Bound by Deception.

Chapter one

‘Amelia, Layla is your sister, please take care of her from now on.’

‘Amelia, I love your sister and there is nothing I can do. We have been together for some time now and I think we should end this marriage contract thing. It was not there to begin with. Our old folks were just joking with each other. I hope you will understand.’

‘You are dismissed and blacklisted in this agency with immediate effect. A morally corrupt person like you should not have existed in the first place.’

‘Amelia, I never imagined that you would be such a monster to even go after an innocent child. Layla has been treating you well and looking up to you like an older sister all these years, is this how you treat her? You are such a monster that even God had abandoned you.’

‘You think that crying will help you. I am not sending you to jail for the sake of your father’s reputation. I am very disappointed in you. You should immediately disappear in this country, or else I don’t know what will happen if the media caught wind of what you did.’

‘Don’t taint our family name. You are just like your mother. Arrogant and shameless. No one will ever like you in this lifetime.’

‘Get lost already. I don’t want to ever lay my eyes on you again.’

‘Amelia, get lost!’

‘NO.’ Amelia woke up with a start. It has been five years and yet this memories were still haunting her like it was just yesterday. She could not even have a good night sleep.

Her whole body was drenched in sweat and her face was pale as she grasped for air.

The phone ringtone startled her out of her hazy state as she scrambled to take it. Looking at the caller ID, she picked it up without hesitation.

‘‘Hey.’’

‘‘Girl, don’t tell me that you are still sleeping? Did you forget that you have a morning meeting? The boss is already here and believe me, his face looks like a storm is brewing!’’ her assistant’s voice came through the phone, making Amelia clutch her hair in frustration.

She had been drinking until late last night and with a night full of nightmares, she totally forgot about today’s meeting.

She hang up the phone and immediately removed the warm blanket on her body. She rushed to the bathroom and after a quick wash up, she rushed to the company on her black ‘speedo’.

She did not care about the traffic or red lights as she whizzed through the cars on the road with expertise. Fifteen minutes later, she packed her bike and run towards the office building.

Her assistant was already waiting in front of the meeting room with the meeting materials.

“The meeting started thirty minutes ago. I wish you good luck.” Aria, her assistant, said in small voice.

Amelia took a deep breath and after adjusting her collar a little, she pushed the meeting room door open.

The room suddenly feel silent and everyone turned to look at her. As for Amelia, she did not spare anyone a glance as she went directly to her seat.

After an awkward silence, a cold voice was heard in the room.

“Is this the seriousness and dedication that Mr. Anthony was talking about? Well then, maybe I will have to consider my collaboration with your company.” a cold voice came trough the room making Amelia to immediately lift her head.

It was the voice that haunted her in her dreams every single night as it screamed and cursed her. Seeing the familiar cold and detached face, Amelia instantly turned pale. Her body started shaking as if she was under some kind of attack.

‘I have never seen such a cruel and sinister person. I told you that the person I love is your sister. Did you have to go the extent of killing my child?’

‘You are a murderer. If not for your sister begging for mercy on your behalf, I would have made sure that you spend the rest of your life in jail!’

‘I did not do it. I did not push anyone. She fell on her own. I was going to help her but she pushed my hand away. I did not do anything.’

Amelia curled up in a chair as she shook her head with her eyes tightly closed. Her face was pale and her forehead was curved in sweat.

She screamed in her mind that she did not do it but no one believed her. Everyone looked at her with contempt just like they had done when that director accused her of seducing him and stealing his wife’s wedding ring.

“Amelia.” Mr. Anthony called out. But Amelia did not respond. She was curling herself up in a protective posture, making everyone look at her with weird looks. Others felt sorry for her while others had mocking light in their eyes.

“Mr. Oliver, I am sorry. I don’t know what is wrong with Amelia, but believe me, she is very hardworking and she has been working on this project for six months now.” Mr. Anthony said. But the one called Oliver had his eyes glued on Amelia. They were cold and unfeeling and even had some hostility in them.

Everyone cowered at his gaze and no one dared to breath out loud.

“I thought that you found some competent and serious person. If she is the one incharge, I don’t think that we can continue with our collaboration, Mr. Anthony.” Oliver said coldly.

“Amelia.” Mr. Anthony shouted at the top of his lungs. He took the bottle of water on his side, walked to Amelia’s side and poured in all on her.

Amelia returned back to her senses when she felt the cold liquid on her body. She looked up and what came in contact with her was her boss angry look. Looking at the weird looks in the room, except for a certain someone who still had his cold face on, she knew that she had messed up.

“Boss, sorry. I am not feeling very well today.” Amelia said. Apart from that, she did not know what else she could say.

She never imagined that she will meet Oliver in such unexpected way. She thought that she was ready to face them calmly after being away for five years, but seeing him again, she just thought of how naive she has been.

She was not ready to face them, not in her current situation where she had absolutely nothing.

“Why did you come knowing that you are not feeling well? This is our main project for the remaining half the year, are you going to screw it over just like that?” Mr. Anthony angry voice came through.

Amelia took a deep breath and tried to remove the negative thoughts that were about to consume her in her mind. She must get this project even if there was mount Everest standing in front of her.

“Quickly, give us your presentation. You have already wasted a lot of our time.”

“Director, why are you still kind to her? She has already messed up and you are still talking to her politely? shouldn’t you be kicking her out?” a man named Logan spoke. He was in the same department as Amelia. This project was supposed to be his but Amelia had somehow snatched it away from him.

He has been holding a grudge ever since and there was no way he was going to let this opportunity slip by. He must humiliate this bitch until she is chased out of the company.

“What do you mean?” Mr. Anthony asked. He sent Logan a warning look and went back to his seat.

“Director, I am just saying the truth. Ever since she came to this company, apart from drinking and messing around, what else has she brought to the table? You gave her such an important project but look how she has messed it up?”

“What are you going yo do? Mr. Oliver must have been pissed off, and you are still giving her a chance? Can it be that something is going on between the two of you?” Logan said.

“Logan!” Mr. Anthony shouted angrily. “How could you slender my name like that? Do you want to be fired?” Mr. Anthony said. He was so angry that his chest was heaving up and down. He looked at Amelia, wishing to just murder her.

“I am sorry if I misspoke. I just felt that your reaction was a little off. How about this, although you gave this project to Amelia, I have also been working on it. I will do a presentation and if Mr. Oliver is pleased, then we can continue the collaboration.” Logan said.

Anthony looked at him. Although he felt offended by what Logan had said, if he could secure this collaboration, then he could forget about it.

He turned to Oliver who was quietly sitting in his seat and asked with a flattering smile, “what do you say, Mr. Oliver.”

“It is okay as long as it is not her.” Oliver said, pointing his chin at Amelia.

“Okay. Logan, you can proceed.”

Logan stood up and sent Amelia a provoking gaze. When he started to present, Amelia felt that something was wrong. It was only half way through did she realize that every word that Logan was saying was actually her proposal.

‘Fuck Aria! Did she give her proposal to this bastard?’ Amelia thought.