Chapter 70
Noemi paused, her eyes becoming more searching.
“Amelia, are you two gonna face him with all these tumors floating around?”
“That’s enough,” Nathan frowned. “No need to bring this up again. I know wh really happened. Amelia has absolutely nothing to do with him.”
“Nathan!” Noemi shot him a frustrated look.
Kerian, who’d just been shut down, stayed quiet–just smiled and watched the show.
The Harrisons were a massive family.
Starting from William’s generation, they’d built their empire with tons of kids below them.
Quite a crowd had shown up tonight.
Nathan and Amelia were always the center of family attention. Since they’d been standing here for a while, everyone was slowly drifting over.
But only the younger generation was approaching–some direct family, some from the side branches.
The older generation was tactfully staying out of it, supposedly drinking tea, playing chess, and chatting on the third floor.
But Amelia knew better.
Tonight’s dinner was a setup.
Because she’d suddenly appeared with a kid, both Noemi’s interrogation and Kerian’s stirring the pot were being allowed, even encouraged by the elders.
“Nathan.”
“Amelia.”
“Hey Nathan, Amelia! Good evening!”
Several people headed their way–all from their generation, cousins and more distant relatives.
Some were married and had brought their partners.
Seeing the crowd about to descend on them, Amelia jumped in: “Actually, what happened back then was pretty straightforward.”
“Like Noemi said, Harrison Group had the tech breakthrough first, then went to get the contract. We needed certain things from them, and some orders had to go through their channels.”
“Basically, we broke their technology monopoly.”
“As for the bet…” Amelia’s gaze dropped slightly. “Yeah, there was one. But that was just his personal thing. Wouldn’t have changed the business outcome either way.”
Nathan looked down at Amelia.
That year in France, whatever Amelia and that guy had said during those brief ten minutes when he’d been pulled away, whatever deal they’d made–he’d never found out.
He’d only gone to check the contract details. When he came back, he saw her jumping into that freezing water.
That icy pool, her blood, and the baby they’d lost–it was pain that would haunt them forever.
For years after, they’d never talked about that day again.
And he never wanted to see her cry like that again.
“That’s it?” Noemi still wasn’t buying it.
“That’s it.” Before Amelia could answer, Nathan had already spoken. “Noemi, he’s not who you think she is.”
He took Amelia’s hand and pulled her away from the group.
Noemi stood there, hands clenched into fists.
Kerian swirled his wine glass with a smirk.
“Pissed off?” Kerian chuckled. “Don’t you and Nathan usually get along great? You knew he was into Amelia, but you still made him pick sides. Oops, guess that blew up in your face.”
Noemi glared at him. “Screw off!”
Walking away, Amelia replayed Noemi’s words and weird behavior.
What stuck with her was that final comment: “Amelia, have you heard? Mr. Valmont is coming to New York soon.”
Frowning, Amelia tightened her grip on her wine glass.
Since Lord Harrison had said not to wait for him, everyone gathered around a long dining table soon after.
Amelia sat next to Nathan.
Same as always.
Conversation and clinking glasses filled the air, people talking about everything and nothing.
Halfway through dinner, one of the older relatives casually asked about their kid.
Amelia had expected Nathan to join in grilling her, but surprisingly, he shut it down.
“We’ll give everyone the full story about this later,” was all he said.
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