Sophia got herself discharged from the hospital after the phone call she made with Daniel. She headed straight to the company and got the preparation for the collaboration set in motion. She had to oversee everything by herself, as Jack was nowhere to be found, and Edward didn’t try to assist her. She passed the necessary information to Claire, and she made sure they were more than prepared for the collaboration. The media were informed of the upcoming collaboration between the two companies and in no time, the word spread across the world. Everyone was on the outlook for the success of the collaboration, and they couldn’t wait for the D-day to come. Hillary and Richard on the other hand, didn’t seem to be bothered by the news as they took no action towards making the collaboration fail but rather, they were on the lookout for the event and even went for their clothes fittings for the occasion.
In no time, night came and Sophia was still at the proposed venue, dishing out instructions to workers on where to place the flowers and not to. While giving out her orders, her phone rang and it was a call from an unknown number. Her heart skipped and she felt hesitant about picking the call, but she eventually did.
“Hello…” Sophia said, not knowing what else to say, with her words hanging in the air expecting a response from the caller’s end. She got no response from the caller, which made her more tense and uneasy.
“Hello…” she said once again with fear.
“Hello, stepsister” the caller, who happened to be Hillary (Ellie/Lily) said. Realizing whom she was on the line with, Sophia got furious and clenched her fist in frustration.
“What do you want?” she asked with a harsh voice, which showed she was displeased hearing Hillary’s voice.
“Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on your success. You are finally a few steps away from achieving what we all thought you couldn’t. But you know, you haven’t won yet because you never know what can happen within these few hours left” Hillary said with confidence and with a smirk on her face.
“What do you mean by that? Stop playing games with me and fucking get straight to the point” Sophia yelled in frustration, which got every worker in the hall with her, looking at her. Seeing that everyone’s eyes were focused on her, she moved to a quiet corner where no one would hear her.
“Chill sis. Actually, I am calling to grant you your long due request and I am sure you will thank me for that” Hillary, who was sitting with her legs crossed in front of weak Kevin who was tied to the chair said.
“Get straight to the point, bitch” Sophia yelled once again, getting impatient.
“Well, I am finally granting you the chance to see and have an audience with Kevin. I know you have been frantically looking everywhere for him over these past few months. You do not have to stress yourself anymore. You will finally be able to meet him tonight. I am sure you are all over the moon right now, aren’t you?” Hillary asked, giggling. Sophia was short of words as she as confused. She didn’t know what to say and at the same time, didn’t know the trick Hillary was trying to pull.
“Why does she want me to meet with him now? What trick is she trying to pull? I know she is trying to set me up and I won’t fall for her stupid trick. She can’t get me distracted” Sophia thought, making up her mind not to give in to Hillary’s sweet words.
“Why should I meet with him? What business do we have together? You know what? I know what you are trying to do but I am never going to fall for your trick. You can do whatsoever you want with him, I do not care. I have better things to do than to discuss about that good-for-nothing man with you. Excuse me” Sophia said disgustingly, rolled her eyes and was ready to press the red button.
“Are you sure you do not care? Are sure you won’t regret not making use of this opportunity I am offering you on a platter of gold?” Hillary asked.
“Damn you and your opportunity. Get lost, bitch” Sophia said confidently before hanging up. Upon her hanging up, she composed herself and went back to the hall to monitor the progress of the work being done. Hillary on the other hand, laughed hysterically upon Sophia hanging up.
“She thinks I am bluffing? Let’s see if you won’t still give a fuck when you begin to face the consequences of rejecting my kind gesture” Hillary said, still putting on a devilish smile.
“Get the plan in motion” Hillary, whose smile had vanished from her face and was now replaced by a fierce and determined look said, dishing out orders to the two hefty men standing beside her. They nodded their heads in acknowledgement and swung into action. They moved in the direction of Kevin who was tied to the chair, looking distraught and weak. He looked emaciated, his body weakened from months of abuse. His skin was bruised and scarred, with raw rope burns around his wrists and ankles. His once strong frame had withered, his ribs visible beneath the dirt-streaked skin. His hair was tangled and filthy, and his lips were dry and cracked, showing signs of dehydration. His clothes were torn and barely hung on his battered body.
His eyes, sunken and hollowed, carried a distant, haunted look, as if he had seen too much pain to process. He breathed shallowly, each breath labored, his body trembled from exhaustion. He looked broken, not just physically but emotionally, clinging to life by a thread, worn down from months of relentless torments.
Hillary got up from where she was seated and moved in the direction of Kevin, who had been untied and had become a shadow of himself.
“Do not forget what you are to do. The task is very simple and I am sure you will abide by the rule. You deserve to die but I am letting you walk out here alive because I don’t want to have your blood on my hands. The only thing you can do to atone for your sins is to head over to the police station, turn yourself in and confess all the atrocities you have committed. Do not try to play smart as my eyes will always be on you. Do exactly as you are told. Failure to do that, you will see yourself underneath the ground. Goodbye husband, as this will be the last time I will be setting my eyes on you” Hillary said, before walking out of the abandoned building, leaving her men to take care of Kevin. As she sat behind her wheels, she let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction as she was gradually getting her perpetrators out of the way one after the other. Over the past months that she had locked Kevin up in the abandoned building, she had thought of the right punishment for him but she couldn’t think of one. Eventually, she decided the only punishment for him was death but his death wouldn’t be coming from her hands but from his partner-in-crime’s hands. To Kevin, he was becoming free from his torment, not knowing he was walking right into his planned death.
As she sat in her car, she watched as her men dragged blindfolded and weak Kevin into the car and they zoomed off. Seeing this, she smiled and said “The showdown is about to begin”, before kick-starting her car and trailing them from behind. When they got to an isolated U-turn which was just a few kilometers away from Lion Fashion Group company, the cars halted. Hillary, whose car was parked a few steps away from that of her men’s, watched as they pushed Kevin out of the car before zooming off. She watched as weak Kevin gently removed the blindfold which was used to cover his eyes and staggered to his feet. He looked around to see if he could get help but everywhere was eerily silent. He knew the only way to stay alive was to follow Ellie’s instruction and so, he dragged his legs in his weakened state, heading to the nearest police station he could find. Taking out her cellphone, Ellie took a picture of Kevin walking on the street and forwarded it to Sophia with the caption “Guess where my lovely husband is going to? He is going to the police station to turn himself in and report your crimes. Let’s see if you can stop him. The countdown begins”.
Sophia, who was already in her car on her way to lodge into a nearby hotel as she didn’t want to go home, took out her phone from her bag as it had beeped. She unlocked it and upon doing so, she checked the message she had gotten and which was from Ellie. Reading the caption, Sophia became uneasy and disorganized.
“What? He is going to the police station? No, he can’t. I must stop him. If he does, then everything I have worked hard for would go down the drain. I can’t allow anything to go wrong now. I am just a few step away from my success. I must stop him at all costs. I need to know where he is now” Sophia had said aloud, with her hands trembling. Without thinking twice, she dialed Ellie’s line. Ellie, who had gotten out of her car and was slowly trailing Kevin from behind saw Sophia’s call coming in but she intentionally ignored it as she wanted to frustrate her. Sophia on the other hand, was getting frustrated as Ellie wasn’t picking her calls. When Ellie felt she had tortured her enough, she forwarded Kevin’s location to her as she knew that was the reason she had called.
Upon getting the address, Sophia zoomed off onto the road like a mad woman, heading to the address. Ellie, who had calculated the number of minutes it would take Sophia to get to where they were, hid in a corner to avoid Sophia catching a glimpse of her and few minutes after, she sighted Sophia’s car zooming pass her and parking beside Kevin. Kevin, who had stopped as he heard the sound of an approaching car and had thought he would finally get a lift, was shocked to see Sophia getting out of her car and approaching him.
“Where the hell do you think you are going?” Sophia yelled at him.
“What are you doing here?” Kevin asked with a weak and tired voice.
“Answer my question first!!!!! Where the hell are you going?” Sophia yelled again, thinking it was only she and Kevin that were on the road.
“I am heading to the police station to turn myself in and confess all the crimes I have committed” Kevin weakly responded.
“Are you nut? Don’t you know you will get us killed by doing so?” Sophia asked in frustration.
“I do but at least it’s better to be locked up than to die in her hands. She warned me not to defy her orders. She has totally changed. She is no longer the old Ellie we used to know. Let’s just let go of everything and get punished for the crimes we have committed. She wouldn’t let us off the hook until we get punished” Kevin lazily advised.
“You and who? Let go of what? Do you think you are making any sense? If you had told me sooner that she is my sister, a lot of events would have been prevented from happening. I know you fucking know she is my stepsister but you kept quiet about it!!!!!!” Sophia yelled angrily, rolling her eyes. Kevin was shocked to hear what Sophia had said.
“What? You now know she is your sister? How did you find out?” he asked shocked. He didn’t tell Sophia about Ellie’s real identity as he was waiting for the perfect time for him to use it as his biggest card and extort her of her money.
“Yes, I do now you idiot. Everybody in the country knows except from you. Now listen, you won’t be going to the police station. I will find a way to smuggle you out of the country to Australia tomorrow morning and make sure to pay you enough to make you live comfortably over there for your entire lifetime. Is that understood?” she queried, with her words hanging in the air expecting a response from Kevin who seemed to be lost in his thoughts.
“I understand but I won’t be able to do that. I have been on the run my whole life and I think it’s time for me to atone for my sins now. I am sorry I have to bring you down with me but I think it’s better you also let go of everything now and atone for your sins” Kevin said with sincerity, before moving away from Sophia and continued his journey to the police station. Sophia just stood still, surprised by Kevin’s unchanging resolution.
Watching as Kevin walked away, Sophia had thought “Since he doesn’t want to give in to my demand, the only thing left for me to do is to take him out of the way. He shouldn’t make it to the police station alive for me to be safe”. And with that, Sophia headed to her car, brought out the fire extinguisher and hit Kevin on the head with it from behind. In no time, Kevin fell to the ground with blood gushing out from his head.
“I am sorry this had to happen but you brought it upon yourself” Sophia said as he watched Kevin took his last breath. After confirming Kevin was dead, Sophia singlehandedly took care of his body and had it dumped in a nearby bush. Having make sure she left no clue behind, she headed to the hotel with the mindset that everything was perfect and nothing could hinder her success anymore. What she didn’t know was that, Ellie, who was hiding in the dark, had captured her moments with Kevin. From the point of her having an argument with him, to the point of her dumping his dead body in the bush.