Chapter 4: Meet up with Mia

Fidelia woke with a violent gasp, her lungs burning as if she'd been drowning.

Her heart was hammering hard against her chest.

Her hands flew to her face feeling it and she found no oxygen mask. Then she pressed her hand on her chest feeling the heartbeat race.

She gulped air desperately, trying to calm herself down.

The prayer she'd screamed in those final moments when she was clinging to her life, pleading for one more chance. That prayer had been answered.

'I'm alive. I'm breathing. I can't believe it'

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand. The screen lit up and she saw the date

4th of November 2024.

WHAT!!!

The phone slipped from her trembling fingers.

November 2024. That was eight months before the wedding. Eight months before Bridget pulled her hair. Eight months before Silas stood over her hospital bed and pulled the mask from her face.

She had travelled back in time eight months before she died.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no—"

She restarted her phone but the date didn't change. The familiar walls of her bedroom surrounded her—the curtains she'd replaced in January wasn't there, it was still the old ones.

She looked around the wall, the crack in the ceiling from the earthquake wasn't there, it hadn't happened yet.

She had really travelled back in time.

She pressed her palms against her eyes, but she could still see it: Silas's cold expression as he watched her suffocate. Bridget's satisfied smile. Alice's calculated cruelty.

'They killed me. My family killed me'

The thought should have broken her. Should have sent her spiraling.

Instead, something else crystallized in her chest—something sharp and cold.

'You all killed me once'

Fidelia slowly lowered her hands. Her reflection stared back from the darkened window across the room. She looked at herself in a deep frown and spoke:

"I won't let you do it again."

She stood on unsteady legs and walked to her desk. Opened her laptop then her fingers hovered over the keyboard for just a moment.

Then her fingers started moving around the keyboard together with her eyes on the screen fiercely with determination.

They thought she was weak, naive, easy to manipulate and easy to kill.

She was going to let them keep thinking that.

Fidelia Crawford had died once.

The woman they'd meet tomorrow at breakfast would be someone else entirely.

…………..

The next morning, Fidelia woke up in her bed.

Today was the day Silas proposes to her. The day she said yes like a fool.

She held her phone, steeling herself for the events that would unfold today.

Fidelia had a good memory, and she hardly forgot anything. Lost in her thoughts, a sound came from the door.

"Fidelia, breakfast is ready… Are you awake?"

After saying this, she didn't bother waiting for a reply before leaving. It sounded like a normal routine to her. Hearing her voice, the anger deep inside Fidelia started boiling.

That was her stepsister Bridget, the one that nearly killed her. No—she did kill her. It was something they had all planned and decided.

They all had a hand in her death: Bridget, Alice, and Silas. And Fidelia was coming for each one of them.

They were the only family she had, yet they made her miserable. What exactly had she done wrong right from when she was small? Fidelia really wanted to know why she was treated as an outcast.

Yes, she knew she was adopted, but was this the fate of all adopted children, or was hers just different? They always made sure she felt like shit.

Fidelia stayed lost in her thinking when her phone rang, and she saw the caller ID: Babe.

That was what she had used to save the person who had killed her. She couldn't believe she had fallen for him.

'Was I that miserable?' she asked herself, remembering his confession.

The phone rang again, and this time, she picked up.

"Hey, babe, hope you didn't forget lunch by 3:30 p.m."

Hearing the sound of his voice, Fidelia's stomach twisted. For a split second, her traitorous heart still ached for him—for the man she thought he was.

Then she remembered: the cold look in his eyes. The oxygen mask in his hands. The flatline.

Her jaw clenched.

'You're not real. You never were.'

She had deeply fallen in love with him.

She wanted to be with him. She really wanted to forgive him.

The past Fidelia wanted to tell herself she was still alive and that Silas was innocent—that it was the one from the future who had killed her.

Then she snapped.

"Am I stupid?" Fidelia said out loud, as the flashes of her death reflected in her head.

At that point, she saw him, looking at her coldly and expressionless.

Why did she struggle to breathe even before her death?

'This was all an act.'

Silas had looked at her coldly and expressionless while she struggled to breathe—moments before her death.

'This was all an act,' she said again, in denial.

Silence replied from the other side of the phone, confused by what she had said.

"I'll be there, don't worry," Fidelia said and dropped her phone.

Fidelia swore she was going to take her revenge on every single one of them.

'I'm not going to be weak-hearted again, and I will never be. I died, and I'm not planning on dying again till every single person has paid.'

And like that, she had made up her mind. Fidelia freshened up and grabbed her bag.

Before that, she opened her laptop and scrolled for a while.

When she was finally done, she had gotten the location she wanted.

She closed the laptop, kept it in her bag, and then left her room for the dining.

"What took you so long? Your food was getting cold," Alice said.

'Yeah Cold. Like your freaking heart.'

Fidelia forced her hands to unclench under the table.

"I think she took her time to dress this morning. Is there a plan I'm not aware of?" Bridget said, smiling.

'You have no idea.'

Fidelia smiled back, sweet and innocent. "How did you know? Are you spying on me?" Fidelia said jokingly.

At this point, Bridget laughed, and Alice followed.

"What are you both hiding from me? Come on, tell me."

"You shouldn't mind Bridget, Mom. I'm just going on a date with Silas this afternoon."

Fidelia smiled like she didn't know they had all planned it out.

The fake smiles and the sudden act of kindness were all so she and Silas could start dating, get married, and then wreck her.

"Oh, that's nice."

"Who knows, more surprises may appear today."

'You can't imagine the surprise I have planned,' she thought to herself.

"I can't wait," she said out loud.

She smiled in sudden joy, thinking she really had talent in acting.

She finished her meal and left the house.

All she really wanted was peace of mind, away from this pit of hell she called her family.

And she was going to destroy them, no doubt.

But her heart was still shaking.

She really wanted to control her emotions.

Immediately, she stepped out of the house, she felt her chest in pain and almost tripped.

The second she stepped outside, her legs gave out. She caught herself against the wall, gasping. Her chest felt like it was caving in.

Breathe. Just breathe.

She'd just sat across from the people who murdered her. Smiled at them. Laughed with them.

Her hands were shaking. She pressed them flat against the cold stone until they stilled.

Not yet. Fall apart later. Right now, you have work to do.

She had to hold the wall to stay on her feet.

She told herself she had been so disgusted seeing the people who had planned her death.

And she was pretending she didn't know.

Fidelia Crawford was the first daughter, second child of the Crawford family.

She had an elder brother who hardly greeted her, but she didn't care.

She preferred a secret and private life, an identity no one knew about her.

Fidelia took out her car keys and went to the car, driving to the salon.

She needed a better look for someone who was going to seduce someone important for her revenge plan to work.

"How do you want it?"

Fidelia was looking at herself when the hairstylist asked, "The usual cuts, right?" But Fidelia didn't want the curly look anymore.

"No, I don't want the curls anymore."

This got the hairstylist shocked. She had only asked as part of her usual routine, so she didn't expect the response from Fidelia.

Stretching into something sexy, Fidelia said she had long hair, and she felt she needed a confident, sexy look.

Fidelia opened her eyes and saw a beautiful, sexy lady in the mirror.

For the first time, she smiled as she looked at herself.

The hairstylist said even she was shocked by Fidelia's transformation from a nerd to someone hot.

But something didn't feel right—and it was the outfit.

"I need to change my outfit. I can't miss the epic date," Fidelia said.

Then she paid the stylist and told her to keep the change.

Fidelia checked her watch. 10:47 AM. Right on schedule.

She'd hacked Mia Thompson's calendar last night after her resolve formed. Salon appointment, 10:45. It was almost too easy.

She adjusted her new hair in the mirror and waited.

Then she stood up, she was about to leave when she heard her name.

"Fidelia."

Acting like she hadn't planned to meet up with the person in front of her, she smiled.

"Reporter Mia, wow, it's been a long time."

Fidelia started walking to hug her.

This was her classmate back in the day.

She was a reporter, but not an ordinary reporter—the one that targeted politicians, exposed their scandals, and revealed their bad deeds.

"You really look different than the last time I saw you," Mia said.

"Really? Well, things happened. Speaking of things, let's have a drink. We need to talk."

Mia was shocked and confused.

They were schoolmates, but they needed to talk?

The Fidelia everyone knew was the weak lady, but what no one knew was that she was actually a hacker.

She enjoyed hacking, but she always used it to help people—those who were scammed, she recovered their losses and all.

Now, she was going to use it for something quite dangerous in her revenge plan.

Before leaving her home, she had checked a potential ally, hacked into her database, and found Mia Thompson's schedule. So she made it look like a coincidence, meeting her there, before she had her hair done.

"Mia, how would you like a juicy story? About two months from now, be ready to publish it."

Fidelia started with a catchy intro, and it worked. Mia was feeling invested.

"Who am I talking about here?" Mia asked seriously.

"Someone you would love to destroy. The first son of the Carson Empire," Fidelia said.

"Silas?"

Mia was really shocked and caught off guard.

She had been targeting Silas for quite a while now, but everything she had done had always backfired or been covered up.

"Yes. Silas Carson."

Fidelia smiled dangerously. Her first ally had been won over.