Chapter 2 New Grudges, Old Resentments

"Are you a friend of my sister?" Leo's voice cut through her turmoil, his eyes red-rimmed and suspicious.

Elara's hand flew to her face, tracing the unfamiliar, sculpted contours. Of course. She no longer bore any resemblance to the plain, round-faced girl she had once been. The sister he remembered was gone, replaced by this celestial stranger. Hastily, she nodded, her voice thick with suppressed emotion. "Yes. Yes, I was a close friend. Please, you must tell me what happened."

Suddenly, Leo's expression twisted into something fierce and raw. He gritted his teeth, the words spilling out like poison. "It's that wicked family's fault. My sister hadn't contacted us in almost a year. Dad got worried and took me to the capital to look for her. The Sterlings... they told us she had run away with another man. But Dad didn't believe them. He was sure they had done something to her. He insisted on staying, on investigating. Then... then we were ambushed by gangsters in a back alley. Dad... he pushed me out of the way. He was stabbed. It was... it was bad. We didn't have the money for the best treatment. He... he passed away a month later."

He broke down then, his body wracked with sobs. Elara bit her lip until she tasted blood, her eyes burning with a fury so intense it felt cold. The Sterlings. It had to be them. They had to cover up her murder, so they tried to silence her family. To think they would attack the very man whose heroism had granted her the miserable "honor" of that marriage. The ingratitude was monstrous.

*Bastards!* The word was a silent scream in her mind.

***Bang! Bang! Bang!***

The violent pounding on the front gate shattered the moment of grief.

"Go ahead and tear this place apart!" a rough male voice shouted from outside.

Moments later, the gate burst open, and a gang of thugs swarmed into the small yard, brandishing metal pipes. They began smashing the few potted plants, the wooden bench, the windows, their laughter cruel and lawless.

Bà Gable ran out, her hands raised in a futile plea. "What are you doing? Vinny! Why are you destroying my home?"

The man named Vinny, his chest bare and adorned with a garish tattoo of a coiled serpent, smirked. "Can't pay your debts, so I'm here to move you out. Simple."

"But... but you said we could delay until next month!" Bà Gable cried, her voice trembling.

"My rules, my timing," Vinny sneered, his eyes glinting. "If you don't pay now, I won't just destroy your house. I'll take your son to settle the debt."

He signaled to his men, who rushed into the house and dragged a struggling Leo back out into the yard. Bà Gable threw herself in front of her son. "Please, Vinny, he's just a boy! Don't take him! I'll sell the land, I'll repay you!"

"Hmph, enough talk. The boy's pretty. Selling him to the right buyer will fetch a fine price," Vinny laughed, a lecherous, ugly sound that plunged the mother and son into utter despair. Their terror seemed only to fuel the thugs' amusement.

"How much do they owe you?"

A clear, cold voice cut through the chaos, silencing the yard. All eyes turned to the source.

Elara stood in the doorway, her stunning features set in a mask of icy calm. She walked over, helping a trembling Bà Gable to her feet, her gaze fixed on Vinny. Though her "mother" had tried to shield her, how could she stand by and watch?

"Beautiful... so beautiful," Vinny breathed, his mind instantly captured. He was utterly mesmerized. "Hey, gorgeous, why don't you come with me? If you agree, I'll wipe their debt clean."

He reached a grimy hand toward her face. But before he could touch her, Leo, summoning a courage born of desperation, pulled Elara behind him. "Don't you touch her!" he yelled, his voice shaking but firm.

"You little brat, how dare you-!" Vinny raised his hand to strike.

"If you lay a finger on him," Elara's voice was low, laced with a deadly promise that made Vinny hesitate, "you will regret it for the rest of your very short life."

Vinny narrowed his eyes. This woman's aura was different. She was too beautiful, too confident. Maybe she was some big shot's mistress. Better to be cautious. "Fine. You want to pay? Thirty million principal. Seventy million in interest for half a year. One hundred million total. Pay it now, no delays."

"One hundred million?!" Bà Gable shrieked, collapsing. "You said it was fifty million! This is impossible..."

As Bà Gable sobbed on the ground, Elara watched Vinny's smug face, her hatred a living thing inside her. She spoke through gritted teeth. "I'll give you your one hundred million. But I want the truth. Did the Sterling family put you up to this? Did they tell you to ruin this family?"

Vinny didn't even bother to deny it. "Don't know their names. Just know they're loaded. Hah! Who told you paupers to dream of marrying into royalty?"

Elara's fists clenched so tight her nails dug half-moons into her palms. The Sterlings. They weren't content with just killing her; they wanted to erase her entire bloodline, to turn her family's memory into a cautionary tale about overreaching peasants.

For three years as their daughter-in-law, she had endured their contempt, their slights, their coldness. She had never wronged them. And this was their repayment? Her father's life, her brother's safety, her mother's sanity?

She had returned from the heavens hoping to find solace, to live quietly. But the sight of her father's portrait, the sound of her brother's sobs, the leering face of this thug-it all forged a new purpose in her soul, cold and sharp as Aetherian steel.

*Cassian Sterling, Isolde... I will make you pay for every tear, for every drop of blood.*

After transferring the money and watching Vinny tear up the debt note with a grudging respect, Elara led her mother and brother back inside. She knelt before her father's altar, the incense stick trembling in her hand as tears streamed down her face unchecked. This was for him. All of it.

She then turned to Bà Gable. "Auntie... why don't you and Leo come to the capital with me? I was like a sister to Elara. Now that she's... gone, it's my duty to care for you in her place."

She had already begun weaving the threads of her revenge against the Sterling family. Revealing her true identity now was impossible; she couldn't explain this new face, this new body. She had to be their guardian angel in disguise.

Bà Gable hesitated, worn down by grief and fear.

"Leo is still of school age," Elara pressed gently, her voice softening. "If he studies in the capital, his future will be limitless. Please, let me do this for her."

The mention of Leo's future was the key. Bà Gable looked at her son, then at the fierce, protective light in this beautiful stranger's eyes, and finally nodded, fresh tears of gratitude and exhaustion falling.

"Let me at least sell this land to give you some money..." Bà Gable began.

"No," Elara said firmly, taking the woman's work-worn hands in her own. Her touch was gentle, but her resolve was absolute. "I will take care of everything. For Elara's sake. Please... just treat me as your own daughter."