Chapter 5 Family Drama

After about two hours, Scarlett arrived at the Fernando Villa. She stepped out of her car and walked into the house. She was certain nothing good was going to come out of her meeting with her dad. Her stepmom, Savannah and her step sister, Angelica had always hated her. They never got along.

"I see you came," a female voice mocked from behind her.

Scarlett recognized the voice, so she paused but after three seconds she continued heading to the dining room. She could hear hurried steps heading towards her from behind. The person pulled her.

"Are you ignoring me?" She grabbed Scarlett's hand bag.

"You like it? I know you have a habit of always going after what I own. Why? You need the bag too?" Scarlett commented mockingly as she pushed the person's hand off the bag.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Angelica yelled, grabbing the bag again and tossing the bag to the ground.

"Enough! That's enough for both of you," Savannah yelled vehemently from a distance. "There's no use arguing with a stranger, honey. Come, your father is waiting for us." She said before going up to the dining room and Angelica joined her leaving Scarlett.

Few minutes later, Scarlett walked in and met her father and stepmom seated on the already set table. Memories of her childhood with her mom overwhelmed her as she tried to shake it off and regain her composure. She had never let her weakness show especially when it came to her stepmom and sister.

"Finally, you came home," Mr. Eugene Fernando said the moment he caught sight of Scarlett.

Scarlett swiftly took a seat, not responding to what her Dad said.

"Why did you send your assistant to get me?" Scarlett asked, not giving any room to exchange pleasantries.

"Does a father need a reason to see his own child?" Mr. Eugene Fernando responded.

Scarlett Scoffed. "Child? What a joke. I can't believe you managed to crack me up by just hearing you utter those words."

"What a rude bitch." Savannah barked as her face turned red. "Just who do you think you are, to talk that way to your father. You must think you're special or something."

"Get to the point, I am busy." Scarlett replied, trying to keep her cool.

"What do you mean busy, we all know you're busy doing nothing ever since your wedding fell through." Savannah said, trying to mock her. "Do you know how much we lost when you called off that wedding? You should be grateful you are still allowed to be part of this family."

Though she was right, but hearing those words pierced her. Scarlett was jobless and only managed to get by the day through the assets she had gathered during the time she was living her glory as a model and also through sidekick jobs.

She shares a condo with her best friend Kia Preston and has been living her pathetic life of being an adopted daughter of a rich family but in reality she's nothing but a pawn at her step father's disposal.

The absurdity of Savannah's words sent Scarlett into fits of laughter. "And who do you think is the reason for that?" She said, her focus turning to Angelica.

"Don't tell me you still think I am the reason for your failed wedding. You are a low life adopted brat and no guy in his right mind will be willing to spend forever with someone like you. I still can't believe you acted out and called off your wedding." Angelica nipped while slowly sipping her wine and exchanging deadly glares with Scarlett.

"If I'm a low life then what are you? You're just a daughter to a homewrecker. If my mom was still alive you'd definitely still be a nobody. Sticking to receiving money from another woman's husband."

"How dare you!" Savannah roared as Scarlett's sharp tongue cut right through her, as she got to her feet.

"Enough!" Mr Eugene finally spoke. "Why do you three always fight when your paths cross? We shouldn't be fighting, we should come together and find a solution to our biggest problem as a family. That's the reason I called for this meeting, not so you could be bickering at each other. Your feud is the least of my problems now."

"Well, she started it. This is good for nothing child of yours. I meant to say adopted daughter. Her witch of a mother died a long time ago. Why do you still keep her around, she doesn't even deserve to be part of this family."

Scarlett clenched her fist as she tried to hold back the anger that was burning in her from hearing the gibberish Savannah uttered.

Savannah slowly sat down as she reached for her glass of wine and emptied it trying to keep her cool.

"I don't care about whatever opinions you both have, what matters to me is my business and-"

Scarlett interrupted him, "You mean mom's business. I'm sure if she was still alive you'll still be sucking up to her pretending to be a perfect husband. You only showed your true self after she died. You're a worthless man, you failed in your marriage and your life too." Scarlett declared, her eyes shaking as she tried to stop her tears from seeping down. No one there deserved a drop of it.

"The business is struggling. Mr Eugene added ignoring Scarlett's outburst. "I want you to help me close a deal with D'Amico group." Scarlett's father continued, as he sent a file flying at her.

Scarlett chuckled, "I see it's about a deal again. Who do you want to sell me over to this time? Ahh, D'Amico group? I would never have guessed it even if I'm given a million chances. Your greed has surely grown these few years. Aren't you dreaming of something way out of your league?" Scarlett's hostility at her father arose, as if she was intentionally trying to upset him.

"And whose fault do you think it is? If your good for nothing mother had not hidden away the company's funds, I won't need to be going through all these ups and downs."

"Don't you dare blame my mother for anything, blame it on yourself and your infidelity."

"So I'm not asking for your opinion, just do what I said."

"Why should I?" Scarlett asked, her voice almost breaking down from all the anger she was bottling up.

"If you at least feel an ounce of gratitude to me for raising you." He dropped his cutlery, stood up and began walking away.

Scarlett got up abruptly. "On one condition," the words tumbled out of her mouth, stopping her Dad in his tracks.

"If I bring you this deal our relationship comes to an end. I no longer owe you anything. It's my way of paying you back for adopting me and also making up for what you lost when I called off the damn wedding." Scarlett demanded as she tightened her grip on the file she had in hand.

Mr. Eugene laughed,"You think it's that easy? Do you even know who the boss of D'Amico group is? What makes you so confident you can pull this off and get to Derek D'Amico?" He asked as his brow twitched.

"Exactly," Scarlett cut him before he could spew more words. "Since it's not easy don't you think I deserve to get something back in return? I am not asking for anything grand, I just want to end this ill fate we call family."

"What?" Mr. Eugene uttered.

"All I need to do is bring you Derek right?" She said as she picked up her bag. "I'm done here," she stormed out of the house.

"Good luck! You will need it." Mr. Eugene mocked.

Scarlett, without looking back, got into her car and shut the door in rage. The tears she had been desperately holding back, walked it way down her cheeks. She was burning red as she buried her face on the steering wheel.