Chapter 1

Salvation: a state of being saved from the power of evil; a way of protecting somebody from danger, disaster, loss.

In a world which seemed more like a battlefield, with more foes than allies, she was resilient. With her guards up, and fear crippling down her soul threatening to engulf her, she stood her ground. In a world where her existence was loathed, she remained unwavering. She was stuck with her past, she was haunted by her present, she was conflicted ... .Everyday played out like a pensive suspenseful classic piano in an opera (a soap opera) waiting to unravel and unfold itself with time. 

Chapter 1

In a dimly lit opulent room, she tossed and turned on her bed, beads of sweat forming on her forehead whilst trickling down her face; restlessness was written all over her. It was here again, the memory which has haunted her and has taken a permanent place as her nightmares. 

On the champ de Mars in Paris, France 

It was a cold foggy night, the air was heavy, a young girl was panting and breathing heavily from running, she was shaken, tattered clothes and sunken tired eyes, bruises all over her skin, she was entirely horrified, scared and tired but she had to keep running because they were after her life. "Go after her"! a masked man said, as three sturdy, hefty looking men chorused "yes sir!". She kept running but she seemed not to be fast enough because they already caught up with her. She started moving backwards with her back as they came closer to her, she kept moving till she was tripped by a stone and she stumbled on the floor as she winced in pain; darting her eyes in the dark while struggling to steady herself. "Going somewhere?" One of the men asked in a sarcastic grunted evil tone with a devilish grin playing on his lips. "Please let me go" she pleaded while sobbing profusely, "please I promise I would disappear and you would never find me again, your boss wouldn't even know that I'm alive", she pleaded. "Hey it's okay baby girl", shush! One of the men said while coming closer, "it's okay we're not gonna hurt you, but I just need a little tiny favor from you my doll, I need you to be calm and cooperative with me," he said while touching her delicate skin as she shivered, he brushed his hands on her face as she shuddered once again, she was getting furious. She knew what was coming, she would rather die while fighting against this monster, than allowing him touch her. Her stomach churned, she felt sick in the stomach from all the nasty touching but no! She wasn't gonna give in, she was ready to give a last fight. She tried to stand up from the floor, but her wobbly legs wouldn't give in, she retorted to use her fist as she punched him in- between his legs, the man shouted in pain as she carried her frail self up whilst trying to run off, "Get her! You bastards"! The man shouted, as she tried to run, she was caught by one of the men as a slap landed on her face, hot tears trickled down her face as she fell hard on the cold floor. 

She was partially conscious now, "what were you trying to do? Run away from us? With this weak body of yours?" The man scoffed. He held her forcefully as he tore her clothes causing a sharp whisper to escape from her mouth, she laid there motionless as tears trickled down her swollen bruised eye. They all had their turns until they were done satisfying their shameless selves. She just laid there feeling numb and lifeless as one of the men hit her with an iron bat as she passed out. "That should end her", one of the men said as they hurriedly left, leaving a half dead girl on the floor.

Scarlet Jerked up from her nightmare which has become a part of her ever since that long dreadful night. "Good Morning miss, Leslie greeted. The board called for a meeting this morning regarding the handing over of a new ceo". Miss Leslie Scarlet's P.A and driver said. Scarlet inhaled and exhaled deeply, disgust written all over her face "those old fools don't really know how or when to give up. Do they? What a good way to start my day", she hissed as she got up to get ready for work. Work seemed to be the only thing she lived for now, she participated fully without complaint and it seemed to be the only thing that gave meaning to her life ever since her parents demise.

Scarlet Lionel a 25 year old business woman and workaholic, born into the influential and rich family of the Lionel's. She is an elegant, resilient, strong, independent woman who could be badass and cold when needed. She was a mysterious femme fatale, she had this enigmatic aura and fierce attractive features that could make any man instantly be hypnotized by her. Scarlet was a good combination of her parents, she got her mom's red hair and her father's blue eyes. Feminine fluttery lashes, plump cherry lips, red haired, deep blue feline eyes that you could get lost in; perfect angelic skull and nose with a luminous milky pale skin, and a perfect hourglass figure.

All the influential men in Paris drool over her, and have constantly sought for her hand in marriage but she has consistently turned them down. Rumor has it that Scarlet is attracted to women because she has never been in any romantic relationship and doesn't even see herself being in one. She just has this contempt for men that no one, (not even herself) could possibly explain. 

Scarlet's POV

All my life, I've prepared for this day, to be the CEO of Legardère Group. I literally overworked myself in the past years training myself in every aspect for this day.

As I walked into the office, I could sense it all, the hatred and resent this set of people who are supposed to be family( or at least pretend to be family felt for me). It has always been like this, they're always wearing a smile (a pretentious one at that), acting like they care or give a shit about you, but they would be the happiest to find you miserable, they wouldn't care less if they found me dead right now. In fact, it would be an accomplished goal for everyone here, especially him uncle Tim. I've always known him to be callous and very cunning, but to every other person he's a good man right? Everyone saw him as a literal Saint but do they even know him? Do they even know that this man could go to any length to satisfy his dirty selfish desires? I've always had this eerie indescribable bad feeling about uncle Tim ever since I was ten, and he keeps proving that my assumptions about him are correct. Do I even really know to what lengths this man could go for anything he wants? Especially for the Legardère Group. Maybe, just maybe, I kind of underrated his perfected crafty skill of always trying to reap where he did not sow.

I confidently walked into the board room, taking my seat beside uncle Tim's wife laurel who is a literal pushover, who didn't have a say of her own, (always siding with her husband). She's always been like this, quiet and pretending; always pretending to not know what is going on around her, and always turning a deaf ear to the truth. Would you blame her, she was just a poor girl who was married out of pity. She used to dance at the club, when she had a one night stand with uncle Tim and she later discovered she was pregnant, so uncle Tim's parents (my grandparents) forced him to marry her. 

My grandparents have always been good parents to their children but it just wasn't enough for uncle Tim. This whole selfishness and hatred started…

Flashback 15 years ago

On a cold rainy day, in Lionel's mansion. Mrs Evelyn Lionel was seen pacing from one end of the room to another, frustration and worry written all over her face…

"Timothy"! Sir Lionel Jones shouted, "if you keep behaving in this manner, you would leave me with no choice than to leave the company to Matthew and make him the ceo of Legardère Group ''. "Go on father, is that the best you could come up with? Besides, you've always favored Matthew over me, so it's not a surprise to me". That is never true, it is your wrong doings and your lack of responsibility that has always limited you in life. You know what father, you can keep your company or better still, give it to your precious little son, as for me I'm out of here but let me promise you one thing; you will pay dearly for this mistreatment, you all will pay! Timothy yelled. Sir Lionel jones clenched his fist, he was raging with anger, don't you dare walk out on me while I'm talking to you. If you dare walk out of that door you will cease to be my son henceforth. Timothy had already left, leaving sir Lionel foaming with 

...…

"Hey there, my beautiful niece scarlet" uncle Tim said with a sardonic smile playing on his face, "I see you made it on time". "Morning uncle Timothy Lionel", scarlet said, never forget that I'm never late for anything. Uncle Tim gave a weak wry smile, let the meeting begin he said to the board members.

A man in his 60's presented some documents. He is Mr Christopher de laurel, grandfather's trusted staff. He is the director of Legardère Group and has worked in this Company for the past 25 years and has always been a loyal staff to Legardère Group and a kind man to grandpa Lionel.

 Mr Christopher cleared his throat as he began his speech "miss scarlet you've proven that you are a hardworking and dedicated young woman, over the past two years you worked in Legardère Group and you've passed all the criterias and you are deserving to be the ceo of Legardère Group. But, there is a very vital quota that is yet to be met in all of this… miss scarlet, you'd have to be legally married to a reputable man for you to be able to be the ceo of Legardère Group, this is the condition for you to be ceo.

Mr Timothy will continue being the acting ceo for the time being. With that, the meeting would come to an end now.

Scarlet's face flushed with both anger and confusion, she tried to calm herself down and maintain her poise while gripping onto her chair. How in the world am I supposed to find a husband? All these men out there would only want me because I'm rich and they would definitely exploit that". 

She had never had a boyfriend, not to talk about a relationship. How in the world am I supposed to find a husband in such a short period of time? Maybe I could hire a man to pose as my man? No! I need to talk to uncle Tim, I'm sure he's behind all this and he's definitely up to no good", scarlet said.

 Uncle Tim's POV 

"I gave a wry smile when the director gave the conditions for her to be ceo. I know she never had a boyfriend (well, everyone knows). She has been so busy with Legardère Group for the last two years. Atleast, this could distract her from the company so that I can perfect my little plans". 

"I definitely have to confront him," Scarlet said as she walked to where uncle Tim was talking to some other board members. 

She couldn't really recognise them, but they all voted uncle Tim back there at the meeting. "I need to talk to you," Scarlet told uncle Tim. Please excuse me, I would love to talk to my niece, uncle Tim said as he dismissed the people he was talking to.

"Uncle Tim, I know that you're up to no good and I also know that grandpa never put such conditions for anyone to be the ceo of Legardère Group. I know that this is all your doing but trust me, I will get to the root of this, and I will definitely have the best last laugh in all this" scarlet said as she stormed out of the office followed by Leslie.

"Sorry dear little niece, but that's what you get when you decide to be a nuisance, besides I'm the one in charge so I make the rules here, and the condition is that you get yourself a God forsaken man, to be by your side which I know would be difficult for you considering your self absorbed single status" uncle Tim said to himself as he smiled deviously. 

Scarlet stormed out of the company feeling defeated and confused, she's always had a solution to every problem she had or atleast a backup plan, but this time she couldn't come up with any reasonable solution and this made her feel like a complete failure. 

Leslie knew that talking to scarlet at the moment wasn't a good idea, she has seen her work so hard for this day and now the day has been ruined because of an impromptu stupid condition?. 

Leslie started the car as she began to drive to where scarlet lived; "stop the car" scarlet said in what seemed more like a whisper, "miss"? Leslie said, trying to make sense of what she said. "I said stop the car!" scarlet repeated. You can go home Leslie, I will be back home safe and as early as I can" scarlet said knowing that Leslie wouldn't give in to her going anywhere today of all days and it was already late. Leslie was puzzled but she tried not to pry any further, she figured out scarlet needed to clear her head more than anything in the world right now, so she let her go. At Least she had her self defense skills just in case. The last time Leslie saw scarlet this frustrated and confused was when she lost her parents 15 years ago. It took alot to get scarlet where she is now, even though she knew she hasn't healed from the trauma. "She has been through so much for her age and I just hope that everything will be okay with her one day", Leslie thought. 

Scarlet arrived at the eiffel tower, it was so cold and windy that it could possibly start raining any moment. The breeze swayed her hair from place to place displaying her delicate yet fierce features. Scarlet inhaled the cold air that brought nothing but nostalgic memories to her, this place served as her sanctum because it reminded her of her parents, she could still feel 

their presence anytime she visited and also served as her dreaded nightmare because it triggered a lot of painful memories. 

Flashback 15 years ago 

"Mom, dad, I would love you to visit my school so l could showcase my artworks to you on the school's Art Exhibition Day", Young scarlet chirped. "We promise to be there honey" Mrs susannah said to her daughter. Looking at her beautiful and smart scarlet with nothing but admiration and love in her eyes. " We are proud of you honey," Mr Mathew said lovingly. Thanks mom and dad, young scarlet jumped happily at the back of the car. "Love, are you okay? You seem a bit tense", Mrs Susannah asked her husband. "Yes I'm okay it's just that that dark blue truck has been following us for a while now and I've been trying to avoid him" just then the truck sped up and hit their car, it somersaulted twice and caught fire in the process. Young scarlet crawled out from the car's open window and managed to escape from the car. She tried getting help from people around, but before the parents could get out of the car, it blew up and burned. Young scarlet couldn't believe what was happening, the only thing she did was scream and cry.

 ...…

All these memories came rushing to scarlet as she felt her heart racing, she started trembling and having shortness of breaths with muscle tensions, she was getting dizzy. Unknown to her, a car was speeding towards her and was about to hit her when she saw a man running towards her as he suddenly hugged her causing them to land on the cold floor. "Are you alright? The man asked apprehensively while holding her, gosh! You have bruises all over you. Scarlet just stared blankly into his eyes as warmth coursed through her, she felt like she knew this person but she just couldn't place it. She tried standing up, but her wobbly legs wouldn't give in so she stayed there in his arms, her panic attack was already getting to her, she tried saying "call le….."but she passed out.

The heir to Legardère Group, Miss Scarlet Lionel has been declared missing after her position as the CEO was given to her uncle Timothy Lionel. The source said that this happened 24 hours after having a brief confrontation with her uncle Timothy over him being the ceo of Legardère Group the news said. 

"So it's true that the little brat is missing. Let's see how long she could go on with this game of hers" Mr Timothy said as he sipped his alcohol while clenching his fist. 

 chapter 2