Victoria soon got used to her newly acquired identity as Lily Turner. Under the intense care of her mother and younger brother, she got better and was finally discharged after a month of being in the hospital.
During this time, her roommate, Merissa, had come to apologise for her clumsiness, and to show her sincerity, her family offered to pay the hospital bill.
Victoria had nothing against them paying, but she was determined to take revenge on her on behalf of the previous owner of the body.
Once the doctors were done giving their instructions about what to do and what not to do, Victoria was finally discharged to go home.
Her eyes watered upon stepping out of the hospital and she breathed in the fresh air.
She appreciated the second chance that life gave her and promised to cherish it, which is why she hadn't bothered herself about learning about the situation in Hamilton's family and company and only focused on recovering and getting to know her new family.
As they walked towards the parking lot, she noticed several paparazzi gathered at the entrance of the private parking lot that belonged to the VIP patients of the hospital. The reporters surrounded the black car, leaving no room for the passengers to step out of the car.
Victoria was a bit curious about the identity of the person in the car, but she was already tired from walking, and she couldn't stand to watch for long. Besides, her family was still waiting for her.
"Are you okay? I can carry you. If you are too tired to walk," Adams, Lily's younger brother, offered, as he noticed that she slowed down, Lily shook her head.
"No, I've been in one place for so long, I can walk myself, it's such a small distance I have to practice being on my feet again," she replied with a polite smile.
Upon getting to a black car, a middle-aged man stepped out with a guilty look on his face. She immediately saw the resemblance between him and the owner of the body and realised he was the father.
Baffled that she hadn't seen him while she was in the hospital, Victoria asked the system. "Is the relationship between the father and daughter bad?"
{No, Lily has a good relationship with her whole family, she has always been a good child, but he wasn't allowed off work because your mother had already taken a leave to take care of you. He was only allowed a few hours to pick you up} The system clarified, and Victoria felt even more determined to be successful and help the poor people escape the claws of the rich.
'Even the servants in the Hamilton house weren't treated this badly, how else would my grandparents agree for my mom to marry that scum.'
"Father," she called out as the man brought her into a hug. Victoria felt moved and hugged him back.
"Thank goodness you are fine. I hope you are not mad at me for not coming to check on you," he asked, and Victoria shook her head in reply.
"It's good you are here now. You look even more strained than I am," she pointed out and the man chuckled in embarrassment.
She got into the car, and they drove off to the rural area of Mecan City, where the lower-class citizens reside.
She was deep in thought, watching the car zoom past the city lights and greenery.
Now that she is out of the hospital and her health has recovered, she can finally face the real world and plan her steps.
She has two missions: one is to avenge her and her mother's deaths and also make sure that all of the Hamilton family goes to ruins, and the second is to make sure the owner of the body becomes rich and famous, a force to be reckoned with.
The car came to a stop in front of a shabby-looking apartment complex.
Victoria scrunched up her nose in disgust at the dirt and waste that littered the hallway as they climbed up. She was relieved to see that the inside of their apartment was a lot neater than the outer part, but even still, she felt reluctant and unwilling to live in such a shabby place.
She had been brought up as a young mistress in a wealthy family and had never experienced life outside her social status.
{This is the best the family can afford after sending the daughter to an expensive fashion school, without her college expenses the family would have been able to live in a better place and afford a better living condition.} The system quickly explained, noticing the unwillingness in her heart. It was afraid she would blame it for picking such a poor family for her.
She swallowed her discomfort and went into the room belonging to Lily. It was clean and tidy. Because of her accident; the school had given her sick leave until she was okay to return, so all her things had been moved home.
She sat on the twin-size bed and took in the room, and she sighed.
"This family is too poor," she complained.
{Yes, and that is why the poor girl met such a quick demise! You have to quickly do something about it. Initially, the national competition was going to bring Lily to the limelight and help her get connected to prominent companies that would employ her but now…}
"Don't worry, I will make them rich, even without the help of the national competition she would become the number one fashion designer in no time!"
She picked up Lily's broken phone to check the news and see what had changed since her death.
She sneered as she read the top news. “WILLIAM HAMILTON WAS DISCHARGED AFTER SEVERAL SURGERIES TO THE BRAIN; HOWEVER, HIS SISTER, VICTORIA HAMILTON, DIDN'T MAKE IT AS SHE WAS SEVERELY WOUNDED"
She read the news about the Hamilton family and realised they had covered her murder with a sob story about how their competitors had tried to assassinate them, and only Victoria was unlucky.
She exited the page and glared at the bold picture of Williams in a wheelchair being pushed around by his little sister.
"Soon! I will take back everything that is mine and send you back to the hell you crawled out of," she seemed.
She adjusted her temperament as a knock resounded on her door. Lily's mother, Chloe, came in with hot rice and chicken porridge and placed it on Lily's reading table.
"The doctor said you can't eat anything greasy or spicy, and you can only eat mild food for now," the mother explained.
"Thank you, Mother," she appreciated, and Chloe smiled lovingly. Soon, her smile disappeared, and she sat beside Lily. "About your accident..." she trailed off as she looked into her daughter's eyes.
"It's fine; I will recover soon, and I will be able to go to school again, even if I don't go I will pursue my dreams and make you proud... I know we are powerless now, and there is no way we can press charges against them," Lily explained, and tears fell from her mother's face.
Lily had always been an understanding child, which always made her parents feel guilty about not giving her the best like her mates.
The mother nodded and left the room after urging her to eat the porridge while it was still hot. Victoria quickly ate the food and got to work; she had already wasted one month, and she could no longer wait.
With Lily's broken phone, she searched for information about the current financial market and how she could earn a quick buck to invest in some businesses.
Being a hacker in her past life, she knows the best place to get quick money.
She created a profile, named it 'Sinful' and entered the secret website for hackers to see the job listings they had.
At the top of the website is a job listing for tens of thousands of dollars with some promised bonuses. Lily clicked on it and read the information.
The lister wants a hacker to test their company's firewall and fix whatever mistake or loophole was there. Lily frowned as she realised the job was too simple for the pay.
She went to the comment section of the job to read the comments.
"I couldn't even crack the firewall; it's too difficult."
"I don't think there is anyone who can break that firewall!"
"My software almost crashed when I tried to force my way in."
Lily got curious as she read the comments and decided to take the job. She had always been up for challenges and that was how she always succeeded in her past life.
"If I fix the problem, I get paid, and if I don't, I have something new to learn."
A young man dressed in an expensive black suit sat at the reception of a hospital, waiting for the doctor's report. His brows furrowed in deep concentration, and his shoes tapped the floor in continuous succession as he became impatient after waiting for so long.His subordinate, who was sitting not too far away, felt distressed as he noticed his boss was about to lose his temper. Shortly after a male doctor with long black hair walked out just in time, and the young man glared at him in dissatisfaction while the doctor smiled innocently."Must you always keep me waiting anytime I come to your hospital for a checkup? Can't you be a professional and attend to your patients on time?" The young man asked as he walked behind the doctor to his office."You don't expect me to give you special treatment because you are family, do you? Besides, young master Mark, you didn't make an appointment before barging into the hospital," Dr. Nathan, Mark's cousin, reprimanded him with an eye roll as h
"Any news from the hacker that took the job?" Mark asked as he walked into his office the following day, and his assistant, Ted, sighed heavily. He had stayed up all night trying to get in touch with the hacker named "sinful" whenever they came online, but all through the night, he never heard the notification that the other person was online, which left him disappointed. "They haven't revisited the firewall; I'm starting to think that they gave up or something; maybe we should find someone else to do it," Ted suggests.Mark glared at him as he hung his jacket on the rack. "If it were easy to solve, wouldn't it have been solved a while ago? What nonsense are you spouting?" Mark asked comically."I'm thinking we should source help from the foreign hackers; it might be something they are familiar with since they broke it in the first place," Ted explained.Mark stared blankly at Ted, wondering how he had chosen someone as dumb as Ted to be his assistant. "We will wait for them to co
Lily stretched as she stood up from the bed, it's been three days since she broke through the firewall of Alpha's company. She had done nothing except read the books provided by the system and eat and sleep all those days. Her family had been so considerate of her condition that they never allowed her to leave her room except to walk around the house and stretch her body. The three days that followed were a whirlwind of new information for Lily. She learned techniques and approaches to programming and hacking that were beyond anything she'd ever seen on Earth. The concepts were strange, otherworldly, and seemingly from the future. Her brain was buzzing with new knowledge and possibilities. On the fourth day, she emerged from her room to find the house empty. A note from her mother on the kitchen counter informed her that she was back at work, and there was money for dinner. Opening the fridge, Lily found a breakfast and lunch prepared for her.Victoria hummed in reply and warmed up
"I need a new computer and a stable network connection if I'm going to study the hacking and coding textbooks you are providing me with, they are too advanced for my shabby ones," Lily noted. {You have enough money to get those things now, but you have to create some time to attend the national fashion competition.}"Do I still have to attend that?" Lily asked with a raised brow. {Of course, you have to! It's Lily's wish to win the competition and start up her fashion business after it,} the system reminded her. "It's already too late to join the school team now, isn't it? My spot on the team would have been given to someone else after my accident" Lily argued. {You can join as a private individual but you need to have a registered company and at least two workers in your company before you can register to join the competition,} the system explained."How do you expect me to join and win the competition now? We don't have a company at hand. Wait, when is the competition, I know no
'Crash' Frederick, Mark's cousin and rival, smashed his wine cup on the wall as he read the reports provided by his spies under Mark. He glared at the beautiful lady who had come to deliver the report to him."Why are you just telling me this?" He gritted out. "Why didn't you include the information of the person who sold him the programme? Didn't you think it would be important to get me such crucial data?" He added feeling his fury burn through his blood. He had once again been bested by his younger cousin."Young master Frederick, we had no way of knowing about the arrangement as it was not discussed with the board of directors. We were only informed about their team's plan of making the chips and we sent it to you as soon as we heard about it," Tina, the beautiful petite lady explained."What do you mean that it was not discussed with the board of directors? How was he able to fund the project without the financial approval of the financial department?" Frederick questioned. "Th
"Mum! Dad! I'm home!" Lily announced upon getting home. She carried the grocery bags into the kitchen where her mother was busy making dinner. "Where did you go? Why didn't you call and have someone escort you when you were going out? What if something had happened on the way? You aren't strong enough to walk about on your own!" Her mother reprimands her worriedly.She moved away from the stove and checked Lily all over, Lily blushed and reassured her that she was fine."See, I'm fine and fit to go out now. I didn't even get scratched while I was outside!" Her mother glared at her playfully and went back to cooking.She turned her attention to the heavy grocery bags Lily had brought in and raised a questioning brow, "What are those and where did you get the money?""I went out to get groceries, I worked for a company online and I got paid," Lily replied, half-telling lies and half-truths. "Online? I hope it's not some shady business. I heard some youths are going to jail lately afte
As Lily and her family returned home, Lily's mother stopped Lily to sit in the living room so that they could have a discussion."Are you sure you want to go back to school?" She asked worriedly, keeping her eyes on Lily's every reaction. "Yes, I have decided to go back now, I'm no longer taking a break for a year." Lily assured her with a firm smile. Lily's mother looked hesitant, glancing over at her husband who sat beside her. The two of them were well aware of how Lily was being treated at school, especially how Merissa was always using her to stay at the top of their class. It was clear that something needed to be done, but they didn't want to upset their daughter by intervening or even their bosses. Although she had initially been against Lily taking a break from school, after thinking about how the competition and Lily being back in school would benefit the wrong people, she had agreed to it without another argument and she even convinced her husband to do so. But now that L
{You are more vicious than I thought.}Lily heard the system exclaim as she exited the chat with Sunset and she chuckled. "If you aren't vicious with your enemies, you will end up like my past self, dead without a way to vent," she explained with a gleam in her eyes making the system roll its invisible eyes. {You know he would make you take the blame if anything goes wrong and you still did that? How would you wash your hands clean? What is your plan to deal with him?}"Just wait and see. The testing day for such a program is three days and after that, it could be considered well-made, by that time, he would have already been promoted and the higher-ups would already know that he took that job!" She explained with an excited giggle. "Plus, I erased my involvement just now and nothing could be traced back to me, so he naturally would be blamed, after that, he would be demoted back to stage one but then I can't let him go. I want him to be kicked out completely so I will instigate th
"Given the report received about Frederick Watson's involvement with both Anderson and Hamilton family. An investigation has been launched against him. However, our latest report says he is currently in hiding and possibly out of the country." "Search parties will be sent out to go after him, and the local authorities will be collaborating with international authorities to bring him to justice.""In the meantime, after the case with the Andersons had been settled, the internet users speculated about how Mark had gotten close to Roseline for his revenge.""And although there has been no statement agreeing or disagreeing with the people's speculations, Mark had officially proposed to the beautiful, raiding star in the business sector, Lily Turner—a lady who has been an enigmatic figure since her first appearance in the fashion competition. And has further spread her wings.""To commemorate their beautiful engagement, Lily and Mark had announced a new product they worked together on. Th
Destroy It From The Inside Out"You know?" Lily muttered as she stood by the large window of her bedroom, looking down at the bustling city night. "I never really figured out how my mum was able to know I would be reborn." "I had hoped that gathering all her work in one place would provide me some answer. I thought she would leave an explanation behind," she said while swirling the wine in her hand. "With everything she left behind, she was sure I would be reborn as Lily Turner. Yet, I can't figure out how she know and how she did it." {...} The system remained silent as it listened to Lily's rant. "There has to be something I'm missing right? She's never one to leave me this confused and lost about anything," she continued. "I mean, since you are involved in this you should know better right?" {That was your goal from the beginning wasn't it?} The system asked with a knowing sigh. {You want to know how I came to be?}"Yes." {I already told you when we first met. I'm not from th
Lily sat at the dessert store, her fingers lightly drumming against the table as she stared out of the window. The bustling streets outside felt distant, a blur compared to the storm in her chest. The message from Mark replayed in her mind."Can we meet up?""I'm an idiot, I know, but we really need to talk."She had almost ignored it. Almost.She wanted to make him desperate, but somehow, she found herself picking the most sexy dress in her closet and dressing up to meet up with him.The sound of a chair scraping across the floor snapped her out of her thoughts. Mark stood there, hesitating, his usual confident demeanour replaced by uncertainty.“Hey,” he said softly.Lily didn’t respond immediately, her gaze steady and unreadable. “You’re late,” she said finally, her tone flat.“I know,” Mark admitted as he sat down. “Thank you for coming.”She crossed her arms, leaning back slightly. “What do you want, Mark?”"You didn't tell me anything; I found out through the news, and then you
"We received a tip from an anonymous sender," the news anchor announced. "Evidence of crimes committed by a certain family whose name has recently been on the internet where a certain banquet video was uploaded." "This evidence includes the cause of both Mabel and Victoria Hamilton's untimely deaths. As well as many other criminal cases that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the prestigious family." "At the same time, we got news that the leadership position of the corporation owned by this family has changed hands. For now, this particular news has not been confirmed." The following morning, chaos erupted. News outlets were flooded with breaking stories about Henry and Kate’s crimes. Social media exploded with outrage as videos and documents went viral. Law enforcement agencies were forced to respond, launching immediate investigations."Oh goodness! Why are all the big corporations and names getting exposed this year?""Is justice finally coming out into the open?! My moth
"It's turned on," Lily reported to Bryan over the phone as the other asked about the computer that was delivered to him. "And I've confirmed that it really was the one that has been sending those messages to Hamilton.""It's connected to that AI-powered robot in the vault." She continued. "And to top it off, all evidence of Henry's misdeeds was recorded in it. Including notes written by my mother." "Are they enough to send Henry out?" Bryan asked "Yes, and his wife too." Lily replied. "There are several videos of Kate poisoning my mother while she was still pretending to be a housekeeper. And also a clear video from my last moment as Victoria." Bryan's voice grew tense. "Lily, if we release this information, it won't just end Henry and Kate's hold on the Hamilton family. It could ruin Hamilton completely.""It won't," Lily breathed out. "At first I just wanted to ruin everything and get it over with, but now I want to cherish my mother's hard work and the legacy she left behind."
"Is that Mark's private car?" Lily asked with a frown as she watched the video gotten from the camera close to the factory address sent to her.{The plate number index matches that of Mark's private car. However, this video was made about three weeks ago.}Frowning, Lily replayed the video again. It was a car driving on a highway in the middle of the night. Seeing the date, she recalled she had a date with Mark that night and after he had hurried off. All through their time together, it was even more restless than usual. "Is this all you found?" {There is a similar video of him returning back to the city. But he hasn't gone back to the factory after that.}She jumped off her chair, got changed into a comfortable sweatshirt and pants, and a black sneaker. She picked a small hiking backpack from the closet and her wallet as she exited her apartment.{You are going to the factory?}"Yes," Lily replied calmly. "I at least need to figure out why they sent the note even if I don't know w
"Can you arrange a meeting with Annabelle Wilson?" As she sent the message, Bryan replied almost immediately. Lily glanced at Bryan's text and smirked. "De Ox tonight, between 8 PM and 9 PM. Perfect."She quickly tapped out a reply: Thanks. It's such perfect timing.Bryan: Need help?Lily: I'll be fine on my own. With her plan in motion, Lily pulled up the files containing Henry's promiscuity, one she had meticulously prepared for Henry’s misdeeds. Photos, text messages, and financial transactions—everything she needed to plant the seed of doubt in Annabelle’s mind was compiled neatly in a folder.At exactly 8:15, Lily walked into the dimly lit lounge, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor. She gave off an air of confidence, dressed in a sleek black dress that hinted at authority and poise. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on Annabelle Wilson—a striking woman in her early forties, elegantly dressed in a champagne-coloured gown.Annabelle looked up as Lily a
"I think now is the perfect time to get the computer," Lily announced over the phone. "Given the news about his wife's scandal, Henry and William will be too busy to guard the company like a guard dog." "You want me to send people in there pretending to be electricians to retrieve the computer?" Bryan asked, and Lily hummed. "It will be a bit difficult for me to retrieve it at the moment." Lily replied. "Heard you've not been out of your apartment since the announcement. That's a week ago; that's unhealthy." Bryan sighed. "I'll come pick you up later today, and then we can discuss whatever your plans are." "There won't be a need for that," Lily gritted out as she worked away on her laptop. "I can't afford to be distracted right now.""Is this about Mark's engagement to Roseline?" Bryan asked, making Lily pause as her eyes narrowed at the screen of her laptop. "This has nothing to do with Mark or his engagement." She breathed out, massaging her forehead as she felt her eyes stingi
Lily walked into the living room with an extra sway in her hips as she remembered the event from the previous night. A small smile played on her lips, feeling giddy and excited about the news from the previous night's banquet. She picked up the remote and turned on the TV while waiting for the news with a warm cup of tea in hand. However, instead of the scandal she was expecting, she was met with Mark and Roseline's red carpet photos. Frowning, she turned up the volume just in time for the reporter to announce:"Next on the line of news is Mark Watson, the newly appointed CEO of the Watson Group. The genius businessman has finally announced his engagement with Roseline Anderson, the popular A-list actress."Lily’s smile froze, the warmth from her tea doing little to quell the chill that spread through her chest. Her hand tightened around the cup as she stared at the screen, unable to believe what she was hearing.“Engaged?” She whispered, her voice shaky. “That’s not possible.”The