Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 26: Confidential

Chapter 26: Confidential

Upon realizing that the meeting had finished, Lily started looking at everyone’s expressions.

"You wanted to know what happened, right?" Asked Lucian, which was returned by Lily’s over-eager nod.

She hastily clambered on one of the chairs, it took some effort but she wanted to do it herself.

The expression on her face was serious and I think most of us were holding in our laughter. Her head was barely above the desk, but she insisted on sitting alone.

"Now Lily, whatever we’re going to say here is confidential, you understand that right?" Asked Uncle Lyle.

"Yes, I can keep a secret!" she replied as if being commanded.

Scooting closer to the table, Aunt Serena clasped her hands before speaking.

"You see, before Eli married your brother, she was part of the Thornhill clan. Similar to our clan, the Thornhills have a long and established history as well as great financial standing."

Lily’s face kept switching between different degrees of shock and anger as her mom told her about the Thornhill bullies and how they almost made it so that their marriage couldn’t happen. Of course, Aunt Serena gave her the child-friendly digest of everything. But she had to know how much of a bad news those people were.

"Shouldn’t they be jailed?!" asked a very indignant Lily.

"If only, but such people are too powerful to be kept in such a place." I ended up responding.

Now she seems to have pity when she looks at me.

"It’s okay if your family is mean, our family is nicer. You can just forget about them." She even said, a full turnaround from wanting to kick me out this morning.

"Now that you know, you have to be wary of people whispering things that look like they could sway your opinion. These people are good at that. They attack by convincing you that Eliana and her parents are wrong. Now they might even attempt that with your Big Brother." Aunt Serena took Lily’s hand, forcing her to look her in the eye.

"Always verify first before reacting. We’ll prepare photos for you to memorize so that you can immediately distinguish these people." Lucian told her calmly.

I’m not sure if this should make me feel better, but having to inform a child about the world’s evils this early hadn’t been easy to digest.

After getting on the same page, our next order of business was to have lunch.

Unlike our earlier entrance, exiting the main Sinclair Headquarters had as much fanfare as to be expected.

A good description would be a group of heroes going on a parade. That’s what it felt like to be walking through the exit. Maybe it’s the combination of finally having the Chairman back, or having the entire family on deck. But I could feel so many eyes on me.

But it’s fine. I’m fine.

I’ve gotten way worse stares growing up, and as an ex-Thornhill, such gazes were nothing new, I just need to be used to the new reason as to why they’re staring.

"Grandpa! Can I ride with them?" Asked Lily, wanting to ride with us instead of the elders.

"You can if they’re fine with it." Replied my newly minted Grandpa.

Lucian nodded over to the excited girl’s begging and everyone managed to scoot in together.

As the car door closed, I felt a small tug from the little girl that sat in the middle.

"Did you need anything?"

"You...If they bully you again, you should come to me. I can protect you too."

I gotta say, I was touched. That was probably the most heartfelt assistance that I’ve been offered in a very long time. So I smiled while smoothening out her hair, "Thank you, I will remember to tell you when I need help."

__

At the Thornhill Manor.

Repeated pacing could be heard throughout the corridor. From time to time, there would also be sounds of porcelain or ceramics breaking.

"Alexa stop it!"

Nothing has worked according to their plans recently, and the clan members have started feeling the effects of the failed founding ball.

"That bitch just won’t sit still," Alexa muttered while biting her nail. It’s not that she didn’t account for things going wrong, she just didn’t assume that it would spiral this bad.

They had been careful in monitoring both families from the moment brunch ended. All signs pointed towards the correct date. What they didn’t account for was how they would be willing to directly sign the certificate without a notarized prenup.

Added into the mix was Lucian’s unpredictable reactions. As a calculative businessman, he’s always been known to prioritize business interests, so his presence at the ball despite the factory fire wasn’t something they had anticipated. They even got misled by a Sinclair vehicle traveling to the airport.

They even ate at that rickety place near Summit! Who eats there after getting married?! Well, they would! Shit.

And now this?! Alexa looked at the social media post centering on six people exiting the Sinclair headquarters. The return of the main branch of the family even included Eliana. She’s managed to worm her way in just a few days.

"But isn’t this good already, they’ve already taken themselves off from the succession race?" Asked Aldrin Thornhill, Alexa’s younger brother.

With a glare, Alexa yells, "Are you stupid? They brought with them their wealth. The current Thornhill assets are mostly holdings and shares. We’re like glorified Limited Liability Partners."

Having them taken out of the succession race was great. But that wasn’t what they were after, especially since with Aldrin being the only male heir, the race would only be a mere formality.

What they were after was the merging of assets. Uncle Matthew and Aunt Eloisa refused to hand over the management to the Anderson Group, nor did they want to merge the assets together. And now this.

From behind the desk spoke the grim-looking Ingrid Thornhill, her complexion far from her always photo-ready look. "Aldrin, listen well. You need to understand that it is the clan’s name that carries the historical legacy and legitimacy, but it is that selfish family that carries the financial future of the clan."

"Our surnames are useless without the ability to make more wealth." Ingrid thought how it wasn’t even just that. They had even bigger problems than just wealth.

"Then why don’t we try making more money?" Aldrin asked innocently.

"Did you really think we haven’t tried? Why do you think we’ve even worked with the Bernards?" screeched the agitated Alexa, as she leaned in forward in anger.

"Has your Grandfather returned any of your messages?" Ingrid asked his hesitant son.

Shuffling his feet in distress, Aldrin responded, "No. I’ve tried but none of it has been returned. Maybe he needs more time?"

"Well, we don’t have time! If we don’t hand over Eliana to that bastard Nicholas then the deal is off."

"Why would he even want some used girl? Even if he gets a hold of her, he’d have to figure out how to get her to divorce Lucian. And with how sticky she’s being, that would be impossible. She’s been clinging to him like glue." Just thinking about it has sent her blood pressure surging again.

"We don’t care what he does after he gets her, all that we need to do is to deliver her to him."

"But we can’t do that now. Anything that happens to that bitch would automatically be attributed to us."

Alexa sat down, deep in thought about how to tackle Eliana’s growing courage. This needs to be nipped in the bud. She should just return to her old self, obedient and mute. Then as if remembering something important she exclaimed with a glint in her eye.

"Let’s make use of that stupid Jasper."