CHAPTER FIVE—THE TABLE TURN 

After the party, everyone went to their humble apartment. Except for Uncle Marcus, he is waiting for dinner. 

Faith descended to her room to rest. After a quick shower, she wore something simple, as she was about to rest a little before going downstairs for dinner, and her phone rang. 

It was Cassius calling. 

His name sat on the screen like an insult. She let it ring three times before picking up.

The first sound that came out was the yell from Cassius. 

“Aren't you going to bring dinner for me and Lydia, or do you want us to starve to death?” He yelled from the other end. 

“Once you are ready to talk calmly, then you call back; as for now, I'm hanging up."

“Wait! Wait, okay, can you bring dinner for Lydia so she can take her drugs?"

“Do I look like a maid to you? If she is hungry, go get her something to eat."

Silence from his end. The kind that meant he had never been spoken to that way before.

“You heard me; if there is nothing else, I'm hanging up." 

She ended the call and set the phone face down. In her past life she would have rushed to cook for them herself. She almost laughed at the memory.

A knock came across the room.

“Young miss, it's time for dinner." 

"Okay, I'm coming." 

**

All the family were present in the dining room.

Including Uncle Marcus, his wife, and his child.

Faith came downstairs.

The servant served the meal. They started eating; the only sound was the cutlery from each end of the table.

They started conversations, calm and engaged.

Then Uncle Marcus sent down his fork.

Cleared his throat.

Mom, Dad, Brother, “I've been meaning to bring this up, something that will benefit everyone."

Faith's father looked up. 

Marcus begins his speech. 

“Faith is brilliant, but running the company alone requires experience. I'm not saying she is not capable."

"Go straight to the point. What do you want?” Faith's grandmother asked.

Uncle Marcus scoffed, "Mom, don't get me wrong, the company now needs someone with experience, someone who is strong and manages things perfectly.

His mom glared at him.

“My son has been groomed exactly like this. The merger of both families, with the both of them in the company, will secure many projects and never let the company down."

Elisha screamed and made everyone silent. 

Everyone's eyes went up.

Grandpa smashes his palm on the table. 

“Is this the son you want us to put in the company? Didn't you see how irresponsible he is just now?" 

"I won—" 

Uncle Marcus went silent.

When Elisha came back to his senses, he apologized.

“I'm sorry, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle, and Aunt." 

He smiled. "You see why I said they can work together? He just apologized to show he was sincerely sorry; he didn't mean to." 

What Marcus was proposing was not a partnership. Faith understood that clearly. It was a takeover dressed in family language.

Her mother's fork stopped in mid-air.

Her father's jaw worked silently.

Marcus leaned back slowly, the way a man does when he believes the table is already his.

Marcus studied her face, looking for the girl he thought he knew. He didn't find her.

Faith reached for her glass without hurry.

She sipped slowly, set it down with a quiet click, and looked up at Marcus with a smile that didn't belong to a twenty-year-old girl. 

It belonged to someone who had already lived through what came next.

The whole table held their breath.

*****

The room was dim, with curtains covering everywhere.

Cassius sat at the edge of the hospital bed, his mother at the side and Lydia sitting in the hospital bed.

His knuckles whitened against his thigh.

“She chose that Sutter guy over my son." His mother stopped pacing. “In front of everyone, how will I keep my head up now among my fellow women?" 

Cassius said nothing.

“She thinks she can use my son and dump him; if you won't say anything about it, I will."

“Aunty, please calm down." Lydia said softly; she kept her eyes low. Her voice was as gentle as a hand pressing slowly on a bruise. 

Faith has been unpredictable; I'm not surprised, and you know Cassius has been treating me well. Maybe she is jealous." 

His mother turned sharply. "Jealous, aren't the three of you best of friends?" 

"I suspect she has been different since today; first we agreed that the birthday party was for me, and she took the spotlight. She has always done everything we asked her to do, but today is different."

She folded her hands in her lap, the picture of quiet concern. 

Nobody in that room could see that Faith had already learned that Lydia's gentleness was a weapon she had been sharpening for years.

Cassius looked up. "I noticed that too."

Her anger cooled into something worse.

Then we have to move fast before things get out of hand."

****

Marcus was smiling.

He smiled like victory was inevitable.”

His son shifted on his seat, adjusting his collar.

Faith's mother used her hand to reach her husband from the chair.

Grandpa didn't speak; he was just watching what would be the next move of faith.

Marcus leaned closer.

"So faith, my darling," His voice was warm and tender. "What do you think?”

Faith looked around. At her mother's worried eyes, at her father's conflicted face, his son's lips twitched prematurely.

In her past life she had sat at this same table and heard none of it. She had smiled and eaten and trusted every person in this room. She would not make that mistake again.

He had already rehearsed his reaction to whatever she said. 

She could see it in the stillness of his hands, the patient curve of his smile.

He had done this before—walked into rooms and rearranged them to suit himself, and no one had ever stopped him.

Until now.

She opened her mouth and said—