42
Amanda was planning to make the drive to her parent’s place alone. She could no longer use Tom. He was on the company’s payroll, and she was no longer a part of that.
After he had dropped her at the headquarters, she had instructed him to park the car in the parking basement so she could have an easier time leaving when she was done. If any reporters had already made it outside, the most they would get was sight of her speeding away.
After leaving Charles’s office, she took the elevator down to the parking basement. When she got there, instead of Tom waiting beside her car to hand over the keys, it was Lucas.
Why was he there? She wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. She needed to go looking for her parents before settling things with him.
“We can’t talk right now,” she told him when she got closer. Looking around, she asked, “Have you seen Tom around?”
Lucas flashed a car key. “I’ll drive you.”
Amanda shook her head instantly. “I’m going alone.”
He shook his head. “You just drove four hours from the resort. And with everything that’s happening, you can’t be too safe. Some paparazzi could decide to chase you down or something.”
“I doubt that will happen.”
He sighed. “Please let me do this for you, Amanda. I won’t mention anything you don’t want to talk about yet.”
Amanda deliberated, chewing on her lip. The town on the address Charles had given her was a bit far. She would be on the road for the next three hours or so, and then she would have to make the trip back later. She had never driven ten hours in a single day before. Maybe Lucas’s offer wasn’t so bad.
“Don’t you have work?” With her announcement, she could bet his office was receiving numerous calls, especially from the directors. Also, PR must be scrambling to make sense of what had transpired and find a way to navigate the issue. The CEO was definitely needed at the company at the moment.
He shook his head. “Nothing important.”
She tilted her head, doubtful.
“Trust me, Rebecca will have everything under control. Now, let’s go before it’s too late to leave without drawing attention.”
Giving in, she nodded. “Okay.”
“Good,” he said, pulling the passenger door open for her. “Let’s get out of here.”
***
Their final destination was a fine brick house with a well-kept lawn, an asphalt driveway, and a garage. The neighbourhood wasn’t bad either.
Lucas pulled up to the driveway and brought the car to a stop.
Amanda stared at the brick house. This was it.
She was finally going to meet the people who had given her away and turned her life upside down. Were they happy about what they did? Did they remember her? Did she have siblings? How much money did Charles give them that they didn’t think twice about selling their own child?
As far as she was concerned, they were strangers to her. She wasn’t looking for them to get an explanation. If they didn’t want her in their life, she didn’t want them either. All she wanted was to bring them to Helena to apologise. If she was going to tell Helena Bolton that she had been used to scam a hundred million dollars off her family, she needed the people responsible to explain everything. It wasn’t like she could have brought Charles.
Lucas gave her a concerned look. “Are you okay?”
Amanda took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m good.” Just like with Charles, she wasn’t going to crack. She would walk up to that door, knock, and state her business.
Grabbing her bag, she opened the door and stepped out. “I won’t be long,” she told Lucas.
“I’ll be right here,” he assured her.
She was halfway to the door when it pulled open.
A middle-aged woman appeared. She was probably in her late fifties, or sixty, probably.
Amanda saw the exact moment the woman’s expression changed from curiosity to shock. It was all the proof she needed that she was in the right place, but she asked anyway. “Are you Ruth Pertet?”
The woman grabbed the doorjamb, her thin fingers clasping at the wood as if for dear life. “Am…Amanda?”
Amanda swallowed, staring into her eyes. This was her birth mother.
The woman who had given birth to her, then sold her.
“How… He said you’d never… How…” Ruth mumbled, a stricken look overcoming her face.
“I know that you sold me to Charles Lemaiyan,” Amanda told her.
Ruth shook her head. “It wasn’t that simple.”
Amanda scoffed. “Are you saying there was a good reason you sold me to him so he could use me as a pawn?”
Ruth stepped back, pulling the door completely open. “Please come in. I’ll tell you what happened.”
“Were you poor? Is that why you took the money? Did you buy this nice house with what he gave you?”
Ruth sighed. “After the accident, your father was in a critical condition. He was in a coma for a week. When Charles found out I survived and so did my baby, he came and said he was taking you. He threatened to sue your father for drunk driving and manslaughter if I didn’t agree. Your father never drunk, let alone on the job. But Charles had connections, and I knew that if he went ahead, we would never win against him. He said he would pay for our medical expenses. I didn’t have much choice. My husband was on the brink of death, I was also badly injured, and all the savings we had were barely enough to pay for the medical bills. I didn’t know when he was going to wake up, and I couldn’t fight Charles.”
“So you gave me up.”
Ruth’s eyes were now teary. “Giving you a life with that family is the best thing we could have done for you back then. If you had remained with us, I don’t know how I could have taken care of you. Your father was in the hospital for three months, and he never recovered fully. He suffered a brain injury and became paralysed from the neck down. I had to take care of him and work at the same time. If you had been here, your life would have been miserable. We wouldn’t have had any money. And Charles wouldn’t have left us alone. I hated giving you up, but it was the best thing for you.”
Amanda blinked and looked towards the sky. This was not the story Charles had given to the Eriksons. He had painted her parents in a bad light when he was the devil orchestrating the entire show.
She had no idea what to say anymore.
She had been prepared to meet with a man and woman who had chosen money over her. But it turned out not to have been so simple. They were all victims of Charles’s greedy plan. Her teeth clenched.
As much as she wanted to leave everything behind and have a new beginning, there was a part of her that wanted to do whatever it took to see Charles brought to justice. To see him pay for all the pain he had caused. He couldn’t just get away with using so many people.
But she craved peace so bad, to be away from everyone who had hurt her, that she was willing to let it all be. Even if she decided to fight, could she really beat him? He was one of the wealthiest men in the country. He had friends all over, from the president’s office and every government agency that mattered.
Unless the Boltons decided to take legal action after she revealed the truth, she wouldn’t have the means to make him pay. The Lemaiyans were not as powerful or wealthy as the Boltons. If Helena decided to pursue the matter, the question would be whether they could find enough evidence to prove Charles’s fraud.
“He said you’d never find out the truth and threatened to kill us if we ever contacted you,” Ruth confessed.
Amanda passed her hand below her eye, then the other. Taking a deep breath, she met Ruth’s eyes. “You need to come with me. I want you to explain everything to the Boltons.”
Ruth nodded. “Alright.”
Amanda cleared her throat. “Are you here alone?”
She nodded again. “It’s been just me since your father passed away.”
Amanda’s heart squeezed in her chest. “When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Don’t you have…other kids?”
A sad smile passed over Ruth’s face. “You were our first born.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it away. “We didn’t have another one.”
At the look of utter heartbreak on the woman’s face, and because of her own pain, Amanda did something she hadn’t thought she would.
She reached out and pulled Ruth into an embrace.
***
When Ruth was ready to leave, Amanda brought her to the car and introduced Lucas. Ruth claimed she remembered him, from when he was just a toddler. The Lemaiyans and Eriksons were very tight back then and often visited each other’s homes.
When she had settled in the back seat, Lucas took Amanda’s hand and pulled her to the side.
“While you were talking with her, I received a call from Keith,” he told her. “He called you first but couldn’t get through.”
Amanda had switched her phone off again shortly after they set off for her parents’ house.
“What did he say?” she asked, noticing the tense expression on his face.
“Charles never planned for you to find out the truth. That’s why he was looking for all sorts of excuses to edge you out of the family business without revealing your true identity. Because if you found out everything, and by chance, the Boltons did, they could take legal action. He can’t have three witnesses running around. Keith heard from Rebecca that he is planning to eliminate you and your parents before you can tell anyone anything.”
Amanda’s blood ran cold. “Eliminate?”
Lucas nodded, frowning. “That man is capable of anything, Amanda. Right now, he has someone heading to your mother’s house. They probably already came looking at your apartment.”
Amanda’s heart thudded in her chest. Going quietly was never an option, was it? “What should we do?”
“Just as you had planned. Let’s go to the Boltons. They are the only people who can keep you safe right now. And once you tell Helena everything, Charles’s plan to keep everything quiet will be ruined.”
She nodded. “You’re right.”
He reached for her hand again. “I won’t leave your side until you’re completely safe.”
“Lucas…”
He shook his head. “You can’t push me away, Amanda. If I left and something happened to you, I would never forgive myself. After all this, if you still want me to leave, I’ll respect your decision.”
Amanda pursed her lips and nodded. He was determined, and she wasn’t going to lie to herself that she didn’t appreciate his presence at that moment.
“Alright, let’s go see Helena,” he said.
