The Tramp Has Arrived 1

"Mr Fletcher, I am so sorry for keeping you on hold."

"..."

"Mr Fletcher...."

"..."

"Hello!"

Gwen peeled the phone from her ear only to find out that the call had been disconnected.

"Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Regina came up to her daughter, after dropping her phone on Gwen's bedside table.

"Mr Fletcher has disconnected the call while we're still in the middle of negotiation."

"What about the other interested buyers, have you been able to contact them? Were you able to sell off any of those remaining assets?"

"No Mom." Frustration etched on Gwen's forehead. "All our initial buyers who indicated interest, offering mouth-watering deals are currently backing off due to that stupid viral video and Amelia's sudden reappearance."

"That little witch!" Regina punched her fist into her open palm.

"Only Mr Fletcher was willing to offer me a deal for the yacht but now I may have lost him."

"How much was he offering?" Regina asked, her greedy eyes sparkling with delight.

"Hundred million dollars against the five hundred million dollars I was negotiating."

"That rotten greedy snake!" Regina snarled. "He knows that yacht is what more than a billion. You know what, just sell it to him even if he's willing to pay fifty million. I would rather have it sold than in the hands of that tramp." She said, her voice dripping with poison.

"Okay, mom." Gwen sighed, her heart pounding as she redialed the number.

Unbeknownst to both ladies, their buyer had heard and recorded most of their conversation.

Gwen tried his number repeatedly before finally giving up while blaming her mother and Amelia for the missed opportunity.

-

-

Amelia elegantly made her way towards the entrance of the mansion alone, while her bodyguard waited outside, following her instructions.

A few maids who worshipped her were already outside, waiting to receive her.

"Miss Amelia, welcome back home. We all missed you." One of the mature-looking uniformed maids stepped forward, her eyes teary and an infectious smile of complete adoration spreading across her face.

"Thank you, Edith. How have you been." Amelia asked stroking the mature maid's cheeks lovingly. She was grateful that Edith didn't address her as Mrs Morgan as she was never married in the first place.

"Better, now that you are back. Do you want me to get your bags from the car?"

"No need, Edith. Come let's go inside." Amelia took hold of the mature woman's hand as if she were her family member while acknowledging other maids who came out to receive her.

While some of the maids were happy to see her, others who were loyal to the madam and second miss of the mansion sneered at her while she wasn't looking.

"See the way she's dressed like a slut, exposing her body for the whole world to see." A uniformed maid at the back whispered to her partner, standing beside her.

"I assumed I was the only one who thought the dress was inappropriate for a married woman. How shameless." The second maid scoffed.

"Shhh....the two of you are going to get us in trouble." A maid standing in front of the other two whispered while smiling as the first miss passed by.

"Did you by any chance run into your father," Edith asked, worried that the madam of the house may cause trouble in the senator's absence.

"No. Why? Isn't he at home?" Amelia asked, without any care in her soft but slightly cold tone.

"No Miss Amelia, he went out to look for you."

Amelia paused on her track, staring at the old woman's worried face, reading the hidden message in her tone.

"Hold on, I will send him a text message." Amelia paused by the entrance to the massive sitting room and sent a short message to her father's contact.

"Well! Well!! Well!!! Look who decides to show her face after absconding from her own wedding."

Edith and the other maid quickly dispersed as they saw the troublesome Madam Pearl, descending from the staircase that led into the large sitting room.

Amelia clicked on the send button before slowly looking up from her phone, her countenance calm but her gaze cold and devoid of any emotions.

"It's good to see you too, Pearl. You look..." Amelia made her way into the sitting room as she scanned Pearl from head to toe, taking note of her new high-end fashionable business casual outfit. "...upgraded. Have you finally found a job or have my father tripled your weekly allowances."

"Hahaha...very funny." Pearl's eyes flicked over Amelia, angered and resentful. "I must applaud you, Amelia. You never cease to amaze us all. Who knows better than to put up a dramatic show, lying to the world through their teeth if not you? Isn't it shameful that you claim to be Mrs Amelia Morgan when you never got married to Jerry in the first place?"

"So says the bootlicker who attended my so-called wedding, addressing my step-sister as Mrs Amelia Morgan and stuffing her fat face with all the free food and drink she could lay her hands on. It makes me wonder who is more shameless."

"Why you little w..."

"Amelia!"

Pearl who was matching towards Amelia to redesign her pretty face froze on the spot at the old matriarch's cold and stern voice.

Old Nana Shawls, escorted by her two sons, made her way into the sitting room through the terrace, her walking stick making a click-clack sound on the marble floor. She approached her grandaughter, her right hand raised in the air.

"Where have you been, you shameless little brat."

The old Nana hand descended fiercely on Amelia's face, snapping the latter's head sideways and leaving behind a bitter sting.

Amelia gritted her teeth as she turned to face her grandmother, her cold and piercing gaze dropping the temperature in the room by minus five degrees.

"Didn't you hear me? I asked, where are you coming from?" Old Nana Shawls lifted her hand to hit Amelia again on the same reddened cheeks, but Desmond stopped her, knowing how his elder brother would react if he saw marks on his precious daughter's face.