Queen Bitch Is Getting Engaged

I blinked. His words delivered a gut punch. I swayed on my feet. While I was sitting on that cement ledge at the Harbour Bridge last night, I had racked my brains. I invented all kinds of excuses for them. Maybe Landon was drugged, or Mom was. Maybe they were drunk. Maybe Landon mistook Mom for me, though we didn’t really look that much alike. Or maybe they were rehearsing a Greek play. But my imagination failed me. So it wasn’t a drunken mistake, or an impulsive act. Landon had been in love with my mother for six years. He was in love with her while he pursued me. He was in love with her when he proposed to me. In the end, he had to settle for the title of my husband. But now I understood, what he really wanted was to be my father. Landon refused to look at me. His face was pale. His hands were clenched into fists. But his voice was steady. It was filled with resolve. It was his ‘truth’ voice. I looked at Mom. She looked away. Her silence implied acknowledgement. She was agreeing with what Landon said. She was standing next to him, literally siding with him. Now I wished I had jumped. If I had gritted my teeth and endured the forty seconds of pain, I wouldn’t have to suffer through this unbearable, unspeakable agony now. ‘Okay,’ I said, because a response seemed to be needed. I nodded and climbed up the stairs. I went into the bedroom and immediately came back out. It used to be my bedroom. But now it was the site of Landon and Mom’s betrayal. I couldn’t bear the sight of the king-sized bed. I retrieved my Telfar bag, went into a guest room, locked the door, slid down onto the floor, and cried. Why? Why did they do this to me? I loved them so much, both of them. If they wanted to hurt me, I’d much prefer if they just ran me over with a car. It would have been less painful. My tears were useless. They couldn’t glue the broken pieces of my heart back together. I missed Dad like crazy. If only he were still alive. He’d never let anyone bully his little girl like this. ‘Dad.’ I stared at his smiling face on my phone. ‘You asked me to take care of Mom, to protect her, to give hell to anyone who dared to hurt her. I did. I tried. But you never told me what to do if she’s the one to hurt me.’ I wished I could be with Dad, wherever he was right now. Any place was better than here. I skipped work that afternoon, hid in the guest room and bawled my eyes out. No one came to check on me. A call from Nessa jolted me back to reality. ‘Amiyah, where the hell are you?’ My cousin’s voice sounded urgent over the phone. ‘The bitch is getting engaged today. Do you know anything about this?’ ‘What?’ I sat up. ‘Rainey’s getting engaged?’ What the fuck? Dad’s funeral was just six days ago. How could his younger sister think about engagement at this time? He was barely cold in his grave! The cause of his death was still unclear. Nessa didn’t tell me much, but I just knew my scheming bitch of a step-grandmother was behind this. She had no heart. ‘The engagement party’s at seven pm, at the Parkroyal Hotel. Are you coming?’ ‘Yes, of course.’ I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Shannon went out of her way to keep this from me. I was going to enjoy the look on her face when she saw me there. I changed into an evening gown, black, as in, funeral black. Eye cream, foundation, a corrector and a concealer helped camouflage my puffy eyes. I squared myself as I headed downstairs. The living room was empty. My cheating husband and my adulterous mother were no longer there. I no longer cared where they went or what they were doing. The impending battle against my devious aunt and Janus-faced step-grandma was more important. Grandpa had three children. Dad was the eldest. He had a younger brother, who died with his wife in an accident years ago, leaving behind Nessa, my cousin. Then there was the youngest, Rainey. I refused to call her Aunt because she wasn’t really my father’s sister. She was his stepsister. Grandpa had two marriages. Shannon was his second wife. She gave birth to Rainey. The name meant ‘Queen,’ but I called her Queen Bitch because that was what she truly was. Rainey studied abroad and thought that made her better than everybody else. Grandpa seemed to agree, which was why he gave her the top job at one of the subsidiaries owned by Finnegan Holdings. She was just thirty years old and already a CEO. Dad had always been wary of Rainey and cautioned me against her. He asked me to be careful. I was, but Rainey still managed to find a way to get one over on me. She showed up at the headquarters of Finnegan Holdings two days after Dad passed away. She said she was there to lend a helping hand, but I knew she was just trying to take control of the company Dad helped build. She must have had help. I was the acting chairwoman, but she somehow got the Board of Directors to appoint her as the vice president. The meeting took place without my knowledge, but her appointment was legally binding and took effect on the same day. Now she was getting engaged? What was she trying to pull? My mind was a mess, and my legs were still sore. I was in no condition to drive. A taxi deposited me outside the Parkroyal. Warm yellow light spilt out from the open doorway onto the sidewalk. The engagement party was attracting quite a crowd. I braced myself and strutted through the revolving door. I saw Landon and my mother right away.