Since Rainey wanted to play the bigger person, I was happy to oblige.
So I didn’t apologise.
I just smiled at the crowd.
They were in for a treat.
I turned around, set down the empty glass and picked up another full one.
‘You’re right,’ I said breezily. ‘I’m really under a lot of stress, and I hear this is a great way to relax.’
I flashed a smile at Rainey.
‘So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to pour another one.’
I raised my hand and tilted the glass, watching the rich red liquid descend over her face like a mini-waterfall.
The onlookers gasped.
The Kleenex had been wasted.
Rainey’s face was redder than the ripest Honeycrisp apples.
Part of it was the wine.
The other part was, I hoped, rage.
It was immensely satisfying to watch.
Shannon’s gape-mouthed look was the cherry on top.
Then my mother gave me her second slap of the day.
‘Stop it!’ she shrieked. ‘What are you doing? What would you

It took my sluggish brain another full minute to process the meaning of his words.
I shook my head.
‘Shameless’ was too mild a word to describe the man.
I glared at him, but the dim streetlight reduced its effectiveness.
He wasn’t fazed at all.
‘Come on.’ He pulled me up.
I pushed him away.
I didn’t want any physical contact with him.
‘Leave me alone!’ I staggered to my feet, swaying a little. ‘Forget about last night. It never happened. Now scram.’
I looked around, picked a direction that would hopefully take me homeward, and set off.
I stopped after taking one step.
Landon was wrong.
I wasn’t the Little Mermaid.
I was the tribeswoman forced to participate in the ritual of firewalking.
The step I took made me feel like I was tramping over a bed of hot coals.
I hissed in pain and had to sit down.
I took off the Balenciaga Cagole 3.5-inch cracked pumps and rubbed my swollen feet.
The heel

Candour grew from a two-man factory into a company with a market cap of $380 billion without anyone’s help.
It would continue to do well without the Valentines’ backing.
I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to calm down.
Dad started taking me to business meetings while I was still in college.
He coached me on all the tricks businessmen liked to play.
One of their favourites was bluffing.
Grandpa might prefer to give his shares to Rainey, but I still had a chance before he signed on the dotted line.
‘Aunt Rainey.’ I emphasised the first word and saw, to my satisfaction, the scowl on her face.
Rainey was five years older than me and hated to be called Aunt.
It made her sound a whole generation older.
‘I don’t know how you got yourself onto the Valentines’ coattails, but Candour is never going to be yours as long as I’m still breathing.’ I raised my chin. ‘As for the help they promised you…’
I smirked. ‘I suggest you don’t take it too seriously. After all, you can’t trust everything a man says.’
I did one of those hair flips seen in Pantene shampoo commercials. ‘Your fiancé is quite good-looking. I wonder if he’s just as impressive in bed. Maybe I should test it out sometime.’
Rainey flinched.
She obviously didn’t expect that to be my angle of attack.
But she didn’t fly into a rage, probably because there were too many people around.
She held her chin up, looking down at me with a supercilious smile.
‘Go ahead,’ she said. ‘Be my guest. In fact, I dare you to try. You can strip yourself naked in front of Kieran and he won’t bat an eye.’
‘Are you so sure about that?’
I said it tongue-in-cheek, just to get a rise of her.
I wasn’t really planning on doing anything.
It was one thing to sleep with a handsome stranger I met on the street.
Seducing my future uncle, that was a whole new ball game.
But later, after I knew what the Queen Bitch did, I wished I’d done it that night.
I wished I’d had sex with Kieran right in front of her.
But I wasn’t clairvoyant.
For now, I just hated Rainey with a passion.
‘Of course I’m sure.’ She took a step forward. ‘The Valentines are brought up with the best education money can buy. You may be shameless, but Kieran has principles. You can never seduce him.’
I just smiled at her.
If only she knew.
‘Amiyah, think about what I said just now. You can’t win, no matter what you do. It’s best if you see that now and quit while you still can. I’d like us to still be friends.’
I kept the nonchalant smile in place, but my mind was whirling.
For her to be so confident, to act like her takeover of Candour was in the bag, she had to have another ace in the hole.
Grandpa had a 25% stake in the company, by no means a controlling interest.
There must be something else I didn’t know.
I stood up, holding my glass of wine.
‘Aunt Rainey, you and I are not friends. And Candour is not going to be yours. Dad built—’
Before I could finish, the Queen Bitch did what she must have been planning all along.
She grasped my wrist, moved it towards her, and successfully splashed the full glass of red wine onto her face.
She shrieked.
‘Amiyah! What have you done?’
The dark red Bordeaux wine trickled down her perfectly made-up face.
The front of her silk cheongsam was drenched.
Her loud voice drew the attention of guests, who soon gathered around.
‘Rainey, are you all right?’
The first person on the scene was none other than my step-grandmother.
She trotted to her daughter’s side—an impressive feat, given her heels were four and a half inches high.
She whipped out a pack of Kleenex and wiped Rainey’s face and arms.
Landon and my mother arrived half a minute later.
Close on their heels were the shareholders of Candour.
They all gawked at the scene, then stared at me accusingly.
The condemnation in their eyes was so strong, like I’d committed high treason or some other unforgivable crime.
I swept my eyes over the circle of onlookers.
They came to rest on the face of one man, standing apart from the crowd.
The look on his face was unconcerned.
He just stood there, watching, cool as a cucumber.
‘Apologise.’
This order did not come from Rainey, or Shannon.
It came from my mother.
She was standing next to Rainey, facing off against me.
She was so close, I could see the thick layer of foundation on her face.
And the zit above her right eyebrow.
I hadn’t noticed it before.
Did she get it after Dad’s funeral?
Was it caused by grief, or a guilty conscience?
‘Tsk, Freya, you come from a so-called family of scholars. This is the way you raised your daughter?’ Shannon direct her shrill voice at my mother. ‘Like I warned you before, spare the rod and spoil the child.’
The pianist in a corner chose this moment to end his solo.
The grand banquet hall was thrown into sudden silence.
Everyone pricked up their ears.
‘Amiyah, apologise to your Aunt Rainey.’ Mom stared at me with a stern look.
She didn’t even bother asking for my side of the story.
I dug my heels in.
I held the stem of the empty glass in my hand and had to remind myself not to grip it too hard, lest I snapped it and added to my growing list of crimes.
‘It’s okay. Amiyah’s been under a lot of stress recently. I can understand.’
Rainey spoke right on cue.
Her voice had reclaimed its soft, ladylike quality.
She patted my mother’s arm in a gesture to reassure and to forgive.
I had to take my hat off to her.
The Queen Bitch could change her face faster than a chameleon.
Her talent was really wasted as a businesswoman.
She would’ve made it big in showbiz.

Since Rainey wanted to play the bigger person, I was happy to oblige.
So I didn’t apologise.
I just smiled at the crowd.
They were in for a treat.
I turned around, set down the empty glass and picked up another full one.
‘You’re right,’ I said breezily. ‘I’m really under a lot of stress, and I hear this is a great way to relax.’
I flashed a smile at Rainey.
‘So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to pour another one.’
I raised my hand and tilted the glass, watching the rich red liquid descend over her face like a mini-waterfall.
The onlookers gasped.
The Kleenex had been wasted.
Rainey’s face was redder than the ripest Honeycrisp apples.
Part of it was the wine.
The other part was, I hoped, rage.
It was immensely satisfying to watch.
Shannon’s gape-mouthed look was the cherry on top.
Then my mother gave me her second slap of the day.
‘Stop it!’ she shrieked. ‘What are you doing? What would your father think if he knew you’re acting like a lunatic?’
I would have let it go if she just slapped 

His Extra-fast Swimmers