Chapter 2 SOFIA

If life was a lover, I think I must've broken his heart in my past existence. For here he was yet again, making me suffer for something I knew nothing about.

"Gracious Lord, Sofia Blake, you are clumsy. Better pray that you will be able to remove that stain before it forever mars my floors" my cruel witch of a stepmother, Alicia Blake hissed as she watched me from her lounging chair.

I hated her and this morning, I couldn't hate her more. She was well aware that I had an interview to get to. With not just any company, but the Wellington Fashion Empire. My dream place of employment and yet here I was wiping a cursed oil stain left by her devious feline.

Frisk, the evil creature sat beside the hinges of the table, licking his paws in obvious triumph as I glared at it.

For generations, the Wellingtons have reigned supreme. My ancestors wore their designs and I hope to do so one day... when I can afford their exorbitant prices.

Judging from the time hanging on the mantel, I was one minute late already. I had busted my ass off to get that interview and I wasn't going to lose it.

"Please ma, I'm already running late, can I do this when I get back" I made another attempt at pleading when the oil stain showed no hope of saving me time.

She paid me no heed as she slowly sipped her tea. Before I could try another plea, her just as cruel twin daughters came running to her,

"Mama, look what I found" Annabel sang holding up the clothes I had selected to wear to the interview.

"Dear Sofy, wants to wow the Wellingtons and we can't let that happen, right mama? Mirabel said, fingering the lacy white shirt I had designed and sewn during my internship at Bogue.

It was a beautiful thing with flared sleeves like the petals of a rose and a pleated bodice. That design had fetched me accolades and millions of dollars which Alicia had confiscated.

It killed them knowing that no matter what they did to me, it didn't diminish my beauty or intellect.

Alicia Blake was known for her hats, she was a mogul herself wowing the world with designs mostly mine in hats, fascinators, berets, fedora, name it. She was good, but I was better. It often surprised people that with her looks, the widow refused to remarry even with prominent men falling at her feet.

Pretty with chestnut curly hair, eyes of the same hue, lips - thin lines of fuchsia, and a slim body that had fetched her popularity during her young age as a model.

Annabel and Mirabel were just like her, beautiful and cruel, with the same body figure and features.

In truth, she wasn't really my stepmom or maybe she was. My father, unbeknownst to me and my mother, had been the mastermind behind the 'Global Heist of 99'. The heist that had crippled the world finances for a week before his accomplices were arrested and most of the funds stolen were recovered.

I was just 8 when it happened, I had been watching the news with my mom when we saw the man we loved, labeled 'world most wanted criminal'. My father was rarely at home and we believed his absence was because of his work as a broker, whereas he had been a criminal.

A week later, the cops broke into our house. Mom had hidden me in the wardrobe, but they had taken her. Our house was confiscated and they were to return to properly ransack everything. I had thought I would be discovered, but that night, my father came back and took me.

He brought me to Alicia, who was another lie he never told us about. She was also his wife, and people didn't know about it, just like they didn't know of me. Only my mom could they associate with him after finding their wedding photo online. Apparently as secluded as the wedding had been, a family member couldn't resist the temptation of posting a photo online.

My name was changed from Sofia Reed, to Sofia Blake, which was the name of Alicia's late husband before she met my dad. Wait, she had been cheating on her husband with my dad even when the poor guy had been alive, hence the twins whom everyone believes are Blakes whereas they are actually Reeds. Who knows, their dalliance might have been the main reason behind the poor man's demise.

It took months, but eventually Simon Reed, the Red Terror, was caught. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after confiscation of almost all his properties and accounts. Except the one he had gifted to Alicia for my upkeep and that of hers and the twins. Which after 14 years, no one has discovered.

I still don't know what happened to my mom, some say she was tortured till her death for the whereabouts of her husband which she claimed to have no clue of, others say she is still alive slowly rotting behind bars.

That's one of the reasons why I need this job, it may not be my dream position, but it was in my dream company and who knows, I might eventually rise to my dream position of a designer and a stylist. Which will earn me enough pay and reputation to solicit for the whereabouts of my mother without raising eyebrows. That's if these evil people don't ruin my chances.

"You are absolutely right, my precious. We really can't let that happen" Alicia crooned, the sound of ripping fabric filled the hall as she tore one of the flares on the right sleeve of the shirt.

"Please, please!" I could already feel the tears brimming in my eyes. But who was I kidding, that never stopped them before neither did it now.

My tears and pleas, instead motivated them as they shredded my shirt and skirt to as many pieces as their hands could allow. Wicked Mirabel like the rabid dog she was, even used her teeth when her hands no longer allowed her.

Dumping them in the pail of dirty water I was using to mop the floor, she added, a devilish smile on her lips,

"Come along girls, we have a business to run."

"Yes, mama", they trailed after her,

throwing me mocking looks as they passed.

Just when I thought they were gone, happy to abandon this fruitless chore for my interview. Alicia turned and as if reading my mind, she said standing in the open door, haloed by the morning sun;

"Don't even think of stepping an inch without restoring that tile to high shine. I would hate to pull up at your interview announcing exactly who you are. That you are alive and here today, it's only because of my name. Don't you ever, ever in your excuse of existence, forget that"

As silence settled around me, I was once again reminded that I never would've been in this situation if my mom hadn't fallen for a crook such as my father. Love ruined my life and it was still doing so. But as much as I dream about leaving this house, I would never do it if it involves love.

Just as Alicia had told me on that night in the ninth grade after I got my heart broken by Jake, the boy I had fallen head over heels for, but he had broken my heart by cheating on me with Mirabel of all persons;

"Love is stupid. Love is for fools and love will only hurt you"

That was the only night she treated me like I was a human being. She had held me and consoled me as my broken heart bled. Maybe she did it because her daughter was involved, or because she had wanted to break me more. I remember that was the night she told me that I was just like my mom, "a fool who falls for a bad guy and even after realizing that he isn't any good, I remain with him because I love him, but to what end - a broken heart and a shattered life."

I had been confused as to how that related with my mom, or perhaps I had been too heartbroken to care, but I read meaning into her words a few days later. My mom knew. She found out the type of person my dad was and because she loved him, she had stayed. And now, I was paying the price.

A lesson. That was what I learnt that night even though I think it's the last thing Alicia thought I would gain from her obscured confession.

Scrubbing the tile more ferociously, I repeated, gritting the words like I could crush them with my teeth;

"Love is stupid. Love is for fools..." wiping the tears blurring my vision, I finished,

" And indeed love can only hurt".