Dictator s Daughter by Lorena Angell Page B

invitation from Sara to join her family would be
cherished by Eliwese.
     
    Chandra joined them that night for dinner
too. Chandra and Eli were seated directly across from Sean, with
Sara and Paul on each end of the table and Ryan and Lyndee on
either side of Sean. Chandra dominated the conversation, like
always, and Sean saw the dislike in Eli’s eyes toward Chandra; he
heard an occasional snicker from Ryan.
    Sean watched Eli as he sat properly and ate
his food like he was royalty. Was Eli royalty? No, Rendier didn’t
have royalty. Eli must have come from a very proper home with
severe etiquette.
    “Sean, honey, have you thought about where we
will live after we get married?” Chandra asked in a high-pitched
pleasant voice.
    “Close by, you know, so I can work here with
my family,” Sean replied and then thrust a fork full of food into
his mouth.
    “Don’t you think,” Chandra asked carefully,
“it would be better to leave this place and start a new life of our
own?”
    “Sean, pass the potatoes please,” Paul
asked.
    Sean grabbed the bowl and handed it to his
father. This gave him time to think of what to say.
    “Don’t you like my family?” Sean asked
Chandra. When she looked down at her plate, Sean darted a glance at
Eli only to see him staring at Chandra.
    “What kind of question is that?” She smiled
looking up at him.
    “In case you haven’t realized,” he spread his
arms out wide disrupting Ryan who was trying to insert his fork
full of food into his mouth, “this is my job. This is what I do,
and it’s what I will continue to do until there are no more
crossers to help.” Sean glanced at Eli who was looking directly at
him admiringly. Sean looked away, back to Chandra.
    It was obvious Chandra was losing her
patience because her sweet toned voice went lower. “I know, honey,
there are plenty of crossers who can’t help themselves. But just
because they can’t handle their own problems doesn’t mean it has to
be your problem, too. Isn’t our new life together important to
you?”
    Eli’s face paled and his mouth had fallen
open. Sean noticed it right away to be the result of Chandra’s
harsh words.
    “It has never been a problem for me to help
crossers,” Sean stated in a low deliberate voice.
    “Well, only because it pays so well,” Chandra
said under her breath.
    Sean angrily slammed his fork down, “You
marry me, you marry my family and our business of helping others. I
have honorably helped people in need since my earliest memory.
These people are not helpless or spineless and they don’t run from
their problems, they run for their lives. I will always be in this
business until the day Victor Rawlings is taken down, with or
without you.” When he finished, he stared at Chandra with his
peripheral vision taking in Eli. Eli was looking at him. But then
again, everyone was.
    “Here, here,” Paul held his glass of milk to
toast.
    “Oh Sean, you misunderstood me,” Chandra said
super sweetly. “That’s not how I meant it at all, baby.” These
words echoed in Sean’s mind and he was reminded of Eli’s
interpretation. He knew what Chandra was actually thinking in her
mind. He was carefully formulating a response to Chandra and the
whole table was silent and frozen in their places, awaiting the
rebuttal.
    “I know what you meant,” Eli said to Chandra
in a quiet stern voice. The attention turned to Eli and Chandra
now. The powerful tension emanating from the two was scary. Sean
thought about interrupting Eli but then thought better of it.
“People from my country should just put up and shut up and stop
burdening the overfed house cats, like you, with our problems. We
should not get so bent out of shape, and just look away when our
women are raped and beaten, and our men are taken from our homes
and are strapped up with explosive devices just to see what happens
when it blows.” Eli stood up, breathless, “Or how about the
children...you wouldn’t be able to handle hearing