"Annalise!" Horace imdiately said in distaste, but it wasn’t before Alia shot Annalise a scathing look. "What do you think you’re doing?"
"Dad, Emline has always been on your left," Annalise argued, and as she spoke, she reached down, ready to pry Alia off the chair if she didn’t move. "I am just making sure that the newcors are aware of the lessons you’ve drilled into us from day one."
Before Annalise could even touch Alia, her hand was swatted off by Horace’s walking stick. He glared sternly at Annalise just as Matteo placed a hand on Alia’s, glowering in the sa manner. With both n staring her down, Annalise felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand.
However, she had no choice but to stand her ground. Her daughter... her poor daughter...
Annalise turned to look at Emline, whose eyes were already watering. She then looked at her mother and grandfather, before her gaze finally landed on Matteo. Slowly, she shook her head. Teardrops fell from her eyes, glistening like the diamonds that hung on her ears as they slid down her cheeks.
"It’s alright, Mama," Emline said, her voice quivering a little as she tried to put on a strong, brave front. "If Alia wishes to sit there, then she can. I don’t mind sacrificing the seat and making do with the other end of the table if that’s what she wants."
"Of course not!" Annalise snapped. "No daughter of mine will be expelled to the end of the table―"
"Sacrifice?" Matteo echoed with a scoff. "Expelled? Those are rather big words, don’t you think?"
He got up and helped to push Alia’s seat back in again before sitting back down, raising a hand to tenderly neaten Alia’s hair. He looked dotingly at her, and just as intensely, glared at Emline and Annalise as though he wanted nothing more than to send them into the pits of Tartarus.
"It’s just a seat," Matteo said. "I’ve heard of people who can only defecate on a specific toilet bowl, but I’ve never heard of anyone who could only eat on a particular seat. If you’re not hungry enough for dinner, then kindly leave the dining hall. There are so of us who are waiting for a nice al with our family."
Family? Emline gritted her teeth in jealousy. How often she had begged and groveled for Matteo to co have dinner with them just so that he could familiarize himself with the Hawthornes. They would beco family after their marriage, and Emline had always thought it was perfectly reasonable.
However, what was it that Matteo had told her back then?
’Just because you think we have an engagent doesn’t an we will beco family.’
And yet, now that he was engaged to Alia, the word ’family’ could so effortlessly roll off his tongue.
The outrage that bled through Emline’s body was enough to send her erupting like a volcano that had been dormant for eons. However, she suppressed every bit of it, simply raising her hands to dab at the corners of her eyes.
"Matteo," she started, her voice whiny, "I just―"
"Have a seat by your mother and father, Emline," Horace said with a sigh, his eyebrows furrowed.
With all things considered, he had still watched this granddaughter of his grow up from a re baby to the grown woman she was. He understood her pain but that wasn’t sothing she could sche for. If Emline knew any better, she would stop now.
"This is ant to be a nice family dinner, not a soap opera," he continued. "We’re not Hollywood."
"Yes, Grandpa," Emline said reluctantly.
In the end, she sat down next to her mother, while her mother sat next to Benjamin Hawthorne. Their family was all seated on Horace’s right while Alia and Matteo were on Horace’s left. That placed them in an awkward situation― Alia and Emline’s line of sights kept clashing all throughout.
Alia tried to keep her gaze down on her plate as much as possible. However, she should’ve guessed that it was impossible, considering how she was the star of the show tonight.
"Now that you’re a Hawthorne heiress, do you have any plans?" Horace asked as he sliced into the steak.
"Plans?" Alia echoed. "For?"
She looked left and right only to see a ghost of a smile on Emline’s lips as she ate a small cube of at. Watching her delight in Alia’s confusion caused the latter’s eye to tick in anger.
"If it’s career-wise, I am currently employed at X’el International," Alia said. She then made sure to stare dead in Emline’s direction. Sensing her burning gaze, Emline raised her gaze, and the second they locked, Alia continued, "I’m working as Matteo’s personal assistant."
The sight of Emline’s grip tightening on her fork made Alia cheer inwardly. One point for her.
"Having a career is a good thing," Horace said, nodding. "But since you bear the Hawthorne family na and reputation on your shoulders, that can’t be everything you’re dedicated to anymore."
"Grandpa, Alia just returned to the Hawthorne ho," Emline suddenly piped up. "Of course she wouldn’t know such things. She has been living in the slums for most of her life, and when she was married to Caleb Walton, he pretended to be broke as well."
Emline then smiled at Alia, but even a blind man would be able to tell how cold and frosty that smile was.
"How would the poor know about the charities we’re supposed to host?"
"That’s right," Annalise said, her lips curling into a smile. "You aren’t aware, but you should be organizing your own charity event soon. While the n are busy with expanding the business empire, we won will have to help them from the shadows by pulling connections. Surely you’ll be able to handle sothing as simple as a charity event?"
"A charity event?" Alia echoed. She then turned to Matteo, and he nodded.
Patiently, he explained, "Rember the auction we went to the last ti?" Alia nodded. "That is an example of a charity event that was organized by an aristocratic family. Every once in a while, soone will organize sothing like this to pull funds for whichever organization they’re supporting."
"You’ve just joined the wealthy circle, and I doubt you will be inford enough to know all the organizations we have," Emline imdiately piped up before Horace, Alia, or Matteo could say another word.
She excitedly clapped her hands, and Alia imdiately felt her gut churn.
"I have a few under my belt that you could help out with," Emline said. "How about the Hope for Scholars Foundation?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)