5. Revenge Unleashed

~Mia

“Doc… Doc! How is she? Can I see her now?”

“Yes, of course, Mr. LeVert.”

I could hear muffled voices around me… and the steady beeping of machines. A soft, sterile light crept into my vision as I struggled to open my eyes.

My head throbbed, and there was a dull pain radiating through it. I could feel someone close to me—right beside me.

My thoughts were scattered, like pieces of a broken mirror. Nothing made sense. Then suddenly, I felt a warm hand gently slide into mine, wrapping around it softly.

The warmth jolted me back to the present.

Where… where am I?

I tried to sit up, panicking, breathing heavily. My eyes flew open, and the first thing I saw was a white ceiling and a heart monitor blinking beside me.

A HOSPITAL?!

Wait—am I in the hospital?

“You’re awake, Mia?! Doctor! She’s awake!”

A young man’s voice came from my left, bright and full of relief. I turned quickly toward him—and froze.

He was tall, fair-skinned, and undeniably handsome. His face stirred something deep in my memory. I knew him.

Isn’t this…?

“Troy?” I whispered, barely believing it.

“Mia… Mia!” he said again, a huge smile lighting up his face as he gripped my hand tighter. “You’re awake!”

I stared at him, overwhelmed, shaking my head slowly.

Troy? What is he doing here? What am I doing here?

Questions flooded my mind with no answers.

Where is Felix?

Where’s Barbra?

Where is the rest of the Wade family?

“Mia? Hey… what’s going on?” Troy asked gently, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. “You seem confused. Is something wrong?”

I looked at him, still stunned. The last time I saw Troy was in 2012.

But this is 2020.

How is he even here?

Back then, he left for the United States to study Business Administration. His father had insisted he take over the LeVert Empire one day.

Troy was my childhood friend—the only one who stood by me when everyone else mocked me for being fat. We grew up as more than siblings. Then, life pulled us apart when his father forced him to leave the country and complete his education abroad.

And now… he’s back?

And we’re both in a hospital?

None of it made sense.

“Troy… what’s going on? What am I doing here? I’m supposed to be with Felix. If he finds out I’m not home, he’ll be furious…”

“Felix?” Troy’s face hardened instantly. “What Felix are you talking about, Mia? You mean the same Felix who ruined your life? Who destroyed your face? Your entire existence as a woman? The same one who tried to kill you? That Felix?”

The moment he mentioned my face, my hand flew to it instinctively.

I hadn’t even thought about it—hadn’t felt the courage to look in a mirror.

Troy had seen me before—sure, with a body that everyone called fat—but he had never seen me like this.

Not with this broken, wounded face.

And now that he had… I suddenly felt a sharp, unbearable wave of shame.

“What’s going on in your mind, Mia?” Troy’s voice pulled me from my thoughts once again. “I can’t believe that after everything Felix did to you… you’re still thinking about him?”

I shook my head, rubbing my face in frustration.

“You don’t understand anything, Troy. I’ve always looked like this. It’s a long sto—”

I stopped mid-sentence as Troy suddenly lifted a small mirror and held it out in front of me.

My breath hitched. My heart nearly stopped.

I stared in horror.

My face looked worse than I ever imagined.

One side was swollen. The other covered in rashes. Both sides distorted—damaged. I looked even uglier than before. A version of myself I didn’t recognize.

I gripped my face, my breath trembling.

“No… No! How is this even possible? How could this…?”

And then it hit me.

The memory flooded back like a violent wave.

The moaning from the master bedroom.

The crushing grip around my neck.

The threats. The betrayal. The final scream I let out when Felix left me for dead.

“You think you can expose us…”

“Felix, what are you thinking? Do you want her to survive? She’ll ruin us!”

“I’m doing you a favor, Mia. No man is ever going to love you with this ugly face. So it’s better you die.”

And then—

The fall.

The piercing pain as I hit the ground.

The darkness that swallowed me whole.

And now… I’m here. In this hospital?

My heartbeat quickened. My breathing grew shallow. I remembered everything now.

Felix and Mercedes did try to kill me.

They threw me off the building, and…

“And what, Mia?” Troy’s voice cut in again, as if reading my mind.

“I still remember how you wanted to become the top lawyer in the country,” he said. “You were the best student in school. Everyone thought you’d wear that lawyer’s robe one day… And now, here I am, back in the country—and my agent tells me he saw someone fall from the top floor of a house.”

My voice was shaky. “Someone… reported that night? An agent?”

Troy nodded solemnly.

“Yes, Mia. I sent a spy to watch over you while I was away in the States. He reported everything—your parents’ deaths, your marriage, your face getting ruined the first time, all because you were trying to save Felix. Then, just as I got word that you’d transferred your company to him, the same agent told me Felix was cheating on you… with Mercedes. The beauty queen.”

He paused, then added darkly,

“I booked the next flight to Luxeria. And just as my plane landed, I got the call that someone who looked like you had been thrown off a building.”

“Is that how we got here?” I asked quietly.

Troy nodded.

“My agent acted fast. He disguised himself as a cleaner and removed your body before anyone else could see. We thought you were gone, Mia… but by some miracle, you were still alive.”

“2020…” I whispered. “My worst year ever.”

Troy slowly shook his head.

“We’re no longer in 2020, Mia.”

I turned to him sharply, confused.

“What are you talking about?”

He pointed toward the wall. I followed his finger and saw a calendar.

2022.

My eyes widened in shock.

“Two years?” I gasped. “It’s been two years since Felix and Mercedes did that to me?”

Troy nodded. “You’ve been in a coma, Mia. At the beginning of this year, we saw some progress. And five months later, here you are. Awake.”

I couldn’t stop the wave of pain that washed over me.

The moaning…

The betrayal…

The threats…

The signing off of my company…

Being pushed off that rooftop…

All of it circled through my mind like a hurricane. And through all the chaos, one emotion took over:

Pain.

Followed by one thing stronger than it—vengeance.

I looked back into the mirror. This face… swollen, disfigured, pathetic. The rage boiled in me like a fire that had been waiting too long to burn.

Troy noticed. He leaned in closer, his eyes searching mine.

“What do you want to do now, Mia?” he asked gently. “Do you have a plan? Something in mind for those who did this to you?”

I nodded slowly, a dark, bitter laugh escaping from my lips.

“That family took advantage of me, Troy. They made a fool out of me.”

My fists clenched.

“Especially Felix. I loved him to the point of sacrificing everything—even my beauty. The first time my face was ruined, it was because I ran into a falling chandelier to save him. I didn’t care what the world said about me. I believed he loved me for who I was…”

I paused.

“But he cheated. With another woman. And not just any woman—Mercedes. He took my company even after I changed my mind about giving it to him. And worse of all? He stole five years of my life by putting me in a coma.”

I looked at Troy, eyes burning with fury.

“What else could I possibly want… if not revenge?”

Troy sat back slightly, gaze never leaving mine.

“You want revenge on them?”

I scoffed.

“Only a fool would go through all of this and not want payback. I want them to suffer, Troy. Every last one of them. For everything they put me through.”

My voice dropped to a deadly calm.

“I’ve suffered enough. Now… it’s their turn.”

“I want everything I gave up for Felix—everything—back. And once I take it all, I’ll destroy him. I’ll ruin everything he cherishes. The pain I went through? I want him to feel triple that.”

I looked Troy dead in the eyes and finished with a whisper:

“And I won’t stop… until I see them all dead!.”