Page 101 of Game of Revenge

“No. No, I didn’t. I…I don’t understand. Richard always told me that the company was his, that my mother was a lowlife artist with no family, that I was his burden for marrying a pregnant woman…What are you trying to tell me?”

“I think you will need a lawyer, Amelia…I think it’s clear that, all these years, Richard has been taking advantage of you, enjoying your dividends based on your ownership in the company, pretending that you assigned him the right to represent you and manage your assets for you. He said that he had tried to get you involved, to have you take over your inheritance, but that you were never interested.”

“How is this possible?! How could he have gotten away with this?! How did I not know?”

My voice and body were shaking. I was almost hoping the conversation was just a bad dream I needed to wake up from. Steve looked like he was hoping for the same thing.

“I’m really sorry about this…Richard had us all fooled. I am so sorry, but I am sure there is a way for you to make him pay. The shares remain yours. You own forty percent of the company, and if you want them, you have a right to Richard’s shares. You are a rich woman, Amelia.”

I couldn’t process his words. My fight-or-flight mode was activated. I wanted to run. I wanted to break something.

“How did he manage to get away with this? There were no red flags on the company side? Didn’t he have a document to sign? Why would I never take an interest? I have talked—not with you, necessarily—but I've shared my ambitions with some of the directors at cocktail hours and even during the short period when I worked at the company. How did this never come up?”

Steve looked distraught, clearly understanding what I was implying.

“I’m sorry, Amelia. We just…didn’t know. It’s not unheard of that a wife or child will have their husband or father just handle the business aspect of things. You've had a bank account set up for you like a trust since you were a kid. He has always been the one to manage it and represent you. The account is under your name. I assume now that he has been using it for his personal affairs. We had no reason to doubt him. He presented signed and notarized documents, and you seemed to have the perfect father-daughter relationship.”

This had to be a fucking joke. I could not believe what I was hearing. My whole life felt like it was a lie. Everything Richard had told me about my mother was all fabricated by his greed. On the other hand, some things started to make more sense now.

“That’s why he kept me,” I said, almost to myself. “That’s why he kept me after my mother’s death. He wanted her money, and keeping custody of me was the only way for him to get it. That was the reason for all the fake hugs and all the bullshit about loving me like his own daughter. That’s why he never really wanted me to go away, and that’s why he wanted me to marry George…George must have known what was going on…Everything makes so much more sense now. I was so stupid! How did I not know this! I should have known, but deep down, I guess I had always hoped he did love me, in his own weird, twisted way.”

“You couldn’t have known, Amelia,” Steve offered, patting my twisted hands. “He has clearly been covering his tracks since you were a toddler. He repeated the lies to you and everyone else since then, so you had no reason to doubt him, even when you turned eighteen. He probably made you sign documents, and you didn’t even realize. Why would you? Once that was done, he took it over. Selling them without you knowing would have been harder, but as long as he had your power of attorney, he could reap the benefits. But I will help you, Amelia. I promise.”

I was skeptical and very quickly learning from my mistakes. I needed a lawyer—a very good one.

“Thank you, Steve. I think we need to call for a special meeting. I need to have all the information, all the relevant documents.”

“Yes, anything I can do, I will.”

I left the meeting distraught, fueled only by a desire to hit Richard with my fist until he took his last breath. I couldn’t take it anymore. I called in reinforcements, and within thirty minutes, Chloe, Keisha, and Iris were at the apartment.

Chloe arrived first, Keisha and Iris showing up shortly after. Chloe gave me the longest hug before she turned to beast mode.

“I knew it. I knew it. You weren’t just kidnapped randomly,” she said as we all sat on the couch with mimosas at three p.m.

“What happened, Amelia?” asked Iris in her soft voice.

“We are here for you. You know that, right?” said Keisha as she grabbed my hand.

“I know. I can't believe you are all here. You all have been here for how long?”

“We flew in a few times,” answered Chloe. “We didn’t trust Richard was handling this. And he wasn’t. We came back when we saw the news that you were alive and all they wanted was two fucking million. We made sure every newspaper in the fucking country picked up the news. If you didn’t come back alive, Richard would be done for.”

“He wouldn’t give us any information. Nothing. George either. They told us the police didn’t want anyone getting involved, that your life would be in danger if people interfered,” added Iris.

“Iris called us. She knew something was off,” said Keisha.

“Well, he never cried. Never. He was agitated, but that wasn’t the reaction you’d expect for a daughter, or even a daughter-in-law,” explained Iris.

“I don't know what to say,” I said, fighting the tears.

Chloe and Keisha had jobs working in big law firms, things to do, yet all three of them were here and had tried to help me get back to my life. If only they knew. But I didn’t know how to tell them. I didn’t know how to say the words.

“You don't have to talk if you don't want to,” said Iris. “But we are here. You know that, right?”

“And we will find those bastards who took you. I promise you they will pay. I don’t know what they…what they did to you.” Chloe took a break to swallow.

Seeing my strongest friend wobble was all I could take. I exploded, tears leaving my body as if I hadn’t cried in years. My friends, my family, my sisters…they held me until I didn’t have any feelings left in me, until I was too exhausted to feel anything. Only then could I tell them everything.