Chapter 5 MY FATHER'S LAST WISHES

~Rose

"Yes, we have to prepare the ceremony in just three days."

Amanda was walking through and from whilst on a call with someone, perhaps an event planner of some sort. But what I wasn't aware of was what event she was planning.

I just sat there in the comfy white single settee which was on the right side of the fireplace, opposite the double settee where David and his Mistress, Charlotte were seated.

He had his hand draped over her neck as they both stared at the screen of her phone. Comfortable smiles were plastered on their faces and it seemed as if in that moment, they were the only ones who mattered, every other thing didn't make sense to them. I was there but they didn't care.

I couldn't also believe that Amanda was okay with allowing him to bring someone who wasn't part of the family up into the penthouse because I remembered that the receptionist had said that it was only meant for family and had even said I wasn't family but an imposter.

"Alright, thank you. Make sure everything is ready before tomorrow." Amanda finally said and ended the call.

She sighed and came to sit on the single settee which was positioned next to the one I was sitting on.

"Alright David, as earlier discussed the ceremony will go on. You just have to make sure that you're ready. My husband will be so proud of what you have become and how far you have come." She said with a wistful look in her eyes, "he couldn't have been more proud." She added.

I was lost for a moment.

"Please, sorry to interrupt." I said with a very low voice.

At this point, it seemed like everything I said or did always amounted to a problem and I was either abused or humiliated as a punishment.

Amanda stopped talking and turned to look at me. David and Charlotte also stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to me.

Their gaze lingered on me as they waited for me to speak, a palpable mixture of disdain and superiority. Amanda's eyebrows were slightly raised, creating a subtle yet unmistakable arch of skepticism, like she didn't think I had anything important to contribute to the discussion. Her eyes themselves seem to narrow, as if scrutinizing an inferior being, which was what I realised I was slowly becoming.

Her nose wrinkled ever so slightly, a faint curl of the lip accompanying it, conveying a hint of disgust or distaste. Her mouth, a thin-lipped line, curved downward in a subtle sneer, implying a look of disdain.

I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from her condescending look because if I didn't, then I might never be able to ask the question that burned me as I listened to her conversation on the phone.

"What is it that we're celebrating?" I asked her.

She scoffed and blinked her eyes I'm disbelief, then she turned to David,

"Didn't you tell her?" She asked him.

He sighed and used his hands to rub over his face I'm an exhausted manner,

"I didn't have the time to. She was being annoying." He replied to her, disregarding the fact that I was in the room with them.

She shook her head and then turned to me,

"We're holding a very important party. We couldn't have done it at the hotel and so we decided to do it here at the penthouse. After the party, you and your husband will be free to do whatever it is you like as married couples away from your father's major properties which includes this hotel and the mansion." She said,

As I looked at her, it was as though the initial warmth that used to linger in her eyes after I had been discharged from the hospital and before the wedding ceremony. Immediately after the wedding, everything and everyone had changed.

"This ceremony is a ceremony to honour your father's last wishes."

"What-what wishes?" I stammered, I had lost all the confidence I thought I had after spending a few days married to David and being under Amanda's care.

"He wished that after of course you had gotten married, that you would inherit the company." She said with a smile plastered on her face.

I kept quiet expecting her to continue but she then she didn't which meant that I had to ask the eur question I was avoiding so much not to ask.

"What company?"

There it goes! A stark evidence of how much a stranger I truly was within my own family.

Amanda sighed and took my hands in hers, "I understand that you don't remember because of the accident and that's why after I'm done explaining everything to you, I'll tell you one very important thing you have to do to save your father's company and in effect, his legacy."

I sighed and gave her a nod to show that I agreed with what she was saying. It wasn't like I had any choice.

"Alright, that's great." She said, her tone laced with an excited expression.

What was she so excited about anyway?

"Your father's company, Carlton Steel.co, is a multi-billion dollar company that socialises in the creation of steel and metal which is further manufactured into steel and iron related objects. It handles millions of projects in a year and the return of its profit is always very-" she paused as she tried to think of a word to describe it, "-enormous."

"It has various branches all over the world too and has been the source of his immense wealth." She took another pause, "as you know, I don't have a child of my own which was why I suggested to him that she should will the company to you in spite of your, well-" she eyes me condescendingly again before she continued,

She didn't want to say it; my slut*y attitude in the past.

"Anyways, I had to tell him to do so, that way it would keep him from giving to the government and other charity organisations, what he had worked so hard his entire life to achieve. Do you understand?" She asked me.

I lowered my head and I gave her yet another small nod in response. It was hard for me to speak because I didn't feel like I had the right to.

"Good. He willed it to you on the condition that you get married to David, which you have done, and make him the C.E.O, seeing as you know nothing about running a company and-" she used her hand to pat the top of my head, "-besides, even if you did, I'm sure with the way things are right now, you wouldn't remember how to."

Those words were like a stab to my heart. Was she trying to mock my condition or was she just speaking figuratively.

"So, that's what this ceremony is all about. As you know we can't waste any more time. It has to be announced that you're already alive and that you will be making David the CEO of the company." She said enthusiastically.

Was it the thought that we were holding a party that was making her this enthusiastic?

I couldn't ask her that though for fear that they might decide to just sit me out of the entire process of the ceremony.

I was such a disgrace to my father that he did not seem me worthy to be an heir to his properties and his wealth.

"Alright." I managed to find my voice.

"The party will start in earnest in the next three days, meanwhile, we'll be staying here for the time being until the ceremony is over. I suggest that you go out with your husband and, you know, get something that you will use for the ceremony." She said and reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card that had my name on it.

I reached for it but she suddenly took it away, "now, you must return the card to me once you're done shopping."

My brows creased in confusion, "why?" I asked her.

"Because, your father made it mandatory for me to always be the custodian of all your credit cards. It's a way to sort of check your excessive spending habits,"

I had that kind of habit?

"It's a necessary precaution. It's true that you may have forgotten all this about yourself but then again, that doesn't mean that you won't still have such a habit on display every now and then. He had told me, when I asked, that it was a trait your dead mother used to have which means that it's inherent in your nature so even if you have forgotten, it doesn't mean you've changed."

Did she know my late mother? How did she die? Did I perhaps send her to her early grave with my bad attitude?

My mind was so bitter at this point. I was being judged harshly by Amanda, who I had thought to be very nice and understanding and David, who had pretended to be loving.

He couldn't even wait until after a few weeks or months into the marriage to show me who he truly is.

Everything I was doing up until this point was solely to try to see if I could earn my father's forgiveness and wipe out the guilt I felt for causing his death. But then, it's beginning to seem as though I was living under his shadow and as much as I wanted to really question what kind of relationship we had, there was no one I could go to for that kind of information so I had no choice but to do all that was asked of me to at least, avoid any further problems.

"Do you understand?" She asked me.

"Yes ma'am." Was the befitting response which I gave to her.

"Good!" She said and handed the credit card to me.

I collected it.

"You may leave now and get settled into your rooms."

I stayed in the room who's door was just beside the room Charlotte was given. David came to join me in the room after he was done with discussing with Amanda.

He just turned to the closet, picked his towel and headed for the bathroom.

"Um, will you be joining me soon?" I asked him.

I was trying to get him to come to me.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment and I thought that perhaps, he would listen to me but instead, he walked over to the door leading to the bathroom, pulled it open and walked out.

A few minutes later, the door opened and he stepped back into the room.

I stood up from the bed and walked up to him whilst his back was turned to me as he rummaged through his wardrobe, trying to get his nightwear.

I got down from the bed and walked sensuously towards him, then I snaked my hands behind his back and rested my nose on his back. He was significantly taller than I was.

"Look, I know that you're still angry for what I did but then, I don't even remember it regardless, I am making efforts to make us work. I believe we can make it work if you just give me a chance." I said into his skin, begging him to at least give me a chance.

He sighed, wrapped my hands with his and slowly let it slide down his body until they were off his body and back at my sides.

Then he turned to me, "you may have forgotten, but I never would."

He turned back to the wardrobe and closed it shut.

"Now, if you would please, excuse me." He said dryly and left me by myself feeling like a loser while I knew that he was going off to meet with his mistress,

Charlotte.

It seemed there was no getting through to him either. Perhaps I just had to learn to be comfortable with what my life has become now.