Chapter 33 Amelia Ridley
Amelia Ridley
The drive from the Hamptons was more beautiful than usual.
Amelia could sleep at night knowing she would no longer be blackmailed.
Mrs. Darla sat next to her quietly, still crying from her actions.
As they pulled up the long, winding driveway, she saw every car was lined up there.
This meant all her siblings were home. Amelia could finally tell them all the truth.
She was dying to. From her being their father’s biological child to the blackmailers being people who were close to them.
It would all finally be put to rest. At least, that was what she hoped for.
Amelia ran up the stairs to the dining room. She thought she had made it in time to tell them. The staff was whispering in corners as she walked in. Amelia furrowed her eyebrows, thinking how peculiar that was, as they would usually be serving the family dessert and refilling drinks.
“Is there a reason you are not doing your job?” Amelia said it quite curtly.
“Miss Adesua ordered us out,” a young girl said with her head bowed.
Adesua? Since when had she ever done that?
Something didn’t feel right, but she was going to find out.
She opened the French doors to an array of angry faces.
It was as if she’d stepped into a den of wolves.
They all glared at her in different ways, except Henrik didn’t dare lift his head up from his plate.
“Oh, look, it’s our beloved queen ready to rule us all, isn’t that right, Amelia?” Wei snarked.
“Wei, stop with the antics and tell me what’s going on,” Amelia replied, annoyed.
Wei laughed, looking at Adesua. “Is this girl really serious?”
He pulled up a chair, straddling it backward and putting his elbows across the top, letting his chin rest on his knuckles.
“Let’s start off with the one helluva banger.
I didn’t think you could top Dale’s death.
We all knew, deep down, you did that shit!
Now for the real kicker: you being Father’s bastard child?
” Wei slammed the table with the palm of his hand.
“You had us all fooled, thinking we were in this together. No, you took the lead just like Father had planned all along. You made us feel like we were unworthy of the position, when truthfully we never had a shot.”
Amelia walked over to the table and sat down.
“Father manipulated me since I was a child to never tell a soul to protect our mother. Not only did he do that, but he threatened that if I did tell, he would take all of your shares from the company.”
Amelia could see their expressions slowly changing.
Wei still had his guard up, not wanting to let it down.
Adesua grabbed Amelia’s hand. She could finally see her again.
Her eyes lit up when she took the time to hear her.
They had all been manipulated by Father in some way as the chess pieces in his game.
Amelia knew no one else would understand their family in the way they did.
She was finally at peace with putting her heart first. No longer putting her Father’s expectations first in her vision.
No longer would she play this role that Father had wanted for her, and it felt good to let it all go. She could finally exhale.
Was this the speck of time that she needed to finally spill the news of Dale being their Father’s child too? How much could their hearts bear?
“I don’t want to hide anything anymore from any of you.
Yes, I have done some terrible things, but I won’t allow Father to ruin our futures.
I am willing to do what it takes. Not just for me but for all of us.
I need you all to trust me. Whatever it takes to gain your trust back,” Amelia said with sorrow.
“Over the years, I have seen how Father has treated me differently. I have tried to ignore it, but you’re right—I knew.
I knew Father was always going to have me lead the company.
He probably knew the day I was born, but I can’t control him, you all know this,” she exclaimed.
She stood from her chair, walking to the window, taking a look at the moon, hoping for a sign.
The only thought that came to her mind was to kneel on the ground toward them, and put her head on the floor.
It was her way of surrendering the control she subconsciously had over them.
Amelia wanted to strip her father’s vile ways from her in any way she could.
“Forgive me, my brothers and sisters. As I have asked God for mercy, I ask you and beg you.”
The air around them changed heavily. No one wanted to take another breath.
Diego cried out from the pain building up.
“I wish we could all go back and remember the day we met. We promised each other that we had each other.” He sniffled before continuing.
“So let’s have each other. I am sorry for joining in on the witch hunt, Amelia.
We didn’t know what to believe,” he said, taking a shuttered look at Adesua.
Adesua walked across the formal dining room, getting Amelia off the ground.
“Get up,” she said in a playful manner.
“I love you, Adesua. I am sorry for putting you in an uncomfortable position, making it hard to trust me,” Amelia said while hugging her close.
She felt something different than she had in a long time, something that her family had been missing: peace.
When that was near, the secrets they shared slowly started to fade away.
Wei nodded without showing much emotion, but she knew her kneeling to them was the start.
It had changed the power dynamics that her father had pushed on them. Now she would lead with her siblings.
At the nape of her neck, she could feel each hair standing up, pleading with her to tell the truth.
Amelia knew that some hurts were unbearable, even for her siblings.
Dale was no longer a threat to them, and he surely wasn’t one of them.
They were the Seven Wonders, and he was a mere thought in their past that didn’t need any more power.
Some secrets were truths that only the dead were meant to carry.