Chapter Eleven- The Bombshell

Daddy was seated at their favourite table for three looking out to the Blue Mountains that was seven thousand four hundred and two feet above the Caribbean Sea. He was always in love with the Flora and Fauna of the National Park established in 1992 by the Government of Jamaica and was recently declared as a World Heritage Site. The mountains rose majestically from the plains and were the home of her daddy's favourite drink coffee.

Sienta screamed at the top of her lungs and ran across the Oriental carpet to greet and hug the only man that really mattered. His bear hug swept her off her feet and swung her around the partially empty Chinese restaurant. He smelled masculine but yet like a delicate flower and his lips soft as he kissed her on her cheek.

"Let me look at you my baby."

He twirled her around.

"Nice ready for the market, full and ripe," Roger said.

"Daddy you are so disgusting, but thanks I know I look good. Daddy I love you and I am so glad you are home for good this time."

"Oh, hello mother," she said dryly.

"Hello Sienta, have you finished trolling the country already?"

"Have a seat Sienta and what's the matter with you two? I came home to an empty house and now I detect some bitterness between my two women? Well, we will all be together tonight under one roof at home just like the good old days."

The icy stare between Yolande and Sienta continued. Sienta was quick to the draw and broke the ice.

"Daddy I am so sorry, but I have an appointment later tonight and I don't' think I will be finished early enough. Then I have to go somewhere with Jason to look at a potential property."

She watched her mother's face keenly as she said the last few words.

If looks could kill Sienta Alexander would have fallen dead on the spot.

"Oh!" Roger responded.

"What kind of property is that Sienta?"

"It's nothing much Daddy, Jason wants my opinion on something, you know Jason already always trying to find a new way to get rich."

Roger laughed until he turned red in the face.

"That is the one thing with that boy he has a lot of ambition and he will not stop until he is on top of the ladder of success. He will be successful at this maze we call life, the right aptitude too, humble, well mannered, intelligent. If I ever had a son, I would want him to just be like Jason. That is why I hired him, plus I knew I could trust him to be around my girls and no harm would come to any of you," Roger said.

Sienta, felt a pang of pain in her stomach and she wondered if her mother would have broken under the strain, but she only saw a smirk across her mother's face.

"Well, my darling Sienta, we took the opportunity to order Wonton soups to start and your favourite Ham choy pork with Mucmee. Your dad would have it no other way since the sun rises and sets on his precious Sienta," Mummy replied.

"Mother, please don't sound so disheartened and jealous, because without you there would be no me and while I might resemble daddy, I am just like you mummy," Sienta replied.

"Girls, I did not ask you out to dinner to bicker and throw darts at each other, it's my first night back and I want to have fun and enjoy your company. I should have invited Jason, I have not laid eyes on him in a while," Roger said trying to calm his two fighting girls.

"No!" Sienta shouted.

"This is a family moment and daddy no matter what Jason is still the hired help."

Yolande squirmed in the chair and seemed quite uncomfortable,

"What's the matter mummy? Is the heat getting to you? I noticed that you are sweating despite the nice cool ambiance of the evening," Sienta asked.

"Sienta, one day you will find out, excuse me Roger I need to attend to the ladies' room," Yolande replied.

The chair almost tipped over and it was Roger's quick response that caught it just in time as Yolande sprang from the chair. Roger had been in a half-cocked position neither standing nor sitting when he had to reach out to stop the piece of furniture from clattering to the floor.

"What is the matter, with your mother Sienta?" Roger asked with a frown etched on his face.

"Daddy I don't know she had been behaving strangely recently, but you are her husband maybe she will open up to you or maybe you could ask Jason, he spends a lot of time with her these days," Sienta replied nonchalantly.

"What do you mean Sienta?" Roger asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Daddy he drives her everywhere," Sienta replied.

"That is what I pay him for Sienta, she has no need to be hassled driving anymore, she has a young strong man to drive her everywhere she wants to go and plus he had the ability to protect her physically," Roger said with bravado in his voice.

She knew she had been toying with the truth all evening and dropped breadcrumbs for her father to follow. The words burned the tip of her tongue, but her lips restrained them and the truth stayed suppressed.

"So, baby what have you been up to?" Roger asked.

Sienta sighed and then smiled "Well I have applied for several jobs, but there is an opening in public relations at a hotel in the corporate area that seems most promising. The general manager seems to have taken a liking to me and keeps saying that I have a shoe in for the job," she said proudly.

"Sienta, I have raised you with values, please do not let that man believe that he can have access to your body in return for the job. I hope that is not the type of likeness that he is displaying or else I would come and look for him myself. What about this juice company fellow that your mother has always been talking so much about?" Roger said.

"Oh God, daddy not you too, if mummy likes him so much, she should have married him herself instead of you," Sienta replied with her voice stained with frustration.

"What the hell are you talking about Sienta, your mother is only looking after your own best interest. It takes a lot of money to keep this family going according to the status in life that you two ladies have been used to. I made some investments over the years and unfortunately the performance of these investments has not been as good as we expected. You are the hope of the family to invest in the Juice Company and build back the Alexander fame and fortune through strategic alliances. You are mature enough now to understand what real life is about," Roger said firmly.

Sienta was shocked and struggled to find the words.

"Daddy, are you saying that my entire life was just a charade? I was just being prepared for sacrifice on the altar of prosperity. An arranged married? What about love and respect and allowing me to find my own true love?" Sienta asked with tears in her eyes.

"Your mother probably never got the chance to tell you the truth in a way that you would have understood before. Love is overrated Sienta, it cannot be carried to the supermarket for food or can provide shelter or status in this life. Power and influence come through money and connections. You are beautiful, intelligent and smart. Therefore, we have no other choice but to ensure that we appended the Alexander name through you to this Juice dynasty."

"What I am about to say to you Sienta must only stay between you and I, promise me!" Roger begged.

She could see the desperation building in her father's eyes and never wanted to let down her mentor.

"While I was Dubai I was approached to invest in a sure thing by a close and personal friend, it was a new drug that would cure Alzheimer's, so I invested almost two million dollars in shares with a promised return of almost 500 per cent in a very short time and when I thought about my position as an aging pilot almost in the twilight of my career a wife who does not work and a daughter in university pursuing her masters I took the risk.

A year and a half into the trials of the drugs, he sends me an email to dump my stock, but because my services were disrupted for a while, I never received the email until two weeks later. The trials failed and the shares plummeted and as a result I lost my investment. To make matters worse I am now being investigated for insider trading. The legal fees along the way have drained our reserves and we are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Sienta felt as if she was in the twilight zone, caught somewhere between a priest and a lawyer, bearing the secrets of both her mother and father with no hope of redemption. The sadness that surrounded her heart felt cold and she instantly felt as if the whole world was on her shoulder, the white lamb to the slaughter a sacrifice to save the Alexander name from disgrace.

The potential of a stepbrother was disgrace enough but imagined the ridicule on the social scenes if her father was carted off to prison. Penniless and without job Sienta Alexander suddenly felt as if she had grown up in an instant. What should have been a joyful celebration of the return of the Don was slowly turning out to a cluster of heartache and pain.

"Sienta, your Mummy is coming, please not a word baby," Roger urged.