Back to Take Revenge Mrs Frost?

Liora adjusted the edges of her suit for the tenth time that morning. Her stomach was empty yet she could feel it turning over and over again. She was nervous. 

“Director Liora, are you that nervous?” her assistant whispered beside her and Liora chuckled, giving the other girl a small smile.

"Nervous? Penelope, you must be joking," she responded while listening to her father talk to the crowd – the staff of Morgan Group. It was the inauguration and her heart was beating faster.

“Your father is always looking dashing,” Penelope whispered again and Liora’s lips finally broke into a smile.

"Yeah, you are right; he always looks dashing for a 60-year-old man," she agreed, her smile still plastered fully on her lips.

Her father was technically not her father. She had been left on the doors of an orphanage home when she was five months old and had lived in the orphanage till she was three; that was when Mr and Mrs Morgan – her mother and her father – had come visiting. They had lost their child and to comfort his wife, Mr Morgan wanted to adopt a child. She hadn’t known any of this at all; she had just found Mrs Morgan wandering around the hallway of the orphanage with sad eyes so she had offered the latter a lollipop and tried to comfort her with her childish words and that was exactly what made them take her. Mrs Morgan had drawn to her immediately. It wasn’t until years later that she found out why they had been in the orphanage home that day.

Leaving the orphanage and living with the Morgans, one of the richest families, had made her uncomfortable but her parents never made her feel out of place; they taught her everything and shaped her into a prim and proper young lady, the entire world loved her as she loved her parents; she even forgot that she was adopted, that was until she did her sixteenth birthday. They had thrown a grand birthday party for her, inviting children of rich families from all over the state and town and her friends and it was beautiful. She loved it and nearing the end, a woman and a girl her age walked into the party.

The lost daughter of the Morgan family. The actual heiress.

Chaos erupted; everyone thought they were going to chase her out, that her parents were going to change towards her but shockingly and to everyone’s surprise, nothing changed. Her parents had just called her aside and told her she wasn’t going anywhere; she was always going to be their daughter – the two of them were always going to be her daughters. Liora had heard enough stories not to believe it at first, even though she trusted her parents but the years after proved that they meant their words. They treated the both of them the same and the two girls, Liora and Serephina, grew up to be best friends and the best of sisters, which left everyone envious of their relationship.

Serephina was used to a carefree life and so her parents didn’t impose on her when she chose to study Arts in university; the weight had fallen to her. She loved business and working so she had gone to Business school, immediately entering the company as an intern and working her way up quietly. On her twenty-second birthday, after finishing her master's and snagging one of the most profitable contracts for the Morgan Group, her father promised to hand over the group to her in two years, she was excited and happy that she was finally going to be in charge, also shocked because her father was handing over the group to her. It meant that he trusted her and loved her; besides, she was going to be the youngest President the Morgan group had had.

She turned towards the stage and caught the eye of Serephina and her boyfriend, Leonard, standing beside each other. Serephina immediately waved to her, smiling so brightly that Liora could tell that she was excited as she was. Leonard smiled at her, his smile firm in his usual supporting way. But she knew better; after dating each other for seven years, all through their university days to their master's days; she also knew that he was as nervous as her. 

This point was a defining moment for her.

She glanced at the file in her arms; her speech, written and rehearsed, was inside, and her heart was beating fast as she tried harder to listen to what her father was saying.

“Allow me to introduce to you –” he didn’t get to finish his words when there was a commotion. Liora furrowed her brows as she stared at the back of the hall where uniformed police walked inside and headed straight for them. She took a glance at Penelope and immediately started walking towards them, ready to handle the situation.

“Good afternoon, this is a—” she didn’t get to finish her statement when one of the policemen, with a  hard look on his face, grabbed her hand and placed a cuff on her wrists in a swift motion that left her dazed.

“Liora Morgan, you are under arrest for embezzlement, murder, and corporate fraud.” His voice wasn’t exactly loud but was broadcast across the entire hall and the hall immediately burst into an uproar.

“What?” Liora blurted out, “What are you saying?” she asked indignantly but the policeman was already dragging her forward.

“You are advised to remain silent, as anything you say will be used in the court of law” he continued speaking.

“Excuse me, I don’t know what you are talking about.” Liora tried to defend herself as a policeman pulled her outside. 

The cameras flashed so wildly that it stunned her; it was as though they had been waiting. She tried to hide her face but it was no use. Reporters shoved microphones in her face.

“Miss Liora, did you really embezzle 200 billion from Morgan group?”

“Do you deny murdering Director James?”

“Was it jealousy over your sister, the real heiress of the Morgan group?”

“What?” Liora muttered, and then something hit her face, breaking, and it took her a second to realise that it was an egg. An egg onslaught followed, people yelling at her and all sorts of insults pierced her ears. Liora stood trembling at the mercy of the crowd. 

On one hand, she still held the speech she had written, the one she was going to read when her father announced her as the new Chairman and President.

But that wasn’t going to happen anymore. It was then she noticed that her parents were nowhere to be found and she whipped her head around to see her parents, Serephina and Leonard, filling out of the hall. She almost heaved a sigh of relief.

“Dad, Mom, tell them the truth; I have no idea what they are talking about” she spoke with agitation but her father had a look in his eyes that she had never seen before; it made her stomach drop.

“Dad?” she whispered and the reporters immediately turned to her family.

“President Morgan, is it true that your adoptive daughter embezzled 200 billion from the Morgan Group?”

“Did you know about this?”

“Did you know your daughter had been laundering money using the company as a front?”

“Your adoptive daughter has been found guilty in a  murder case; what do you have to say?”

Liora watched with a bated breath, but her father, the one who usually looked at her with kind eyes the most, looked away slowly. “No comment.”

The reporters got aggressive.

No comment? That was the same as admitting all the accusations.

Anger boiled in her stomach. “Dad!” she yelled in agony.

Seraphina suddenly fell to her knees, stunning Liora. “On behalf of my family, I would like to apologise for my sister. For everything she has done. We didn’t know that she’d been laundering money from the Tarzel Cartel using the company as a front,” she sobbed as tears rolled down her cheeks. 

“She even killed Director James when he found out.” she choked and Liora stared at her in a daze, not believing her ears.

“Serephina”, she whispered, and the former turned to her.

“I’m sorry, sister, I just couldn’t keep quiet anymore; I had to tell everyone the truth,” she sobbed and Liora blinked at her.

What truth?

Leonard bowed his head and stepped forward. “I would also like to apologise to the public for the actions of my fiancée. I am deeply regretful that I didn’t find her true nature until later. I am sorry for harbouring her and I announce right here that our engagement has been annulled. My sincere apologies,” he said. 

Liora couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t a nightmare. This was real. Her parents had just admitted that she had been laundering money using the company as a front and that she had stolen 200 billion; her sister and best friend had just told the world that she had killed someone; and the love of her life had also admitted to knowing everything. 

As the police dragged her into the van, Loira watched her supposed family, hugging and clutching to each other, her fiancé – well, not anymore – holding Seraphina as she sobbed. The wheels in her head turned; she wasn’t stupid, if she was, there was no way she would have been able to rise in the Morgan and business world. A realisation hit her and she gasped. 

She was never their daughter. She had always been a spare part they used and she seemed to have exhausted her shelf life.

The process was too smooth, too smooth that even an idiot could tell that everything had been planned meticulously. During the court proceedings, Liora barely made a sound; there was   evidence as clear as day, and there wasn’t an argument for her lawyer to make, not that he even tried to make an argument or defence.

The court had sentenced her to life imprisonment with no chance of ever getting out. She was going to die in prison. She stared at her parents as they filed out of the court and the policewoman tried to drag her out.

“Please wait,” she begged the woman.

“Dad, Mom,” she called and the family turned to her. Leonard had a hard look on his face and Serephina was just snuggling into him. Her father had that look on his face, the same look on the day she was supposed to be announced as chairman.

“What do you want from us? Haven’t you taken enough?” her mom asked and Liora burst into laughter.

“Mom, Dad, there’s no one here. You can stop with the dramatics,” she replied and her mother immediately looked away.

“I just have one question,” Liora choked, “Did you ever love me as your daughter or was I… was I… always a replacement for her?” she asked quietly.

“Did you hit your head, Liora?” Serephina's voice was biting and fierce. “Did you really think that Dad was going to hand over his company to someone who isn’t blood?” she asked and Liora’s lips parted in shock.

"You were never my daughter, Liora; you were supposed to comfort me. That’s all and I think you’ve done that enough” her mother spoke in a tone that made Liora lower her head and nod.

“Thank you for being honest with me,” she replied and then turned to Leonard.

“It wasn’t me you wanted right, it was the Morgan Group,” she said and Leonard very uncharacteristically shrugged.

"My dad wasn't going to let me marry an adopted daughter when the real deal was there. You were going to embarrass our family," he replied and Liora burst into laughter, immediately turning away and heading for the door herself. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she walked away from them.

They were supposed to be her family, her loved ones but they had turned their back on her just because she wasn’t their blood. She had slaved away for the Morgan Group for years but no one had told her then that she wasn’t a Morgan by blood so it wasn’t necessary.

She got the worst prison there was; she was starved and beaten, humiliated at every turn and in just two weeks, she had turned to skin and bones and then, one month later, a letter arrived for her. Leonard and Serephina had gone public with their relationship and even got engaged, sealing the cooperation between the Morgan Group and Hindus Corporation again. Her father had announced Seraphina as his heir and the next chairman of the Morgan Group. All she had done was burst into laughter after she read it; all the pieces now made sense to her.

If he wanted to hand over the company to Seraphina, he should have just said so; she would have gladly made way for her, but instead, they had taken her life away from her.

She shook her head as she continued mopping, not noticing that the hallway had gotten empty nor that someone had quietly appeared behind her. The person tapped her ad Liora turned in surprise but the next second, she felt a sharp, searing pain in her abdomen. She raised her head and came face to face with one of the prisoners grinning at her; she glanced down at her stomach to see a knife lodged into her body, the latter had stabbed her. 

The world started spinning and Liora could feel that she was losing so much blood.

“Why…?” she questioned as she fell to the floor.

“Well, they said you were going to be in here for the rest of your life so it was fine but they wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t be able to speak to anyone,” the latter replied and then walked away. Liora didn’t have to ask who they

As she bled out, the memory of that day in the orphanage washed over her as she waved goodbye to her friends and got into the Morgan car.

“You bastards, I’ll kill every last one of you in my next life,” she groaned and then breathed her last.