"Dad, I will be home late tomorrow." Zaria announced as she rested on the couch.

"Does your boss need you to work overtime?" Theodore frowned at the thought that Desmond might be taking advantage of their relationship to make Zaria overwork.

"We will go to a banquet in the evening." She explained, and Theodore's frown eased.

"Just take care of yourself, okay?" He urged.

She nodded. "I'll go and check what's for dinner."

___

"Everything is set. That brat will disappear from Imperium tomorrow." Mark raised a glass to Alyssa in his cellar.

She looked at him skeptically. "Just from Imperium?"

"She can disappear from the world too, if you want." He sat opposite her to hold her hand. "You just need to say the word."

Alyssa tilted her head in thought. She so badly wanted Zaria dead. However, "What if Desmond were to trace it back to us? My son will hate me."

"Then leave her alone!" Jaime snickered from the staircase. He made his way down to them and took a seat. "I told you, I can deal with Zaria. I only need time."

"Enough time to send your brother to his death." Alyssa frowned at her son in disapproval.

"Half brother." Jaime corrected and shot a glare at Mark. He was yet to accept the loser before him as his father, but he didn't have much choice-especially not now when the police were after him. "I only need to get Zaria away from Desmond. He will no longer care about her and will not bother to look into her death when I rip her head off her neck."

"If you think Desmond is the only one protecting her then you have another thing coming for you." Alyssa shook her head at her son's oblivion.

"Do you think your accident was really an accident?" Mark scorned Jaime. "That was someone's handiwork."

"And that person is Zaria's mother. That's the only person who hates our family so much." Alyssa added.

"I get it. You don't need to echo each other." Hies ears were hurting just listening to them. "Wait, did you say it was Zaria's mother?" He sat up with a jolt when the words sunk in.

"What about it?" Alyssa shrugged.

"Last I checked, she was motherless." Jaime raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't matter. What matters is, Zaria likes a fair game. Does she know that her mother plays dirty?"

Alyssa caught the hint with a dropped jaw. "That's right. That woman couldn't have gotten where she is by smiling and making friends. I'm sure there is a lot of dirt to dig. There is always tons of dirt to dig in multi billion companies like Twilight."

Mark caught up and was shocked. That brat's mother must be someone exciting to mess with. "I will do the digging." He offered.

"Do so before tomorrow. We could hit multiple birds with one stone." Alyssa urged. "It will be fun to ruin that witch's family before she can reunie with them."

"She is planning to reunite with her husband?" Mark asked in surprise.

"Why else would she be back?"

The man laughed humoredly. "Tomorrow's banquet will be quite busy and entertaining.

Meanwhile, Jaime looked Lucy up so he would get to know her better.

___

The next evening, at Devonte's villa.

"Why do you have to attend the banquet anyway? Desmond annulled your engagement." Devonte did not understand when Natalie said that she was going to attend the mayor's wedding banquet with Desmond.

"I'm not going as his fiancée. I'm his friend tonight." She explained. "Zaria is attending as Miss Roatta's plus one, which leaves him with no date. He isn't going to bring his male assistant as his date, is he?"

"That kind of makes sense." Devonte admitted. Was it too late to take his excuse back? He had been invited but he didn't want to go, so he gave an excuse about having too much work to do. Was it too late to change his mind and accompany his girlfriend?

"Don't worry, you can stay home." She kissed his cheek to soothe him. "I will enjoy the banquet on your behalf and if I meet a handsome man, I'm definitely bringing him home for the night."

"Hey!" He glared at her.

"Just kidding." She burst into laughter after successfully teasing her jealous boyfriend.

He grabbed her onto his lap and kissed her deeply.

"Babe, I'm going to keep Desmond waiting if we take it too far." She slipped out of his arms.

…

The mayor's wedding banquet was held at Pearl Hotel. When Lucy and Zaria arrived, the hall was already filled with guests-all of whom were people who frequented the business or political forums on magazines. It almost looked like a gathering for the city's aristocrats.

If only Theodore had a chance to give a live footage of the event or interview a few of the guests, it would boost the reputation of F&P Media tremendously. Zaria thought.

"Is something on your mind?" Lucy asked as she got down from the car, realizing that Zaria was in a daze.

The latter shook her head with a smile. She then placed her hand in Lucy's for her mother to help her down.

"You look so beautiful. I'm starting to change my mind." Lucy held her daughter's hand and gave her a once-over yet again. The off the shoulder peach gown hugged her body, ascentuating her curves. Her hair was in an elegant updo, making her beautiful face stand out and everyone-especially the men- turned to stare at her as soon as they saw her. It gave Lucy the urge to protect her daughter from their preying eyes.

"You're just like dad." She laughed. "He always wants to hide me away so men don't see me and try to lure me away from him."

Lucy gave a gentle laugh.

"You look so beautiful tonight, mum. He would have bugged you to be wary of other men too." She joked, then suddenly realized what she had just said. She peeked at Lucy nervously. Would she be offended?

"Zaria, do you know why you are here?" Lucy changed the topic.

"For Preston and Fort Group." She took a deep breath. This was a great chance to help Desmond snag a few deals and make new connections.

"That's where you are wrong, my dear." He tapped her shoulder. "You are here for yourself. Make your own connections."

"Uhm…" Zaria was confused for a second.

"Do you plan to be his assistant forever?" Lucy raised an eyebrow with a tease.

"Just for ten years. I don't know what I'll do after that." She answered as they approached the entrance of the hall.

"You should. Don't ignore your potential in fear of overpowering your man, okay?" She reprimanded, making Zaria puzzled. Where was this heading?

Luckily, they arrived at the hall and someone rushed over to see them in, which cut off the possibiliy of Lucy saying anything about men being trash.

"Lucy. I didn't expect you to make it." A middle-aged woman received them. She must be the bride because she was wearing a red wedding gown, and was in the company of Louis Fort.

"I couldn't miss it for the world. You look beautiful, Amanda." Lucy hugged her. "And Louis, don't you look breathtaking?"

"Did I take your breath away?" Louis joked.

"If you say such things, Amanda will literally take my breath away." Lucy responded, making all of them burst into laughter.

"Is this your daughter? I think I've seen her before." Louis looked at Zaria skeptically.

"Zaria Williams. I interviewed you before, when I was a reporter for F&P Media." Zaria presented her hand for a shake, distracting Luois so Lucy would not have to answer his question. Her quick response earned her a smile from Lucy.

"No wonder you look so familiar." Louis shook her hand. "Come on, would the two of you like to meet my stepdaughter?"

Lucy and Zaria followed them towards the drinks zone.

"Why do you have to be my sister? I still hate you, just so you know."

"Who wants you as a brother anyway? Get a wife to keep you busy."

This was the conversation that Zaria and Lucy overheard from the man and woman arguing near the drinks zone.

"Those two are always arguing about the same thing. Ignore them." Amanda chuckled and beckoned her daughter over.

"Ms. Roatta. What a surprise." The woman called Shera looked puzzled to see Lucy. "By the way, I haven't forgotten about the ten percent of shares that you owe me."

"One percent, Shera." Lucy face-palmed. "Besides, couldn't we talk about it later?"

"You know each other?" Louis was surprised.

"She is a talented swindler." Lucy joked.

"My daughter is great, I told you." Amanda bragged to Louis.

_____

Hello Darlings!

I realized that some chapter comments have been disappearing soon after you posted them. If you found out that your comment disappeared, please don't get mad T_T It's a glitch. I have already reported the bug but it might take some time to be corrected.