Shadows of the Syndicate

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming Kickass Heroine Comeback Revenge

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"Dad! Look what I made", six-year-old Tessa Smith squealed and ran excitedly to her father's study.

It was large and antique, with its huge mahogany shelf reaching the top of the room like hands outstretched to the sky. There was a big oak desk seated in the middle with sheets of papers sprawled all over the surface of the desk.

There, her father sat down, his head down to the work on his desk.

Upon hearing Tessa's tiny voice, he looked up and smiled broadly; a smile that was found on a man who had just met his lover after so long. With a wave of hands, he motioned her to come further into the study.

"This must be an amazing work of art that made my little princess so excited. Now, what do we have here?" he remarked, peaking into what she was holding in her hands.

She giggled, showing off a few missing teeth. "I created an invoice for a business transaction", she responded, proudly showing the sheet of paper in her hands.

James left his seat and crouched to her level, taking the paper and examining it closely.

Most of the invoice's arrangements were messy with the wordings out of place, it couldn't even be called an invoice but he still stared at her with a look of surprise and unexplainable joy.

"Don't go with your usual words of appraisal, just let me know if it's good or not" she pouted.

"Okay fine", he surrendered. "Most wordings are not placed in the right manner but I'm proud of you. Where'd you learn this?" There was no form of amusement or mockery in his eyes.

"I want to be a businesswoman like my father so, I learnt from the best!"

James burst into laughter and ruffled her hair, "of course, you're daddy's best girl"

"Oh common, dad! I'm a lady, you can't mess up my hair" she protested.

"My apologies, milady" he bowed and arranged her hair.

A figure appeared at the door; it was Kiera Smith, Tessa's mother, who looked on lovingly with satisfaction as the father and daughter duo played and chatted happily.

She wanted to interrupt but she couldn't bring herself to do it, she had come to increasing love her child more and would do anything for her; as a matter of fact, Tessa was her miracle baby.

Kiera Smith formerly known as Kiera Jade Stones, a strikingly, beautiful influential model fell in love with James Smith, a business mogul whose success kick started when he just clocked twenty.

Their wedding was like a dream vacation spot filled with pomp and pageantry, it was a luxurious wedding filled with wealthy influential people including the president.

It made the headlines and paparazzi as much as the sands of time were present to show the world the beauty of luxury, opulence and class.

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