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CHAPTER 9
Unfortunately for Tanya, this time around, it didn't go so well for Tanya and Mira saw through her act.
"Ah… How dare she!"
"Calm down. You were not the only one who lost a child, I did also," Mr Flames voiced out from behind her.
Instantly all of her squirms and ranting stopped and she looked calmer now but her saddened face remained.
"I can't believe you would say that to me, rather than fighting for our daughter. She may not have been my blood daughter but I took her like mine."
"Let it go." He ordered one more time and averted his gaze from her to the doctor. "Doctor, we would pay for the necessaries and take bury her."
"I am sorry sir. I tried my best to do something to help."
"I understand. Tanya, let us be on our way. I believe the doctor has other patients to tend to."
Without saying anything further, he nodded his head at the doctor and gazed at his wife. "Come," then she went straight for the door.
"This is not fair… You are not fair to our Aria."
***
~FLAME RESIDENCE~
The house wasn't as big as the many others around it but nonetheless, it was worth it. It was a big duplex with a big compound full of flowers and a mini garden at the back.
A black Lexus car was parked at the side of the house, the only car the family-owned. A little wonder considering he had enough money to purchase another for his darling wife.
As soon as they got back home, Aria's father wasted no time talking to Tanya and made his way for the staircase immediately but Tanya was not going to have it.
"Ethan! How dare you just walk away like that as though this matter does not concern you?"
"Hmm," he scoffed then turned around to face her. "I wonder how you can act this way as though, it concerns you."
"Of course it concerns me. After all that we have invested in her, she couldn't even place a job and yet she died. Of what use would her dead body be to us now? To spend more money?"
He did not say anything but the obvious sad smile on his face told a lot.
He did not understand his wife till today. Why was her hatred for Aria this much?
"Her mother was useless and now, she? Amelia died and she left nothing other than a burden of a child for us to care for and what did that ungrateful soul do? She went to pick fights and ended up dead. An idiot like her mother."
"Tanya, what is your problem?" Ethan asked out of the blue.
She scoffed at him, taking some steps in his direction and then she stopped when she was face to face with him. "You want to know my problem?"
"Yes."
"Simple. My problem is you."
He was taken aback by her accusations but what more could he have done? "Me?" he asked a few seconds later.
"Yes, you. You are my problem, Ethan."
"What wrong did I do? Huh? Was it my fault that you cannot get along with her child even til this day?"
"You are stupid," she pointed in his face carelessly.
"You said?"
"I would say it again and again but then you are not deaf and you heard me."
"Woman!"
"Man!" she retorted.
"Hmm, I see. Your bitterness at not being able to get a penny from the Jordan family is what is eating you up."
"And shouldn't it? What good was her life if we cannot make something out of her even in death?"
"Can you hear yourself?"
"I should say the same for you. When we were called, on our way to the hospital, you were the one who mentioned getting something from the families that killed her."
"I was merely thinking out loud."
"Really now? Okay, and when it was brought up? You just went silent. It was as though you were not in the office while that vile bitch insulted us."
"Why would I waste my time in pointless squabbles when she saw through your act easily? She may think us a hungry family and that was why she talked that way."
"Then, I would make her regret it."
"You cannot. They are wealthy and powerful, Need I remind you that their family remains one of the number ten top families in the country and being in the fourth position, it is definitely something. They can bend the rules in their favour and it would not affect anyone."
Well, they are not among the top three."
"They may not but where does that leave you? And haven't you heard of their child's arranged marriage to the number two top family? What then do you think would happen when both businesses benefit from each other?'
Even though she was mad at him, she could deny the words that he said and ultimately keep quiet.
"You didn't think about this before, did you? Hmm. She chooses not to give you a penny, we can only just choose to avoid problems for ourselves by leaving them alone. Besides she can get mad and ruin our small family business and I am sure you do not want that either."
"So what are you saying we do?"
"Take the body and bury it and forget about all these. Isn't that what you have always wanted? I know you hated her."
"It is not like you loved her as well," Tanya pointed out.
"O may not have loved her mother but she was still my child."
"Whatever you say. Well, I believe you can handle the rest from here on out. I am out!" Her eyes shot open as she glared her anger at him.
He was good for nothing. Himself, daughter and wife.
"Tanya, what is the meaning of that?"
"What it means. Since my acting wasn't appreciated. I might as well go take care of my own daughter and not a dead woman's dead daughter."