Chapter 24.

"How do you expect me to believe you?"

Lorenzo shrugged as he sat across from Amelia watching her with keen eyes. She was a striking lady with vivid eyes. He could see why Daphne was so envious of her. Amelia narrowed her eyes at Lorenzo, he looked oddly familiar. She felt like he was someone she had seen or met before, someone she had probably seen on a magazine cover or on TV.

"You don't have to believe me, you just have to take a DNA test."

"We already did."

Amelia shrugged and Lorenzo smiled tightly.

"Yea.... Daphne must have found a way to tamper with that. Did she know where the test was going to be?"

Amelia tilted her head in confusion.

"No, she didn't. I picked out the place myself."

"She knew nothing about it."

Lorenzo shook his head.

"Trust me, either someone told her or she figured it out all by herself. Think about it."

Amelia opened her mouth to disagree but promptly closed it when she remembered Millie and how she fired her. Was it possible that Millie told Daphne about the DNA test centre?

"What makes you so sure?"

She didn't know if she could trust Lorenzo, after all he was still connected to Daphne and that made her pretty sceptical about a lot of things that he was saying and doing.

For all she knew, it might be anothr ploy for her to fall into one of Daphne's many schemes. He could even be lying to her about everything that he was saying.

"We're talking about a woman who framed me for sexual harassment just to get me out of the picture. I think I'm pretty sure the kind of woman I'm dealing with."

The statement alone piqued Amelia's interest as she raised her eyebrow in concern and amusement.

"Are you serious?"

Lorenzo nodded.

"The charges have been dropped, but of course, my reputation will take a while before it's salvaged."

"I'm still confused Lorenzo, you have to tell me exactly how it all happened."

"How are you even so sure it's your baby?"

Amelia asked as she narrowed her eyes at him, she was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.

Lorenzo sighed and he started from the very beginning, how he and Daphne had always been friends and how she had one day came on too strong on him. They had a very brief affair, during the course of which she was always talking about her ex boyfriend Xavier and his new wife Amelia. She seemed to be very angry about them being married. And she was even more pissed about the fact that Xavier had moved on. Lorenzo also mentioned how Daphne was always insisting that he didn't need to use protection because she was on the pill.

He told her about the time he overheard a conversation between her and her friend in which Daphne confessed that she was trying to get pregnant. Naturally, Lorenzo pestered her for information but she refused to explain her motives, even though Lorenzo said it was glaring to him that that he was the one being used to accomplish the task. While he was trying to sniff around for answers, he was charged for sexual harassment by a former secretary of his and he got to know that Daphne was the one behind it.
He found out that she was not only paying his secretary to lie against him, she also pretended to be a witness to the case.

"So when the charges were dropped, I heard about that leaked story... The one about the pregnancy..."

"That's how you got to know?"

Lorenzo nodded his head.

"Yea. I had no idea she was pregnant. Imagine my surprise when I found out."

"When I approached her about it she was very defensive about it."

Amelia was lost in her thoughts Lorenzo had said a lot, a whole lot and sitting right in front of him, she didn't know if she could believe him. But he couldn't possibly make that up could he?

She asked herself as she glanced at him below her lashes.

"If I ask Daphne to take another DNA test..."

"You're going to have to eventually, but she can be real sneaky, I suggest you don't let her know what you're up to."

"And how? How do I do that?"

Lorenzo shrugged.

"I know her more than you do and all I have to say is you have to find a way to outsmart her, because there's literally nothing she can't do to get what she wants."

Amelia nodded. At least that bit about Daphne was true, there was nothing she couldn't do to make sure that she got what she wanted even if it meant hurting others. Amelia always thought she was the only one who noticed how sick and demented she was, she was kind of relieved Lorenzo shared the same sentiments.

"I think... I think my housekeeper is working for her..."

Amelia said out of the blues and Lorenzo's eyes widened. She didn't feel it was important to mention it before, but she felt the urge to let him know.

"Is that true?"

He asked and she nodded.

"I fired her today. I figured she was talking to her and I put two and two together."

"Hnmmmm. That's quite a major advantage."

Lorenzo said as he stroked his chin while deep in thoughts.

"Are you kidding me?"

Amelia said incredulously.

"Yes! How is that a major advantage though?"

She asked as she frowned a bit and Lorenzo smiled at her.

"Is there any way to contact the maid? Right now she's your best chance at getting at Daphne "

"What? I already fired her!"

"You can call her back. Let her know you want to hire her again."

"What?!! That doesn't make sense!"

"Why can't I just ask for another DNA test?"

She asked and Lorenzo started laughing as he shook his head. He was convinced that Amelia was either clueless about all that was going on or she didn't know just how evil and vindictive Daphne could be.

"We're talking about a woman who got someone to accuse me of sexual harassment after using me to get herself pregnant. If she tampered with the DNA test the first time, what makes you think she won't tamoer with it again?"

Amekua shrugged.

"But at the same time, I still don't think involving the housekeeper makes that much sense."

Lorenzo leaned in his chair as he beckoned at Amelia to come closer to him.

"First, you call the housekeeper. Tell her that you were wrong or something. Second, you track the housekeeper. She's the only link you have to Daphne. She can help us uncover the truth. Find a way to put tabs on her."

"And then what?"

Amelia asked as she folded her arms in disbelief.

"Well, you can either use her to uncover Daphne's plans or you can threaten her until she rats Daphne out. All you need to do now, is to get her back."

"What about Daphne?"

Lorenzo shrugged.

"I'll handle her."

Amelia and Lorenzo talked for a while as they discussed what they were going to do, the whole story was unbelievable for Amelia but for some strange reason, she found herslef trusting Lorenzo's words more and more. They exchanged numbers and he left after promising to call her the next day.

Amelia called Millie right away, she apologised to her on the phone and pretended as if she had made a mistake sending her away. Millie sounded pretty sceptical on the phone but it didn't stop her from moving back to the Black's mansion that night.

Amelia wondered whether or not she was going to tell Xavier about what was happening. She knew that no matter how she was going to put it, Xavier was going to believe that Lorenzo was lying, he would feel the need to confront Daphne about everything and that would ruin the plans they had made.

She wasn't going to tell him, at least not until she was able to confirm that it was all true.