Chapter 36 Amelia Ridley
Amelia Ridley
Amelia walked down the hallway, echoing the footsteps of doctors and nurses and the wailing of her mother’s tears.
Father lay behind closed doors, letting out random outbursts.
His grand office that had once been filled with intense meetings was now a room for his recovery.
His breath was slowly failing him, and his power was slowly leaving him.
Father was no longer the intimidating figure that had made them all go quiet when he entered a room.
None of her brothers wanted to see him after what had been exposed about Amelia.
“Mellie, bring me my boy Wei,” Father pleaded.
She would nod and say he was coming, but Amelia knew he was never coming. Just like Father’s ailing body was failing him, Wei was doing the same, for good reason.
Night and day began to blend together, but this morning, Amelia knew.
It was the day of the emergency board meeting.
She’d called all the members after Father had persistently failed certain cognitive tests.
His mental health was severely declining, alongside his physical health.
Mr. Pierre opened the car door for her, as Wei and Omar were driving their own cars to the Ridley headquarters in Midtown.
The sunrays hit the board meeting room, giving her a feeling of hope. Amelia didn’t feel nervous, as this was her destiny. She waited for Wei and Omar to walk through the doors. She adjusted her green skirt and cream blouse before speaking.
“Gentlemen, thank you for coming. It has come time to start this meeting,” she said with authority.
“As some of you know, my father’s health has declined severely.
This has caused him to make some unseemly alliances with criminals that I was able to defuse almost immediately before they went to press.
I, Amelia Ridley, vote to bring my father, Edward Ridley, out due to a threat to the Ridley Line. ”
Without hesitation, each man held up his hand one by one.
She expected some backlash from Father’s longtime friends, but even they had had enough.
When money came into play, loyalty was out the door.
The motion cleared with flying colors and no conflict.
Wei and Omar smiled at their sister. She could see that she’d earned their respect for how she’d handled this.
“As of today, from this point on, we are not here just for greed and to hoard wealth for us all. We are going to correct the wrongs that have been building over the last few years.”
The men got a little tight at hearing this. They knew they were sharks and cared only about how to make themselves richer, but hearing it out loud was a different story.
“We will liquidate a vast amount of the Ridley Line’s assets and put funds back into Harlem, which was wrongly taken advantage of by our alliance with bootleggers. This affected their livelihood. We can’t build if we take away.”
Amelia turned to Omar and Wei. She could have sworn she saw Wei’s eyes redden. She wasn’t going to leave them in the dark like Father had. They had helped Father grow the Ridley Line over the last five years, and she wasn’t going to let Father or herself take the credit for it anymore.
“Omar and Wei, from this day forward, will be c0-leading all logistics and strategic control of the Ridley Line’s passenger division.”
Omar and Wei looked at each other, flashing smiles.
“Every vessel will be of the utmost luxury for our future passengers,” Wei said with eagerness.
Omar nodded. “I assure you, there will be no shortcuts with this. We just needed someone to trust us, and this will indeed send the Ridley Line to new heights.”
“In light of this, the rest of our siblings will have a fair share of the Ridley Line’s future expansions,” she said peacefully.
This change was the beginning of a new era. No more tyrant in charge of everything. Amelia had felt a dangerous sense of that control and never wanted to feel that again. This time, it felt right.