The room went still. Everyone turn against me, the pain of being betrayed by people I called family.

I could feel the lingered pain in my heart.

"Leila we never meant for each other. All those moments were just part of the plan, and since we have succeeded with it, I don't think I should keep it from you". Derrick smirked.

I could see the triumph smile on Lydia's face. My father didn't even care about me, neither giving it a second thought.All he wanted was me leaving the house.

LEILA

I left the house I was raised since childhood;. Even though it wasn't pleasingly fit for me but because of those beautiful memories I had with my mom, I endure torture for several years only to still be send out.

The city didn't notice when I stopped walking.

Voice's blurred into noises till it turn echoes.

My legs gave out beneath me at a bus stop I didn't recognized. I sat there with my hands folded in my laps .

Memories on how breathing used to feel safe before it becomes this hurt. The more I look into the scarier it becomes.

Ding....ding, a soft sound from my phone buzzed in, I never intend checking. I already know who it will be from. Still I looked.

" Hey Leila, I hope you found somewhere comfortable. Changes can be shocking and traumatizing for people like you".

There it was the promising and adorable daughter of the Jones. Lydia.

I stared at the screen until the words becomes blurred. Until the humiliation seeped into my my bones.

" This is my fault. I should've known. I never saw it turning this way". I sigh weakly. My thump pressed against the cracked edge of my phone until it severe hurt. My chest caved inward.

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, and finally I let myself feel it, not just the betrayal rather the deeper wound beneath it.

"Being unwanted wasn't new.

"But being choosing to be destroyed was".

A voice said calmly while approaching me.

" Miss you don't belong In the floor!!. Pick yourself up, dust it like never before and embrace the life expirences".

The voice was low, not hurried, I dare not to looked up at first.

"I'm fine, I promise it doesn't hurt that much". I said automatically, even though all about me wasn't right.

Silence followed,not the awkward kind. But the kind that waits, that stays no matter the circumstances.

A touch of hope found me, seeing how he never gave up, he choose staying without knowing me.

I gather the courage to look up, first I saw a Polish black glamorous shoe, then a black well iron trouser, follow by a neatly fit black coat that didn't belong to the street.

Then him...no smiling and he wasn't frowing either.

His gazed steady, assessing like he wasn't just seeing my tears, but it looked like he was seeing the exact point where they began.

" I never asked if you were fine. I asked if you're safe". He said calmly staring into my eyes.

I was mesmerised by those straight jawline,his voice melted my heart, I felt safe with a stranger than those I called family.

" I used to think derrick was the most handsome in the world, but looking at him here makes me hate that scumbag the more". I said softly to myself.

Something in my expression could have answer the question he asked earlier but my mouth seems not to corporate.

Behind him, a shining tinted latest car was sitting there like it was design just for him. Too expensive, too deliberate to be a coincidence.

" I don't want anything, I'm safe. Thanks for looking out for me". I reply calmly with a gentle voice.

" Get in the car" he command.

My breath hitched "NO"

" That wasn't an offer, it was a command" he replied angrily.

I shocked my head,panic rising.

" I don't even know you".

" That's why you should listen to me".

He reached into his coat, he pulled out his wallet, not threatening. He opened it just enough to see the edge of a black card. Not flashy but a fact.

"My name is Aiden frost", he said. "And I promise you, those people that hurt you today will regret ever crossing your path.

And Leila that can only happen when you make the right choice of which part to follow". He added.

My heart slammed violently.

" You are wrong!!!".I said angrily. " They already won. I'm just a push over, who can't even stand up for herself. I can't even fight for my identity, doesn't that meant something to you?".

"They might for now Leila. Everything you thought were lost will be replace with things that aligned with you. You just have to stay focus and concentrate on the positive things".

I laughed sarcastically, not the victorious one, but the one of a broken heart.

" You don't even know me, what makes you think I will listen to you?.

His gaze dropped briefly, he clenched my hands, my shoulders curved inward, the exhaustion exched into my posture.

" I know what someone look like when they've been trained to disappear, and I also know potential when I see it". He said victoriously.

I swallowed hard, then with a trembling voice.

"Why me?. People like you don't stopped for people like me". I said why stepping back slightly. My heart trembling in fear.

" Leila Jones, you are standing at the edge of becoming that exact thing you've always wanted".

My name on his lips felt unreal. " How do you even know my name?.

I do wonder how he gets to know me even without me being know as an ever existed Jones's daughter.

I stayed frozen,my heartbeats still, inside me was the two warred voices.

"Don't trust him".while the other kept saying,

"You have nothing left to lose"

For the first time in my life, I have to make choice, I whisper to myself. It's like a dream come true...

LEILA

I realised something was wrong with me the moment the car started moving.

I wasn't afraid as I should have been with a stranger, the night swallowed the city. But my body was relaxed as if I was waiting for a permission to breaking out.

The door sealed with a quite finality. The world outside blurred into a streaks of light.

A buzzed came in on my phone.

Lydia: Leila you will crawled back begging in your knees, and guess what no one ever believes weak girls when they returned.

I fummed in anger, my shoulders folded inward like an apology, my hands in my laps in disappointment, the fact that I'm still that weak girl that can't do anything to people that hurt me in this life time hurts different...

Aiden sat besides me, one arms rested casually on the seat. His presence filling the space even without me touching it.

He hadn't looked away since we drove off.

His not staring but only observing like he was memorizing damages.

" I don't know where we're going" I said softly.

" I do" he replied.

Something in his voice made my spine tightened, not fear but Awareness.

The city light flickered across his face, carving sharp lines into a man who looks is builts from discipline and secrets.

He wasn't handsome in a soft way but the kind of attraction that warned you that something would be taken if gets too close.

"Before we arrived, there are rules". He added.

"Rules?, ofcourse rules, I swallowed big. If this is about money. I_".

He lifted a hand, one gesture, before I could even complete my sentence.

" Rule one" he said " you don't apologize unless you're wrong".

My lips parted instinctively.

He arched a brow, " you were about to apologize".

Heat crept up my neck. " I_"

" Rule two", he cut in smoothly. "You don't explain yourself to people who benefits from misunderstanding you".

My chest tightened, I went numb.Lydia's voice echoes in my head. " You are emotional, careless and weak".

I pressed my nails into my palm, I stay silent not like I refuse talking but because the words refuse me. it's hurtful that I choose to remain silence.

"Rule four" he said, leaning forward just enough for the air between us to changed.

" You don't confuse softness with weakness".

My breath stutter.

" That's all I've ever been", I whispered "soft".

"No, you're not soft, you've only been trianed that way". He corrected calmly.

That sentence landed hard on my face.

" Trained?, like an animal, like a Shadow,like something shape by cruelty, was I born to be trained that way? Or it's just something I inflicted on myself?". Well it all a questions I never get an answer to anyways.

.....

The car slowed, before it stopped completely, he added. " Rule four, if you stay, you don't lie to me, ever".

" If I stay?" I asked.

His mouth curved, not into smile but something Sharp. " You always have a choice, Leila".

The car door opened.

The cold night air rushed in, carrying the deliberate scent of power and a life I never dreamt of, not empty but controlled.

The penthouse was quite Ina way that felt like it was something meant to be owned.

I stood near the entrance, afraid to touch anything.

Aiden loosened his cufflinks, movements precise. " Sit " he said kindly .

I perched on the edge of the sofa, back straight, heart loud.

He watched me for a moment.

Then, " show me your phone" he asked.

My stomach dropped, I hesitated at first but handed it over at last.

He scrolled, his expression changes, his jaw tightens,I could tell how angry he was but he wasn't angry, rather calculating.

" She's enjoying this" he said.

I flinched.

He looked at me one more time, " tell me what she said when you left".

My voice came out small and shaken.

" That I wouldn't survived the media chaos".

He handed the phone back.

" She believes you're still that girl that needs permission to exist".

Tears drip down my side eyes." Maybe she's right".

Silence followed.

Then Aiden stood, walked and stopped in front of me, close enough that I could feel warmt radiating from him.

"Look at me" he said

I did

His gazed locked onto mine, unyielding.

" You're not weak, you're just unclaimed". He said quietly.

My breath caught.

"And people like your sister?" He continue, voice dropping,intimate and lethal, "they mistake patience for stupidity, obedience for loyalty and silence for weakness". He leaned down slightly, not touching me.

" That mistake, is where empires falls" he murmured.

My heart raced faster, my face turned red that I almost freak out.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked barely breathing.

Aiden straightened, " because Lydia believes she's won".

His eyes darkened

" I enjoyed correcting assumptions, you will stay in one of the rooms , we will begin tomorrow".

" Begins what", I asked .

He turned, glass in hand, eyes burning into mine.

" Unlearning everything they taught you".

He moved closer again,too close now, the air charged, my skin hummed in goosebumps, I barely breathe.

" If Lydia contact you again" he said with his gaze dropping briefly to my lips before returning to my eyes, " don't respond".

" Why?".

He smiled dangerous but slow.

" Because I will, and you might have a problem soon" he added retrieving back .

My phone vibrated in my hand.

A new message.

My pulse thundered...

LEILA.

Cruelty didn't arrived loudly. It came as calm.

The next morning, I stood alone in the guest room Aiden assigned me to always be whenever new ideas, challenges and memories flash in.

I watch the colour of the dawn, silence so clean that it feels expensive.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror and I barely recognised the girl looking back.

She wasn't crying.

She's wasn't apologizing.

She looked empty.

And for the first time those emptiness felt useful.

....

My phone lay on the dresser, no missed calls, no annoying messages, and zero concern.

Only two messages from an unknown number.

BANK ALERT: account access granted, we are concern and sorry for the inconveniences. I blinked, is this a joke?.

Another message followed.

Aiden: they frozen your account, just to humiliate you, I unfrozen it to remind them that you exist, and this time around, they should use that as a reminder that you will be back stronger and one day you will be ready to revenge for your right that was taken away.

My finger trembled not in fear, but for the POWER, the society we are in, power and influence speaks.

....

I dressed slowly, not in the safest clothes this time, neither in anything loud or luxury, but in a simple cream dress with no jewelry, no logos but still I looked expensive. I brushed my hair back instead of hiding behind it.

......

Downstairs sits Aiden in the breakfast table, tablet in hand.

" You slept" he noted.

" Yes" I replied.

"Good" he looked up, today you choose who_".

I cut in eagerly, " choose what!".

" Who you stop being, you adapt to the new environment and a new life, indeed you make the best choice ever". He answered.

I was touched by his kind words. I sat across him, and for once I didn't fold my hands neither laying them on my laps.

I feel safer with a stranger than my own family.

"I want to go back"I said calmly, Aiden didn't react rashly or judge me.

" To the house?" He asked.

"Yes".I replied

" To beg for forgiveness?".

"No". My voice surprised even me.

" I'm going there to retrieve my belongings and my mother's documents!".

The atmosphere in the dinning table change, all I see was a determined lady, ready to first for what was rightfully hers.

Then he nodded once. "Take the car, just you no drivers".

My heartbeat spiked in disbelief of what I heard.

" You trust me? That much to give me your car?".

" I trust consequences" he replied "And you need them to feel the consequences of their actions one by one, bit by bit and boom it clicks".

I was thrilled by how he seems to understand the pain, even more than someone I called my father.

.....

Outside the house parked that one luxurious car,I blinked twice, tears rolled down my chin, is this all a dream, I never hold the keys to my father's cars, not to think of entering them or driving, and it wasn't because I couldn't drive or sits on them but because his favorite daughter claimed them all, and who I'm I to go against the princess of the house.

.....

The gate to my family house opened by the horns, it feels like nothing had happened, that was cruiest part that hit me hard.

The guard barely glance at me, their attention were all driven by the luxury car parked in front not me.

The flower still bloomed like betrayal wasn't steched into the walls.

Inside still smelled the same, polish perfumes and that favorite daughter superiority stills remain, I can tell with just the decor.

All are still her favorite colour and her pictures displayed like it was set for auctioning.

My stepmom frose in shocked when she saw me.

" Oh" she said fainting " you're back?".

"Briefly" I replied.

My door opens as Lydia's step out of my room, she wears a triumph smile on seeing me. The soft played music inside,giving the celebratory vibe.

I walked in, she stood before the mirror, dressed in white glowing dress,and those diamonds still dancing on her neck, she turned slowly to me,her lips curling in satisfaction.

" I wondered how it tooked you so long to crawled back,I don't know what you've been through too but have always known that you will be back begging for help".

I smiled back.

Not nervously.

Not weak.

" You don't have to act all bossy here, I knew you never meant those texts, so I never tooked them serious" she added rejocingly.

" What texts" I asked surprisedly.

" Oh dear sister, don't act all that stupid, you obviously know what I'm talking about, don't be embarrassed I_".

Before she could finished, I cut in truumphly.

" I came for my documents, and for my mother's belongings".

She laughed.

" You don't get to asked a question here Leila".

" I wasn't asking" I answered.

Her smile faintically disappeared, I move pass her and opened the drawer where my mother's letters had always been kept.

Empty?. My chest tightened, but I never express it.

"You burned them, didn't you"I asked calmly.

She shrugged"they were clutter".

Something shifted inside me then a clean break.

I turned to her slowly.

" Do you know why you won befor?".

Lydia straightened her posture.

" Because I'm smarter".

"No" I said " it's because I was kind".

Her eyes narrowed in shocked.

" And kindness," I continue, " is the luxury I no longer have something doing with".

I step closer to her, not invading her space but just enough to be undeniable.

" I want you to enjoy the moments" I whispers it into her ears.

" Every compliments, every camera's set to face, every lies, enjoy them while it last ".

She scoff. " Is this a threat".

"No" I smiled again, gentle as glass place in the cabin.

" It's a farewell my dear sister".

I turned and left without another word and not looking back.

No tears

No shouting

No begging

I left truumphly.

That was cruelty, because I never let her see my pain alone, I allowed her to feel my absence.

.....

LEILA.

Back at the villa, I stood at the balcony, overlooking the city.

Aiden join me, it was a total silent.

" I didn't cry" I said quietly " I thought I would break down on getting there".I turned to him " I'm I becoming cruel?".

He looked at the skyline. " That's how it's starts". And then he looked at me " no, you're not cruel, you're becoming perfect, and what you did there was a good start to becoming HER".

The city glowed, and behind me a door closed softly, sealing off the girl who once begged for love in her family, I watched her disappear.

....

And somewhere else, Lydia was staring at a photo that would haunt her down forever.