to attend a family dinner that evening, she had hoped Simon would make an appearance.

But, as usual, that proved to have been too much to expect of their brother. Simon rarely did things their father asked of him.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Rebecca snarked, giving a pointed look at the watch on her wrist.

"Sorry," Amanda muttered half-heartedly and occupied the seat that was directly opposite her sister.

"It's alright," Charles assured her. "Now that you're here, let's eat."

"Is Simon coming or not?" Rebecca directed the question to Amanda.

Amanda shrugged and smiled at Rachel, the housekeeper, as she poured her a glass of wine. "How am I supposed to know?"

"You know how your brother is," their father said. "Let's start without him."

At first, dinner was bearable enough. Her father asked details about how she spent her time on the mountain resort. The instant image on her mind was her lying in Lucas's arms. She did a mental head shake and told them about the hiking and other non-self destructive activities she took part in.

"What do you think of the new CEO?" Her father asked when she was done talking about her vacation. "You were quite eager to get acquainted with him last night."

Yeah, about that…

She shrugged. "He's good, I guess. I cannot really say until I see him at work."

Charles shook his head. "You're hard to please. Have you not checked his credentials?"

"I have."

Rebecca's heavy sigh filled the room. "Amanda doesn't have the best judgement, father. I'm happy you took it upon yourself to personally select the new CEO."

"No, it's a good thing she's waiting to see him prove himself."

One corner of Rebecca's mouth turned up. "Sure it's not because she's scared he'll scam her too?"

Fed up with her sister's attitude, Amanda glared at her from across the table. "Stay out of my business, Rebecca."

Rebecca waved a wrist in dismissal. "Oh, trust me, if this was just your business, I wouldn't bother. You humiliated us!"

Amanda frowned. "What?"

"A Lemaiyan, getting fooled by some gold-digging man like a brainless idiot? Do you have any idea how that looks on us?"

Amanda could only stare at her, speechless. How it looked on them? No, she had no idea. She was too busy dealing with heartache and fielding off the pitiful looks everyone directed her way. If anybody had said anything about her family, she was yet to hear it.

"Rebecca!" Charles's voice was firm and full of warning.

"I'm just saying, Dad. She made a major mistake. Are you sure it's a good idea to let her get back to the company so soon after what happened?"

Amanda's fingers closed around her fork. "What?"

Rebecca sighed again and focused on their father. "I know you're worried about her too, Dad. She should have taken a longer vacation."

"I am fine!"

"You heard the lady," Charles stated.

Rebecca's hand fisted on the table top. "She's no longer a little girl, father! You can't keep giving her things she hasn't worked for."

"What are you talking about? Lemaiyan Fits was my idea," Amanda pointed out. "It's my ideas that have taken the company where it is right now."

Her sister's brown eyes dug into her. "Right, and it's your stupidity that was going to lose the company to your scamming ex. Dad, you were going to give her majority shares after her wedding. Imagine what would have happened if that fiancé of hers got his way."

Amanda was about done with her sister's attacks. "It's none of your business, Rebecca. I founded the company. It's my business if I lose it or not."

Rebecca scoffed. "Really? Dad, did you hear that? That company was founded with the Group's funds! Amanda has proven her incompetency already. I don't think she deserves a seat on the board."

"Actually, it was founded with my mother's money!" Amanda shot back.

"Oh, really? Is that why the Group owns most of it?"

Charles slammed his palm on the table. "Rebecca! That's enough."

Amanda turned to their father. "I'm going to get majority share as planned, right, Dad? We passed all the goals you set for us."

Rebecca snickered. "In case you forgot, that was supposed to be your wedding gift."

Amanda scoffed. "That was just an extra detail. L Fits has been mine from the beginning. Dad only wanted me to prove myself first. And I have."

"By almost losing it?"

Amanda focused on their father. "Dad?"

Their father raised his palms. "Calm down, ladies. We'll talk about this later."

Amanda frowned. "Talk about it? There's nothing to talk about, Dad."

"It's okay, Amanda. We'll talk tomorrow."

She shook her head. Him refraining from saying anything proved that he thought Rebecca had a point.

She shot to her feet. "If you take Lemaiyan Fits from me, I'll never forgive you."

Rebecca's eyes rolled. "You're too old to throw a tantrum. I thought you had no interest in the family business."

"I don't. I only want my company. You can have everything else for all I care." She pushed her chair back and stepped aside. "I'm leaving."

Charles held out a hand to her. "Amanda, sit down. We're still having dinner."

"This is not a dinner, father. It's an execution. I'll see you tomorrow in your office."

She turned and walked out of the room, not giving him another chance to try and convince her.

That was enough family drama for one night.

Looked like she had more things to worry about besides meeting Lucas at the office the next day.