009

Elvira’s POV

I stood in front of the mirror admiring myself. Today the office I had always worked for endlessly but was never recognized, I was finally going to take it from them.

Becky knocked on the door then asked, “Are you ready?”

“Did you gather for a shareholders' meeting?” I questioned as I sprayed my perfume.

“Mr Calix already did that. They are currently in the shareholder meeting, and he said to inform you that all you need to do is go to the CEO's office and change the nameplate,” Becky responded, and a smile made its way to my face.

The day I have been waiting for is finally here. I hurriedly picked up my bag from the bed, “Let’s go,” I said impatiently. I bet they were still sleeping and had no idea of the meeting, can’t wait to see the horror on their face.

“Did you pack the things we would be needing?” I asked Becky and she nodded her head.

“I already packed everything, we will move everything to your new office, Mr Calix said he would get the house to you in the next forty-eight hours, and Mrs Elvira, Mr Calix is giving you twenty-four hours to tarnish the reputation of your ex-father-in-law so everything would go smoothly for you,” Becky delivered the message.

“Tarnish his reputation,” I muttered, “Is there something I’m not aware of?”

“I cannot give you any information that Mr Calix didn’t give you,” Becky answered like a robot, “He wants it done under twenty-four hours.”

I just couldn’t understand him. We already have the company, so why would he want to tarnish that man’s reputation? It’s not like I’m against it or anything like that, but I just needed to know the reason.

“You moron, do you think you can destroy the current president’s house and walk away with it?” My brain shouted and I immediately understood Calix a bit.

“In my parents' house,” I said when we entered the car, and Becky turned her attention to me, “We must go there.”

Becky shook her head, dismissing my words, “You can’t go there, Mr and Mrs Halethor are currently not in the country, and it would be suspicious if someone sees you going in there.”

“I have to,” I argued, “For twenty years of my life, I have been in my parents' and my ex-in-law’s house, I dreamt of the day I would leave my parents house then I dreamt of the day I would leave my in-laws house with my husband, don’t you think I would have gathered evidence to threaten them when I finally left?”

“So you are saying you have evidence that can drag your ex-father-in-law into the mud?” Becky asked, and I nodded my head, “And they are in your parents' house?” I nodded my head again, “How sure are you that the evidence is still there?”

“No one knows about it, and the place I hid it is a place no one ever goes to,” I explained. The silence Becky gave was killing me, “Are we going?” I asked when she didn’t give me a response after a few seconds.

“Let me speak to my boss,” Becky said as she stepped out of the car to make a call and I waited patiently for her to come back.

I also felt caged in here; my every movement, my every plan was being discussed with Calix first. It’s like I didn’t have a say, but what can I do? He was helping me after all.

“Mr Calix said we can go, his men are the current workers at the Halethor’s house,” Becky said as she started the car.

“Why do you report my every movement of Mr Calix?” I questioned when she was driving.

“That’s because I work for him, I have always worked for him since he was a teenager, I got this job through his grandfather so my loyalty is sworn to him,” Becky responded, her eyes still focused on the road.

Calix has a Grandfather? I thought it was only him and Ciera, they never talk about anyone in the family other than themselves.

“I just hope you would also be somehow loyal to me,” I sighed then brought out my tablet to check today’s news.

I plugged the earphones into my ears, and the car was in total silence till we got to my parents' place. “We are here,” Becky broke the silence. I removed the earphones from my ear and dropped the tablet.

The compound looked exactly the same except there was a memorial stone by the water fountain. Who died? My curiosity piqued as I walked closer to the gravestone.

To my surprise, it was my memorial stone, my name was written on it, and so was my portrait drawn on it. There were fresh flowers on it, and it was neatly taken care of. Who could have put this up?

I didn’t think Mother would mourn me, maybe it was Father but he was rarely around, Granny? That’s impossible, she was at a nursing home, and she refused to set foot into this house. That snake? It’s impossible, my brother Ace? Nahh, he is selfish and only cares about himself.

“Mrs Elvira,” Becky called my name, “We should hurry, you have to announce your arrival at the office and send the evidence to Mr Calix.”

I nodded my head and headed to the storeroom outside the house. I opened the door because the door was never locked. The place was covered with dust and cobwebs.

The moment we stepped inside the storeroom, we started coughing uncontrollably. I turned on my flashlight and dug through the box I brought back from the orphanage when I was young.

Nobody would touch this; it had a lot of my things. I didn’t have time to be emotional over my past, so I picked up all the flash drives and handed them over to Becky. “Let’s go,” I said to her, then walked out of the storeroom.

I shut the door when Becky came out, “We should hurry before someone comes here.”

“No one is going to come ……..”

“Elvira,” I froze when I heard Ace’s voice. I raised my eyes to confirm if I heard right, and I really heard right.

Before I could say anything, Ace jumped into my arms and engulfed me in a tight hug. This was sudden. If I could remember correctly, we never got along; we just spoke, hung out sometimes, but I can’t remember us getting along on our own. We were literally forced together.

“It’s you, Elvira,” Ace tightened his hold on me, “If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.” I felt his tears touch my hair.

What was up with him? Since when did we hug each other? Did someone hit his head or something?

“I….. blame myself every day, I shouldn’t have let you go that day, I shouldn’t have given you the car keys, I should’ve driven you to where you wanted to go,” Ace sniffed, “Everyone was lying that you were a bad person, but that’s not the truth.”

“Excuse me….” I tried to push him away from myself.

“Elvira…. I…. I…. Have missed you…. I have always wished we could go back to that day, if I had delayed you by telling you what I wanted to tell you, then you wouldn’t have died.”

Becky forcefully yanked Ace away from me, “Who are you?” I asked after I have managed to catch my breath.

“What do you mean who I am? I’m your brother,” he took a step closer to me and I took one backward, “It’s Ace, your troublemaker, can’t you recognize me?”

Becky cleared her throat as she stood in front of me, “I think you have the wrong person, Mrs Kyrell, this is the Brother of the criminal everyone said you look….”

“My sister is not a criminal!” I was surprised to the bone to see Ace defend me. That’s the most abnormal thing I have seen so far.

“I’m sorry for your lost,” I apologized and Ace shook his head, “We came to see Mr and Mrs Halethor but we learnt they aren’t around so we would be taking our leave.”

I was about to leave when Ace suddenly said, “Elvira please don’t go, you are my only family.”