I Slept With Your Fiancé

‘Amiyah, what happened to your neck?’ For the benefit of the rubbernecking guests, she pointed at the red marks on the nape of my neck. ‘What are those?’ Shannon spoke on cue. ‘Rainey, don’t embarrass your niece. Amiyah just accused us of having a party so soon after her father’s passing, yet she couldn’t wait to celebrate with a roll in the hay.’ She sneered. ‘At least she tried to cover it up with a long-sleeved dress.’ Landon’s hand, still on my shoulder, shook. Rainey worked up a blush. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Amiyah. I didn’t realise you were so… Anyway, you should have worn a scarf. These marks are…unsightly.’ I watched the little skit put on by mother and daughter, and almost burst out laughing. I wondered if Rainey could still blush if I told her those ‘unsightly’ marks were left by her fiancé. The man called Kieran Valentine was standing quietly by the side, watching, just like a regular bystander. His face was impassive. I put on a smug smile. ‘Aunt Rainey, don’t tell me you’ve never had sex before? How can that be? You’re thirty years old.’ I eyed her up and down and shook my head. ‘Tsk. You and’—I tilted my chin towards her fiancé—‘Uncle Kieran here are engaged. You guys haven’t knocked boots yet? That finally elicited a reaction from the stranger. The corners of his mouth twitched. Whether it was a smile or a scorn, I couldn’t tell. Aunt Rainey, aka Queen Bitch, aka Slut Who Pretended To Be A Virgin, went beet red. She almost couldn’t maintain that fake smile on her face. She gave some lame excuse about having to greet a couple of guests and left with her fiancé. Shannon left as well, but not before giving me a death stare. I returned the gesture with a cheeky smile. I admired Kieran Valentine’s long legs as he strode away. He was Rainey’s fiancé, and he slept with a random girl he met on the street the night before his engagement. That put him in my good books. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Rainey’s face when she learned about this. Landon still had his hand on my shoulder. I wasn’t interested in talking to him. Anything that came out of my mouth now was going to be an expletive. I shrugged off his hand, sauntered over to an empty chair and grabbed a glass of red wine from a passing waiter’s tray. Landon just looked at me for a few seconds, then he walked off. He probably didn’t know what to say to me, either. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him approaching Mom. Others thought Landon was the perfect husband, perfect son-in-law. I nodded along with that statement in the past. Now, if anyone brought it up again, I could think of only one reply—bullshit. Dad once said, you could never truly know a person, no matter how much time you spent with them. I wondered if Dad saw through Landon back then. Probably didn’t. Otherwise, he’d never have given his blessing for the marriage. I watched the crowd milling about, all dressed up in fancy clothes and phoney smiles. Something suddenly occurred to me. I’d revealed the skeleton in the closet to the stranger last night—the sexless marriage, the double betrayal. I bared my soul because I wanted to vent and thought I’d never see the man again. But now he was here, and he just met my husband and my mom. Was he laughing at me right now? I scanned the crowd for his tall figure. Before I found him, however, Queen Bitch was back. She sashayed towards me in that figure-hugging cheongsam. Her movements were graceful, and her eyes were glacial. ‘Amiyah, we need to talk.’ She was standing with her back to the crowd so none of the guests could see the nasty look on her face. ‘About what?’ I remained seated. ‘About the company. Brennan’s gone now. And you’re too young to take over your dad’s responsibilities. I think you should leave them to me.’ She said it in such a matter-of-fact manner, like she was just asking me for a smoke instead of handing over my dad’s company. ‘Dream on,’ I scoffed. Candour Corp. was my dad’s baby. He single-handedly brought it back from the verge of bankruptcy, then spent the next two and a half decades building the small factory into a publicly listed company. He put his blood, sweat and tears into the business. The Queen Bitch was not going to steal it away from me. She gave me a complacent smile. ‘I’m not really asking you. This is more of a heads-up. The old man’s going to transfer his shares to me. I’ll be the largest shareholder of Candour Corp. with or without your blessing.’ I couldn’t believe my ears. Grandpa was going to give his shares to Queen Bitch? Why? Dad built the company. Dad owned it. I was his legitimate heir. Did Grandpa hate me so much that he would rather give his shares—given to him by Dad, by the way—to Rainey instead of me? ‘Amiyah, don’t blame your grandfather.’ Rainey seemed to know what I was thinking. ‘He’s making the right call, you know, for the good of the company. A career in business doesn’t really suit you anyway. Your husband’s an accomplished screenwriter. He earns enough for both of you. Why don’t you stay home and be a good wife?’ She swirled the glass of wine in her hand. Both the liquid and her nails were bloodred. ‘Don’t worry. Candour’s future is in good hands when I take over. You’ve met Kieran. His family’s going to throw their full weight behind Candour when our marriage becomes official. Surely, you’ve heard of the Valentines?’ Of course I’d heard of them. Everybody in Lisbern had heard of them. Behind that sweet-sounding surname was a behemoth with clout in business, politics and the military. The Valentines stood at the top of the social pyramid and looked down on everyone else. I shrugged. So what?