Chapter 1 Shadows of the Past

In the dead of night, Bibi was trapped in a dark forest, her clothes were drenched from the intense downpour.

She was wet to the bone by the unrelenting rain, and the surrounding darkness made it difficult for her to see, when suddenly, through the trees came the sound of a woman's anguished cries above the clamor of the storm.

"Help! Help me, please, someone," the voice shouted in tears into the night.

Bibi was lost in the forest and couldn't find a way out, but she understood that someone was in trouble, so she ran and hurried through the thick undergrowth, feeling the sludge under her bare feet slowing her down.

The voice, initially resembling her mother's, morphed into an echo of her sister's, inducing confusion and panic. Each step forward seemed to carry her farther away from the elusive source of distress,

"Mom?!" Bibi yelled, "Vivian?!" but she couldn't find her mother and sister.

She kept running deeper into the woods when she suddenly found herself standing in the middle of an open field. The rain had suddenly stopped, yet, her heart beat fast against her chest.

Right in the middle of the field was an enormous cage that held a shackled and soaked girl wearing a flowing white robe. The strange woman's face was covered by her rain-damped hair as she sat still, sobbing and chained like an animal.

Driven by a combination of fear and resolve, Bibi approached with caution as she cried out to the stranger, her voice echoing with the rhythmic patter of rains. "Hey!" she called out, "are you alright?" she said as she approached, yet, there was no response.

Bibi carefully approached until she got close enough to peer into the cage, straining to look into the darkened face of the strange woman who was completely soaked with legs in shackled to the cage.

When suddenly, the woman lifted her head and stared Bibi in the face, and as soon as their eyes locked, shock gripped Bibi – the captive was identical to her, in looks and everything else, ensnared in chains and distress.

"Help! Help us Bibi," the enslaved woman muttered breathlessly.

When suddenly, a surge of panic jolted Bibi awake from her nightmare as her body drenched in a cold sweat while her heart pounded against her chest.

She barely had enough time to make out what the dream meant when her cell phone rang abruptly. Startled by the nightmare, she sat up and looked at her phone. Her mother's caller ID appeared on the screen, and she hesitated before responding, praying to God that her mother and sister were alright.

"Mom?" Bibi spoke,

Her mother's voice, laced with tears, delivered news that shattered the fragile boundaries between dream and reality.

"Bibi, it's your father," her mother sobbed, "oh, Bibi, your father is dead, and it's all over the news."

Bibi clutched the phone, frozen with disbelief as her mind grappled with the weight of her mother's words as she reached for the TV remote and turned it on with trembling hands.

The TV headlines corroborated her mother's words, "THE CEO OF THE RENOWNED ETERNAL ENTERPRISE, STEVEN STONE, PASSES ON TODAY AFTER SUFFERING A CARDIAC ARREST IN HIS HOME."

It was on every news channel.

Bibi's heart started to beat fast. She sat still, folding herself into a hug on her bed and rocking herself back and forth, her father was dead, the almighty Steven stone was dead. She sat that way for hours, unable to react or speak a word.

The man who had filled her life with so much hurt and misery was gone, the man who had doubted her capabilities and belittled her at the slightest opportunity was now dead, in other words, he would never have the chance to see her succeed or even fail in life - as he had always assured her that she would, and yet, she didn't know how to react to the news or even feel, at least not until very early that same morning when her doorbell rang.

She knew only one person in the world would be at her door so early in the morning following the news, so she walked almost lifelessly to the door and opened it.

Behind the door was her best friend, Mellissa. And the moment their eyes met, Bibi, didn't know what it was but she suddenly burst into tears as Mellissa quickly embraced her and calmed her down,

"I'm so sorry Bibi." Mellissa said apologetically as her friend sobbed. "it'll all be fine."

All through that day, the mood was gloomy, not only for Bibi, but at the Stone's mansion where Silvia Stone and her second daughter, Vivian, held each other in tight embrace as they mourned their patriarch, Steven Stone.

Just as Steven had wished for a few days to his death, his will was read to his family the very same day although his eldest daughter, Bibi, was absent from the sudden meeting between his lawyer and the rest of the family,

"To my first daughter, Bibiana Stone," Attorney Rick read Steven Stone's will aloud, "my only dying wish is that you resume working at the Eternal Enterprise with immediate effect. And as for my will, I leave all estates pending for the period of one year while my daughters, Bibiana and Vivian stone, may receive equal opportunity to contest for the position of the CEO within this one year, after which, one of them must emerge as the new CEO."

And that was all.

That was all Steven Stone had left the world with. No instruction on how his widow should be taken care of, no comforting message for his family, nothing, other than his usual stern impositions.

The headlines carried the news like the wind to Bibi's doorstep as she was being comforted by her best friend.

The girls sat in disbelief and watched the news read out the outrageous and unbelievable will Steven Stone had left behind.

"How could he do this?" Bibi muttered in disbelief, "after everything, after everything he put me through while he was alive? He didn't even have the courtesy to apologize."

"Calm down Bibi," Mellissa comforted, everything will be fine.

"Nothing will be fine, Mellissa!" Bibi said angrily, "besides, why does he suddenly want me to contest for the position of the CEO after kicking me out of company? Why now when the company is about to go bankrupt?"

Mellissa sighed; she didn't have any words for her friend. Steven Stone was an unpredictable and ruthless man while he was alive and now, even in death, he still remained cold and unbelievable.

And so, only a week later while he was being buried, Bibi vehemently refused to attend her father's burial regardless of her mother's constant plea. She just couldn't forgive her father for all the hurt he had caused her. The only person she was worried about now was her mother, and she was going to see her this weekend and probably spend a couple of days with her.

As for Steven Stone, she could care less. He never loved or treated her as his own when he was alive, so why should she love him in his death?