Chapter 25

She was sad. No surprise there, because it'd been her thing for a while now. Except it was way worse today.

They were back home. And she'd spent her time at home. Just thinking.

She wasn't fond of having anyone visiting her or coming in, but this time, she let Lamont in. He'd been inside a total of five times, including now, but it was fine. He wasn't a terrible guest and he'd learned not to ask stupid questions about the building.

Except now he could. Since he'd been told a lot within less than a day.

They went to the wine cellar after she discovered she wasn't so comfortable in the kitchen watching Lamont.

It was nice being around her products. In her eyes, she's the best. She'd tasted that of other companies, but they either tasted artificial or too sweet...or too bitter. Hers was the perfect mixture. Though a lot of competitors would beg to differ.

Getting Vinium as a partner would give her some crazy reach.

With no appetite for wine, she just stared at the bottles in the cellar. They were so pretty. They could be prettier if they got the contract. From the way everyone was sucking up to Trevor and his friend, she knew it'd be difficult.

She sighed as she sat on the stool nearby. Her thoughts were going right back to Trevor. She should've thought the company had some connections to his family, considering they were multi-billionaires. And to think she'd worked for them before. How dumb.

"You know, you walk really fast."

Lamont looking disheveled with a tray in his hand appeared a few feet from the door, breathing a bit harder than he should.

"I already gave you instructions on how to get here," Tina said, shrugging, but looking amused at the look on his face. "And I wasn't walking that fast."

Lamont gave her a look of disbelief. "I tried calling out to you, but you weren't paying attention to anything. Even now, I was calling out to you for a bit, and you weren't listening."

"Sorry," she apologized, after she thought about it for a bit. "I was just..."

"Thinking," Lamont finished, proceeding to walk closer and get a chair beside her. "I got yogurt."

"From the fridge," she said, taking a glass from him before he could keep it on the counter behind her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Even though it's yours."

"Yeah," she said before taking a sip of the cold vanilla flavor drink. Her favorite. She briefly closed her eyes to take it all in before she opened it to see her friend looking at her with a funny expression.

"I keep forgetting that this is your favorite flavor. And drink. Except for Valentina's Vines."

She let herself smile after he finished his sentence. He was right about that. "They're the best."

"You'll have no arguments from me," Lamont cheered as he took a spoonful of his yogurt.

They stayed in silence, enjoying their yogurt before Lamont said something. No surprise there.

"I'm guessing there's nothing left to do but to move on, right?"

She had to agree with him. She was sad that Trevor wasn't happy with her. But there was nothing much she could do, really. All she really had was her business...and her friend. And the remaining family members she barely kept in contact with. She'd tried to runaway from the truth and it backfired. And she was sure everyone knew by now.

"I wonder why the whole business world doesn't know what my family did," she mused.

Lamont shrugged. "They probably do. And they probably know your family did way worse. Which was probably why they were acting so... insolent with you. The people with the real power are gone, so they don't care."

"I don't think we had that much power anyway," she muttered, licking some yogurt from her spoon. "I mean, sure, we were rich. But... I think the influence wasn't very strong. I mean, people probably still answered to them, but we weren't really liked. Not saying all business CEOs were liked but... That was one of the reasons why they wanted to get me married so early."

"Wait, what? You were almost married off?!"

She looked at him in surprise. "I didn't tell you that?"

"Obviously not."

She hummed. "I guess there's a lot we need to talk about then."

"Especially you and Trevor," he said. "When it's time for you to tell him everything, you might need a whole week."

He was right. There was a whole lot Trevor might not know about her past. And her present. Lamont already knew a few things, but he also didn't know everything. And he didn't seem a wee bit angry at that. It'll be a totally different thing when it's time to face her ex-boyfriend. If he'll want to see her again, that is.

"Yeah, well, my parents tried to marry me off when I was around age seventeen. I was turning eighteen that year, so it was the perfect time." She paused to take a breath before continuing, "I wasn't a boy so I didn't seem to be that valuable to my parents. Also, they didn't have much interest in wasting money for an IVF or surrogate. So 'selling' me was the best bet. They'd be getting more money and power. More influence and stuff like that."

"Wow."

She nodded. "So I ran away to the one family member that always loved me. And that my parents didn't really like even though my mom was related to him."

And there she got to have siblings and a real father and mother for a while. A real family that loved her and took good care of her. They got her jobs, introduced her as their family member. As their daughter. It was so nice.

"Why don't you reach out to them?"

She thought about it before she answered, taking in the beautiful smell of her cellar. "Most likely because I'm ashamed. And because I think they don't want to have anything to do with me."

"What? But you went to the wedding and-"

"Avoided any case of talking to them or seeing them. Just Andrew and the bride. And then, I left."

Lamont took her words in silently before responding. "But there's nothing to be ashamed of. You didn't do anything wrong to anyone. You didn't hurt anyone."

"I took the money of the people that they hated, that tried to ruin their lives. Even though I only took a bit, I still did it. And I opened a business with it. Oh, and I never came back or picked up any of their calls ever again."

"But you picked up Andrew's."

"Well, he's always found a way when it came to my disappearance."

She heard Lamont sigh beside her. "I really think you're overreacting. I know I might not have experienced what everyone has when it came to your grandparents and parents, but I don't think they'd hate you for taking what's rightfully yours as an only child. And for using it to build a business. I'm sure they love you either way, considering they took you in from the very beginning."

She smiled. "You didn't live with them, Lamont. So you don't know just how much they hate my parents and grandparents."

"Andrew doesn't hate you."

"Well, he's their child and he probably didn't experience anything-"

"And you didn't inflict anything on anyone," he interrupted.

"People usually claim that the sins of the father are on the son."

"Well, you're their daughter. And you ran away before anyone could spill any sin on you. So I think you're good."

She looked at him in silence.

"I really think you should reach out. Everyone's beef shouldn't be with you, because you're innocent. You're not your parents. Their beef will be with the other relatives who are causing more havoc with the money you gave them access to."

Tina still felt doubtful, but she didn't feel like arguing. "I did break my boyfriend's heart because of it though."

"Oh, yeah." He snickered after a thought. "I guess the one you really have to beg for forgiveness from is him."

He really didn't have to say it out loud, because she already knew that. It was at the forefront of her mind from the beginning.