He clapped his hand on his forehead and mocked, “I managed to escape unharmed from Shane, but in the end, I die from my wife’s carelessness. That is a little outrageous, don’t you think?”
I frowned and chided, “Stop spouting nonsense.”
He chuckled and the atmosphere lightened.
The traffic light turned green and I drove on.
Along the way, he filled me in on the details. “It is Armond. He must have faced a lot of pressure from his family when he lost big due to the incident in Moranta. He hired Shane to make a scene, officially declaring war on me. I suspect he planned to pursue a long-neglected matter.”
“What long-neglected matter?” I was clueless.
He started telling me a story.
Thirty years ago, the Murphys were not involved in the oil industry. They had some factories and a pharmaceutical company. Their business then was not as diversified nor huge as compared to now. The main player in the oil sector was the Sanders, one of the most prominent families in K City during those days. The oil sector wasn’t a major industry at that time, so the Sanders assigned the concession of that business to their adopted daughter, Winona Stanhope. When Winona married into the Murphy family, she brought the oil business into that family as well.
I was shell-shocked. “The Winona Stanhope you mentioned is my grandma?” I had to clear my doubts.
Anthony nodded.
“Isn’t she adopted by the Sanders? Why is her family name Stanhope?”
“Mrs. Sanders had difficulty conceiving, so they adopted a daughter, naming her Winona Sanders. However, Mrs. Sanders got pregnant not long after and had her own baby. Due to some personal reasons not privy to us, the Sanders changed your grandma’s last name to Stanhope, which was Mrs. Sanders’ family name.”
I nodded and probed, “What happened next?”
He gently swept back some messy strands of hair from my forehead and continued, “After Winona married into the Murphy family, the industrial revolution and development of the electronics sector caused the oil industry to grow by leaps and bounds. As the exploration rights in the country were in your grandma’s hands, the Murphys jumped in and did big-scale exploration and extraction. Instantly, they rose to become one of the richest families in K City. Some of the old-money families tried to cozy up to the Murphys. Others felt threatened by their rise, so they plotted against the Murphys. As your grandma held the key to the rise of the Murphys, she was targeted and suffered much. Your grandma knew the importance of oil to the family and the country, so she planned to control the development to make it sustainable in the long run. The Murphys were blinded by greed and did not heed her advice. Out of desperation, your grandma hid the oil concession document in a secret compartment of a box and left with it.”
“The box with the secret compartment is the sandalwood box grandma left for me, isn’t it?” I made an intelligent guess.
He nodded. “Yes, that is the one. Armond tried to get close to you because he was eyeing that box.”
I recalled when I first met Armond, it was at my grandma’s burial ground. He stood in front of my grandma’s tombstone for quite a while. I did not really pay attention at that time as I thought he was just a casual passerby. Looking back, I should have suspected otherwise as he had an unusual expression.
“I had already given Armond the box!” To me, that was just an ordinary box. That was why I gave it to Armond without any hesitation when he asked me for it when we were in Venria.
Anthony looked at me and nodded, “I know.”
My eyes popped out of my head. “How can you be so calm when you knew?” I could not imagine the consequence, now that the oil concession agreement fell into Armond’s hand. Although the oil concession had reverted back to the state, it was previously a private asset. There was no official handover, so the Murphys could bring up the issue and seek legal redress.
He grinned and confessed, “I had the foresight to switch the box.”
I was stunned. “If Armond knew about that, he would kill us. The document in that box is worth an obscene amount of money. If the Murphys get hold of that money, they will have some breathing space and can continue their fight with the Featherstones.”
“From the look of it, he had not opened that box.” Anthony confidently smiled. I was intrigued by his nonchalant manner. “How can you be so sure he had not opened that box?”
“If they had opened the box, knowing how the Murphys are, they would have publicized it to bring attention to themselves. They would also have contacted the Finance Ministry to taken legal recourse to relook into the matter. This would bring in loads of money for the Murphys. It would be difficult not to hear about that,” he quipped.
“What will happen if the Murphys opened the box and realized they had been fooled?” I questioned.
“They had the fake box, which had no openings. Unfortunately, that also means they will continue to hound us, so we are in for more trouble,” Anthony smiled and predicted.
“At the end of the day, the Murphys are after money. They are already very wealthy. Why the obsession with money?” I sighed.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at the Stanhope residence. The compound was brightly lit. The housekeeper and a few staff were waiting for us. The housekeeper greeted us, handed our car key to the valet, and led us into the house.
The table was already set, but only Louis was in.
“Letty, you have arrived! Come, dinner is ready. Let’s eat.” Louis came up to warmly welcome us.
After greeting Louis, I looked around and realized John was not around. “John is not back yet?”
“He is on his way. We shan’t wait for him. Let’s get started.” Louis showed us to our seats and instructed the maids to serve dinner.
Just as we got seated, we heard a car driving in. “This rascal sure has a good sense of timing. He will appear right on the dot when dinner is served,” Louis derided.
“Oh my, you are early. I did not expect you to come this early. I thought the two of you will only stroll in around 8 p.m.,” John said as he walked in.
I turned to look and scowled when I caught sight of his companion.
“Rascal, get out!” Louis hollered.
“Uncle Louis, don’t be so mean. I was busy, yet still took time off to come back when you asked me to. How can you chase me out before I could even warm the seat?” He then turned to Yvonne, who was standing next to him and urged, “Yvonne, present the gift you bought specially for Uncle Louis. That should please him.”
Yvonne duly walked over to Louis with a big smile and a gift box in hand. “Uncle Louis, Johnny said you enjoy tea. I hope you will like this premium. Do try it when you are free.”
She presented the tea with both hands and had a perfect smile on her face. She looked every inch a well-mannered, elegant scion.
All the time she spent hanging around the socialites was not wasted after all. She had learned a lot from those ladies. If I had not seen the ugly side of her when we met in the bar years ago, I would have thought she was an heiress of a wealthy family.
Time had worked miracles, transforming her into a lady.
Louis did not take the gift from her hands. His dark gaze was on John. “What are you thinking?” he bellowed.
John shrugged and nonchalantly said, “Yvonne is presenting you with a gift. Out of courtesy, you should at least take it from her hand. If you want to nag at me, do wait till everyone leaves after dinner. If you flare now, you will spoil the day for all of us.”
He then took the gift from Yvonne, placed it next to Louis, and led her to sit at the table. “What is everyone waiting for? Let’s eat!” He acted as if nothing had happened.
I glanced at the indifferent John, stood up, and poured Louis a glass of water. “Uncle Louis, have some water.”
Louis took the water from my hand. He was visibly furious, staring sternly at John. He looked like he was ready to thrash John anytime. John couldn’t care less and was eating his dinner, unconcerned.
Louis was angry as it was supposed to be a family dinner, so Yvonne’s presence was not welcomed. John clearly understood that, but he still brought her along.
It was not a good time to find out why he did that, so I kept quiet.
Another car drove in shortly. I was surprised as I did not expect more guests.
Hannah walked in with her nanny and her son. Louis’ face broke into a smile when he heard Quilo’s voice. He hurried out to carry him.
“In the future, let me send the driver to pick you. It is a struggle for you, with baby in tow.” Louis started chatting with Hannah.
Hannah’s gentle voice could be heard saying, “It is just a short distance from here. I called to inform you I’ll be late, and not to wait for us, yet you…”
She abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence. The sight of Yvonne and John caught her by surprise.
She recovered quickly and turned to us, her smile still intact on her face. “My apologies for being late, Sienna and Mr. Featherstone. We left home late and got caught in a traffic jam.”
I smilingly shook my head to assure her it was okay. We chatted briefly before sitting down to dinner. Quilo was left in the nanny’s care in the next room.
What was supposed to be a cozy family dinner turned into an awkward one. Only John continued eating, unaffected.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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