~ Chapter 2 ~

Amanda took the contract and read it once again before putting it back into the envelope and dumping it inside one of the drawers.

She picked up the office phone and called Oliver in, within a few seconds a light knock came on the door and a smiley Oliver walked in, excited to hear the reason for Alan Wesley's visit.

"Yes, Miss West?" He called out in a low voice when he noticed the look on Amanda's face. isn't she meant to be all smiley? he thought, his eyes fixed on her face.

"Yeah, Oliver, I need you to find this man," she said and moved the picture closer to him, Oliver picked up the picture and after gazing at it for a while, he looked up at Amanda with furrowed eyebrows

"Andrew West, my brother" she stated, confirming Oliver's suspicion.

He opened his mouth to ask questions, like why would she be looking for her brother but the look on Amanda's face shut him up "Yes Miss West, I'll get to it as fast as I can"  he said.

"I need it by tomorrow Mr Romans"

"But it isn't..." He started, but Amanda quickly cut him.

"No excuses Oliver, that will be all. Thank you" she said with a tone of finality. He stared at her for a while and nodded his head.

"Sure" and with that, he walked out of her office and stormed off to his. He dropped the picture harshly on his table as picked up his phone

"Hey, I need a favour," he said quietly as soon as the person picked up.

"What is it now liv? I'm not hacking a game for you again" a soft girly voice said bluntly and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"I need you to find someone for me, and I need the details by tonight"

"Why?" The girl asked, suspicion thick in her voice.

"No questions Alice, will you help me out?" He asked, almost pleading, making Alice sigh

"Fine,  what's the name?"

A smile immediately appeared on Oliver's face "The name is Andrew West"

The line immediately went silent when he said the name, Oliver removed the phone from his ear and gazed at it to be sure the call was still ongoing and it was, "Are you there?"

"Yes sorry, I just started searching him up," she said and Oliver smiled.

"Alright then, get to work and thank you!! I'll take you to dinner tomorrow" he promised.

"Yeah right" and with that, she ended the call.

Oliver stared at his phone with a smile and he shook his head, his eyes caught the picture again and he picked it and started looking at it.

He has never met any of Amanda's family except Jonathan but for some reason, the man in the picture looks familiar to him, way too familiar.

He stared at it for a while longer before he put it in a drawer "it's probably the resemblance to Miss West" he said and went back to work.

A while later Amanda stepped out of her office, with a frown still on her face "I'll be heading home now, tell the design team to send me the designs they came up with through email" she said and Oliver nodded.

"Sure thing," he said with a small smile. Amanda nodded briefly and was about to leave but paused and turned back towards Oliver.

"Have you started on what I asked for?"

"Yes, I'm already working on it"

"Okay then, see you tomorrow" and with one last nod, she walked out.

She headed straight to the garage, taking the VIP exit to avoid bumping into her employees. A big smile appeared on her face when she caught sight of her red Mercedes, she immediately hopped in with a grunt and pulled out her phone to check the time.

"2:40 pm," she muttered underneath her breath, a happy smile quickly graced her face at the fact that she will soon see her younger brother. She brought the car to life and drove out of the garage: heading to her brother's school.

After a few minutes of driving; thanks to the lack of traffic jam, she pulled up in front of a school, children clutched onto their parents' hands saying or demanding one thing or the other, the parents listened with a smile on their face, occasionally nodding their head or saying a few words to them, the usual quiet atmosphere of the school became a noisy one. She smiled warmly at the sight and proceeded to find a spot to park her car.

As soon as she parked, she hopped off and hurriedly started making her way into the school.

"Good day Miss West" a petite girl with blonde hair and cute glasses, greeted as soon as she sighted Amanda.

"Hey Julie, Good day. How was the day?" Amanda asked, leaning on the receptionist's table where the girl was seated.

"It was nice, thank you. I heard you're having a new exhibition soon, I can't wait for it! I'm already saving up to buy a few, the last exhibition was..." The girl rambled off, making Amanda sigh.

She let the girl ramble on for a few more seconds before she interrupted her "that's good to know Julie, thank you. I'll have to get going now tho, until next time." and without waiting for her to say another word, she rushed off.

"Cons of being friendly and popular" she muttered underneath her breath as she sped walked to her brother's classroom.

She peeped in through the window as soon as she got close to the classroom to see what her brother was up to and as always he just sat there, Reading!

"Does he even have friends?" She asked with an eye roll and walked into the classroom, meeting eyes with the teacher as soon as she stepped in, "Good day Miss Autumn"

"Good day Miss West, here to pick up Jonathan?" She asked with a warm smile, and it took everything in Amanda to not roll her eyes and say something sarcastic.

"Yeah," the woman nodded and made to call for Jonathan, but the little boy was already standing beside Amanda with his school bag ready to leave.

"Alright then Miss Autumn, I'll see you tomorrow" she held Johnathan's hand and smiled at him, making the boy smile in return as they both left the classroom together.

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Dressed in shorts and a large T-shirt, Amanda quickly made food for herself and her brother as well, she set up the table and dished out the food before walking up to her brother's room to call him out.

"Knock knock, can I come in?" She said loudly, even tho she already opened the door halfway.

Jonathan looked up at her from the book on his lap and rolled his eyes "You are already in, Manda" he said with a bored expression.

"Hey! Don't sass me," she said, one hand on her waist and the other pointing at her brother who already closed the book he was reading.

"Yeah yeah," he said dismissively and Amanda shook her head at him.

"Food is ready, common let's go and you can tell me all about school" she suggested and he sighed, but stood up anyway.

The both of them walked to the dining room and plopped down on their chairs, without wasting time Amanda dug into her food but her hand was immediately slapped away by Jonathan who was giving her a pointed look.

"Ow! What was that for?" She whined, cradling her hand to her chest.

"Pray" came his short reply as he closed his eyes and said a short prayer before he started eating.

"You know, I'm the one raising you and not the other way round," she said, pointing her spoon at him.

"Are you sure?" He asked, and looked at her for a brief second and Amanda's eyes widened in shock.

"You did not just ask me that!" She shouted, but he ignored her and continued eating his food. When she realized she wasn't getting any answer she huffed and went back to her food.

Amanda stood up from the couch she was sitting on with Jonathan after their meal "Hey, I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything and please make sure you are in bed before 10 pm" she said, and he nodded without taking his eyes from the TV.

She stared at him for a little longer before she walked into her room and opened up her laptop, she went straight to her email and was met with tons of designs from the design team.

Sighing, she opened up the email and started going through them but she couldn't seem to concentrate. Her mind kept wandering back to her meeting with Alan earlier "concentrate, Amanda, concentrate" she muttered to herself but after a few more minutes of trying, she gave up.

"I should at least know a lot more about the person I'm going up against" muttering to herself, she typed in Alan Weasley into the G****e search bar and a lot of links popped up.

She took her time going through every single one of them, by the time she was done she still had little to no information on him.

G****e barely had anything to say about him apart from the common knowledge she has, he kept himself away from the media by projecting his company as the focus instead of himself.

The only extra information she got from all the searches is that he is "allegedly" gay, because he has never been seen with a woman. She released a deep breath and laid down on her bed "Andrew, wherever you are just come out and clean your mess. Please God help me out" she prayed silently.

Her life has been peaceful and quiet these past years, and she will be damned if she lets her brother ruin it because of his irresponsibility that has nothing to do with her.

She was still lost in her mind when her phone started ringing, she rushed over to it and picked it up "Oliver Romans" displayed on the caller ID and without wasting time she answered.

"Hello?" She said in a low tone.

"Good evening Miss West, it's about what you asked me to do earlier," he said and her heart picked up its pace in anticipation.

"Yes?" She said, her voice coming out hoarse.

"I couldn't find anything about him"

Her vision went black for a second as she took in the information, her palms getting sweaty "what did you just say?"

"I've been on it since afternoon, but I couldn't find anything. I'm sorry" he apologized, and Amanda sucked in a deep breath. She doesn't need his apology.

She remained quiet for a while, her mind running round in circles before she released a deep breath "Tell Miss Maya to report to my office tomorrow morning" she ordered and ended the call.

She will be damned if she agrees to pay for something she didn't partake in, and if he wants to take legal action she might as well beat him to it.