The next day, Sunday, Lucas walked into his family’s home around noon. His mother had called him that morning, claiming there was an urgent issue she and his father needed to discuss with him. He was convinced it had to do with the company. He could not remember the last time both his parents summoned him. If they were planning to gang up on him about taking responsibilities in the conglomerate, they were about to be disappointed. When he walked through the front door, the housekeeper appeared to take his coat. “They’re waiting in Mr. Erikson's study,” she informed him. The study? Definitely business-related. A minute later, he walked into the room. His mother was pacing in front of a bookshelf, while his father sat behind his desk. Lucas closed the door and approached the desk. “I’m here. What is it?” S

 “Daniel would be so disappointed in you, Tyra. Your father was a man who knew how to get things done. The only problem was that he was too loyal to the wrong people. Maybe you inherited his weakness!” “I’m not sparing her, mother! It’s just… she has nothing right now!” Tyra exclaimed. “Rebecca has been calling all the shots at the company for the better part of this year.” “That wouldn’t be a problem if you worked on Lucas Erikson like we agreed, would it?” her mother snapped. “But I told you what happened, Mum!” “Right, you did. She got to him before you. Can you ever do anything right for once?” Tyra balled her hands into fists and glared out of the window. It was her father’s death anniversary, and her mother was more agitated than ever about her failure to make

When Amanda showed up to her father’s office the next morning with news of the blackmail, she didn’t for a second think that he would refuse to give her ten million dollars to ensure her reputation wasn’t stained forever.   She was prepared for a long lecture. Scolding. She had imagined he would be truly livid that she was in the middle of another scandal, with another CEO of her company.   She was ready to take whatever judgement and anger he passed. But she never thought he would think ten million dollars were too much a price to pay to protect his daughter’s image.   Even when she pointed out that the amount was only a tenth of her mother’s inheritance, which she had entrusted to him, he didn’t budge. He insisted ten million dollars was too much, that the business would suffer if he suddenly forked out that much money.   When he commented

When Lucas got to Tyra’s apartment building, he recognized Amanda’s car in the basement parking lot right away. As he got closer with his car, he saw that she was in the driver’s seat. Parking his car next to hers, he alighted and walked over to hers. Through the window, he could see that she was crying, sniffling into a tissue. He gunned straight for the passenger side and tried to open the door. It gave way and he slid into the seat, eyes on her distressed face. “Amanda, what’s wrong?” he asked, cradling one side of her face with his hand and turning her to face him. His other hand lifted to wipe away wetness beneath her left eye. She dropped her eyes and shook her head, crumpling the tissue in her hand and dumping it in a mini trash bin placed in the cup holder. “You said you got the video, right?” he asked. 

When Lucas showed up at Amanda’s building the next morning, she didn’t buzz him up. He was already worried because his calls hadn’t gone through when he called her after he woke up. Apprehensive, he punched in her code, which he was familiar with, but he quickly realised she had changed it. It was after a couple more unsuccessful calls that he thought to check her car in the parking basement. After a couple minutes of checking and double checking, he realised it wasn’t there. Which meant she wasn’t at the apartment. Where could she have gone? The office? To see her father? A quick call to the office revealed she hadn’t showed up there. He drove straight to the headquarters, meaning to go check whether she was at her father’s office. But when he got there, Charles’s secretary informed him that Charles was in a meeting, and no, Amanda hadn’t showed up there either.  He called up people he never thought he