Offer To The CEO

Anna and Yao Tan watched as the Officer Mu and another police officer escorted CEO Lu from the foyer of XF International . XF International"s security staff, after Yao Tan"s direction escorted the remaining police officer to their office to obtain the CCTV and audio of what happened in the foyer . .

Yao Tan looked at Anna, and asked "Do you still want to go for lunch?"

"I said we would for your birthday, now come on let us go . "

They slowly moved across the foyer and outside into a waiting car . After they settled in and the car was pulling away headed to the restaurant that Yao Tan directed them to head to, he turned to Anna "You are scary Anna . I thought my wife was good at twisting people"s words and confusing them, but there you had him so quickly . "

"Tan, I am a litigator . Amanda is more a corporate lawyer . Yes, I have and can do corporate law, wills and estates, the majority of my time is always spent in litigation matters, both criminal and civil . I am use to thinking on my feet and use to listening to words and twisting them . Words are my forte and I can string people along with the best to get out what I need . "

"But also it means that I am a good listener . I have to listen to what is being said, decipher what I am told and ask questions to get out the information that I need . But that also means that there are times, like when I was talking to those girls earlier that I have to let them tell their story without interruption . That means for abuse victims like them that they become empowered . "

"I would not want to face you across the court room . "

Anna laughed at this, and then silence descended across the car .

Anna knew that despite CEO Lu starting out by trying to target Alecia, Yao Tan had remained reasonable calm . She sensed that he was about to erupt when Alecia was being targeted, but he had the sense when she started to twist CEO Lu around to stay silent .

Ten minutes later, the car pulled up outside a building, and Yao Tan climbed out, helping Anna out and onto her crutches . As he slowly moved away Anna observed that they were in a much less upmarket area of town than she had expected . "Where are we going?"

"I figured that you would want to take me to my favourite restaurant . When the triplets were young, this was the only area that I could afford to live, despite it being considered a bad area . despite having a job and my parents willingness occasionally to care for the children, my decision to raise them meant I had to balance out things . I needed somewhere inexpensive to live so that everything I earned was not taken in babysitting . "

"It also ensured that I minimised my travel as other affordable areas would have meant I would have traveled over a hour a day each way to work . That would not have helped the triplets . The owners took pity on me giving me a half price meal a month, plus babysat the triplets for me on occasions to allow me to work late or study . They are still great friends, but refused my invitation to come to the party on Sat.u.r.day as i is their busiest day . When you offered to take me out, I decided here was the best place . "

A couple of minutes later they reached a small shop front and entered . As soon as Yao Tan as seen, two older people came from what could only be considered to be the kitchen area, and them immediately came over giving him a hug . "Mama, Papa, lovely to see you . "

"Happy Birthday . And this is?"

"Mama, Papa, this is my friend Anna . She is the wife of my friend Hou Yi . "

"Welcome, come and sit down . We will bring you your usual . "

"Make that for two, and some of that lovely iced tea as well . "

Within ten minutes they were sitting quietly eating a meal . As they were finis.h.i.+ng, the owners that returned to the table, this time with a small cake and a wrapped gift . "This is from us . "

"You should not . "

"We have not seen you and the children for a while, Tan . "

"Mama, Papa, you know that was a lie . My wife and I were here less than two weeks ago, and I usually come here at least once a fortnight for lunch, so stop trying to manipulate me . And you know what teenagers are like . The last thing they want to do is what their parents want them to do . "