Offer To The CEO

Friday, continued …

Ten minutes later, Amanda came out of the room, and signalled that it was fine to return in. As they walked back into the room Anna and Hou Yi noticed that Yao Tan looked almost defeated.

Amanda quietly said "He is struggling to realise that Alecia is not his little girl anymore. Despite having agreed to Alecia marrying James, he still views that he needs to be in control and protect his little girl. You were right Boss to confront him. Unlike the rest of us who can see reality we have to remember that he has, with little help raised the children for most of their lives."

"Unlike the rest of us, Tan has sacrificed his life for them. I know that firsthand, as we would have married a year or two ago if he did not feel that he always had to put their first. And, I realise that the boys, despite their outward shows of independence, they rely on him still."

"Alecia has forced her independence on him including marrying James, her desire to join the company and go to university. She does love him, and he is important, but he is struggling to cope with all the various changes that has happened in the last couple of months, particularly as is means he does not have to sacrifice himself constantly for them."

"So, will he cooperate with everything?" quietly asked Alister.

Amanda paused "He will. As I reminded him, Alecia is seventeen. Even if she was not married, we need to respect her choices. As I told him, one of the choices she made a few weeks ago, was to sign the paperwork to formally allow me to adopt her despite her age and her marriage. James' fully supported her in that decision and that was something Alecia wanted."

"Simply because Tan disagrees does not mean that we cannot support Alecia's decision. And as I reminded him, if an agreement is reached regarding Lu Jinhu, as we have received confirmation of the adoption this morning and given the court will likely require one of us to sign the agreement, I would sign it. I told him, the last thing I want is to drive Alecia away."

Anna and Hou Yi looked at Amanda, in shock. They both were aware that there was talk that Amanda would adopt the triplets, but neither of them realised that in fact it had occurred.

Before anything else could be said, there was a knock on the door, and in entered the representative from the National Prosecutors' Office. "Mr Nang, I need to discuss some matters with you and your clients. I can tell you that the last remaining piece of information that required confirmation has been confirmed."

"Thank you. I just need to follow through my instructions on that matter given that confirmation. I will confirm with you once I have been over them." With that Alister Nang paused and pulled some papers out, while the door was shut behind the National Prosecutors Office representative and there was silence in the room, with Hou Yi, Anna, Yao Tan and Amanda all looking at each other. They all wondered what Alecia's instructions were.

As he looked up Alister Nang, realised that everyone was wanting to know what Alecia had instructed him. She had made it clear when they spoke along with her husband that her wishes were paramount, which he found to be unusual. Dealing with the males surrounding victims like Alecia, they all wanted jail for as long as possible. It was as if the legal system was needed for them to secure revenge.

While James Jones started out the same, he wanted revenge for what happened to his wife before they met, unusually after setting out things to Alecia Yao, he simply indicated that in the end the decision was Alecia. When he made the comment, Alister immediately questioned himself as to whether this was the influence of his sister, but it quickly became clear as they had the discussion that it was about his wife rather than anything else. He did not want his wife to go through anything that she was not ready to.

Looking around, Alister realised that he needed to get out Alecia's instructions quickly and let them sink in. Making the deal with Lu Jinhu was critical, as it ultimately was key to bringing down Lu Jingho, and despite being here to represent his clients seeing that paedophile and blackmailer brought down would serve the whole community more than any one individual.