Chapter Five

Preparing lunch was easy for you as Ella Anthonio, the revered heiress of the Anthonio, whom your father had with your stepmother while your mother was still alive and eight months pregnant with you, was not around.

According to what you have been told by Mrs. Pierce — the chief housemaid who loves you like her own — the news of your father's affair erupted your mother's old and subdued irregular breathing illness which subsequently led to her death a few months after giving birth to you. However, even on her deathbed, your mother did not cease to request to see you and coo at you.

Not long after your mother's death, your stepmother and her daughter were brought to the house. They began to boss you around when you were five years of age but you started cooking once they realized you were tall enough to reach the kitchen appliances. As such, Ella has made it her sole duty to destroy your efforts. Once before, after a stressful day of avoiding being bullied in school but not swift enough to avoid the hits of Ella's minions, you came back home to cook dinner, and immediately after arranging the dishes on the dining table, you go back to your room to shower and do your assignment while waiting for them to finish eating before you can go downstairs to eat whatever is left of the food. A shrill sound of your name had you jumping up with your heart thumping wildly in fear.

"Shaira! You bastard, come down here this minute." You heard your stepmother's screaming voice.

Running down the stairs in rush, you slipped on the last stairs on a leg belonging to none other than Ella. Before you could stand up, the sound of a crisp slap resounds across the walls as you felt a sharp pain in your jaw and lips.

"You really are heartless, after everything we have done for you in this house, you still had the guts to try to poison us?" Your stepmother spits out with her fingers almost touching your nose.

"Now sit at the dining table and finish every grain and soup on that table." Your father commanded.

"Dad, let her start with the soup first," Ella speaks coquettishly while holding onto your father.

"You heard her." He glares sharply at you.

With eyebrows creased into a frown in confusion, you immediately sit at the dining table, but upon putting the first spoon of the corn soup in your mouth, you almost spit it out but stopped when your stepmother ordered you, "If you dare let a drop of that soup touch the floor, I will skin you alive."

Forced to swallow the soup, beads of sweat gathered from your scalp to the whole of your body, and tears began to fall from your eyes at the hotness of the pepper in the food. You took a glance at the three people you call family and that was when you saw the gloating look on Ella's face.

'Why, why would she do this to me?'

'What did I do to offend her?'

'Can't she just leave me alone?'

Different thoughts run through your head as you shovel down the over-salted food while trying to avoid the corn soup which seems like it is the only dish the evil girl added pepper to but you are unlucky as your stepmother notices, "leave the rest and drink the soup. Now!"

Shaking on your feet, you tried to beg but was shut up. Having had no choice but to pick up the bowl of soup, you took the first mouthful and forced yourself to swallow. You chug the second mouthful but failed to swallow as everything came pouring out and splashing on everyone present. Immediately you feel rains of kicks, blows and slaps as you drift into the abyss.

Relieving this memory has your heart harden each time you remember how helpless and weak you were at the time but simultaneously grateful because it was part of the things that made you what you are.

Immediately after serving the much-desired lunch of a pot of soup and rice with numerous side dishes, and announcing to your stepmother that it is served, you were excused and quickly made your way to your room.

"Pa pa, let's get to work Ira girl." Clapping your hands in glee, you lock your door and then bent under the bed to open a sealed compartment in the floorboard and retrieved the laptop hidden there and opened it. A background of puppies appears on the screen and you joyfully greet them.

"Hello cuties, hope you did not miss me much?" You speak lovingly to them and it seemed as if there was a slight movement of their tails.

Navigating through the various applications on your laptop, you seek out the one that is encrypted and saved with the word automated mechanism in the hope that although no one can find the app, even if they do, it would not interest them to look at what it was about. Your fingers dance across the keyboard with the utmost speed and accuracy as you gather information about Mr. Serf.

"Hmm, interesting, he owns quite a large amount of illegal businesses. Imagine, out of six different companies, only one which is Serf Oil and Gas Company does legal business and while the others are illegal, he also avoids paying taxes and other necessary dues. Not to worry, I will help you be a good citizen." You smile devilishly as you send the necessary pointers to the tax authorities and also sent his various affairs to his wife, children, and the public.

"Hmph, because I pity him, let me just give him one last gift." You hack into the Oil and Gas Company and found just the one thing that you are looking for.

"Who asked him to look for my trouble and who asked him to be a thief of what belongs to the masses?" You shrugged your shoulders as you send the personal transactions Mr. Serf has made for the past three years which shows that he has been using company funds for his affairs whereas, he now owes his employees for six months.

"The owners of the money need to know what their money is used for." Concluding the matter, you send the information to the company's general official site alongside the remaining money in the company's account which you divided equally across the staff with an attached statement of 'Ridder can only share what remains in the company with you all equally, seek out the rest of your pay from your boss.'

"full stop. Ira, you have done well today so there is no need for you to go out at night. Isn't that right cuties?" As the puppies seem to wag their tails once again, you pat yourself on the head and stretched your body a bit before returning the gadgets to their position.

....

AUTHORS NOTE

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