Chapter 3 Unexpected Events are not Coincidence

Chapter 3

LENA'S POV

I stepped out of the elevator, heels clicking against the tile, heart thumping with each step and the imagination of how I was going to lash out, vivid.

"Where is she?" I asked Sttephen immediately I sighted him running towards me. He looked as helpless as he had sounded on the phone. Imagine dealing with another superior who had never acted like she belonged in the company until now?

"Still in your office. I tell you, Miss Lena, I have never met a person more bitchy tthan your sister in the last five years since I joined this company." He sighed, relieved that I had finally shown up. Stephen was a very competent man and the fact that he couldn't handle Clarissa meant something even I didn't know about was wrong.

I reached the wooden door of my office and stopped. I could hear Clarissa's voice as she instructed whoever was in the office with her to toss the frame in another box.

"Throw that in, and add that ugly award plaque." She sounded as disgusted as she probably felt. I pushed the door open, causing her a little fright.

Title: "The Office is No Longer Yours"

"What the hell is going on?"

Two interns I barely knew were inside, carefully stacking my books and documents into boxes. My framed diploma leaned awkwardly against my old office chair already had a dent. And standing in the middle of it all, arms folded like a damn queen surveying her kingdom, was Clarissa.

Clarissa turned her head slowly, with thee expression of a smug cat.

"Oh, Lena. You're early."

"Early?" I laughed, dryly. Annoyance clearly oozing from my very being. "This is my office. Or did that change while I was in traffic?"

She gave the interns a little nod. They hesitated, then scurried out with my things like little mice fleeing a fire.

"Oh sister! Those heels don't look like regular work ones. Are those from traffic too?" she asked, taking a step towards me in her black pumps.

I stepped further in causing her to halt and step back, nostrils flaring.

"What is the meaning of this, Clarissa?"

"There's been a restructuring. Although I'm sure that Dad already had the talk with you." She smirked, while flashing the huge diamond engagement ring on her hand.

I scoffed in disbelief. Father was really going to disregard my toiling?

"You moved me out of my office without even talking to me?"

"Seriously Lena, is that the best you could come up with after hearing and seeing what I've told you?" Clarissa walked to my seat and sat her pampered ass down. "You look absolutely oblivious."

"What are you trying to say?" I don't understand how she always bent the conversation to go her way but she was definitely not telling me what I wanted to know.

"You poor, illegimate bastard of my father." She leaned forward on the table. The insult cut deep.

"Don't insult me!" I yelled, fighting back the tears.

"Shut up!" she fired back. "You have been too busy trying to prove your worth in his life and this company that you never truly understood your father. Especially his condition for inheritance." She was smiling victoriously now.

"There's a condition?" I asked baffled at the revelation. Clarissa only nodded, that smug look back to being plastered on her face as she twirled the sparkling ring around her finger.

"It's a condition which I've already fulfilled, sister dear. It involves a baby and a husband. Just sign on those shares to me and be on your way. If you are lucky, I might provide for any bastard you give birth to." Clarissa burst into laughter. My heart pounded at the realization that I was being cast aside.

"I'll go home and speak to dad. You better be out of my office before I come back." I warned, while turning my back to leave.

Clarissa only let out a small laugh of triumph.

"It's not personal, Lena. You know how things work in rich families like ours. Dad will always choose his grandson over his bastard female child."

Wiping tears, I stormed out of the office, making eye contact with a worried looking Stephen. He didn't say a word to me. It was clear that I had lost the battle that ensued in the office just now.

"Get me a desk in the adjacent office to hers by evening." I ordered before entering the elevator. I still had a meeting outside the company.

By the time I was in my car closing work for the day, fists clenched around the steering wheel, the anger was a living thing inside me.

I drove home, the silence in my car louder than Clarissa's pregnancy declaration.

Getting home, I was greeted by a rather festive mood. The estate shimmered under the golden hues of early evening. Lots of cars arranged themselves from the entrance to the parking lot.

"Why are there so many guests?" I asked a servant

"Miss Carissa is holding her engagement party." He replied with a smile before walking away with the tray of pastries.

"Lena, I was about to send for you." I turned and looked at dad with the biggest smile on his face. "There's a dress in your room, Clarissa thoughtfully prepared it for you. Don't embarrass me tonight. We have important guests." He said in between smiles before leaving me dumbstruck.

There was no chance to ask him about the so-called inheritance condition that Clarissa had mentioned earlier.

I made my way to the grand ballroom alive with laughter and the clinking of glasses. A lot of whispering started as soon as I entered the room. Apparently, my dress was too shabby for the occasion.

"Lena!"

Carissa's voice sliced through the hum of conversation. She glided toward me, after subtly letting go of a tall broad-shouldered man..

My breath caught. The aura was very familiar.

"What are you wearing? It is horrible!" she looked disgusted.

"Didn't you pick out this dress?" I asked nonchalantly, my attention elsewhere.

"You are drinking too much champagne. Dad asked me to tell you to exercise caution." She giggled. "Also take your eyes away from my fiancé," she said sternly.

I simply ignored her and went away. Wobbling a little from being very tipsy. I climbed the stairs leading to the main house. I needed to rest.

"Miss Lena, your father wants you to meet Mr. Leonardo." A maid informed me just outside my room door.

"Who the hell is that?" I scoffed, entering my room and ignoring the fact every maid had been sent to serve at the party. I got a text while on my bed. It was from Dad.

'Leonardo Romero is Carissa's fiancé. And our family's future. I won't have you throw that away. Come and introduce yourself as courtesy'

I threw the phone on the bed, ignoring it until I fell asleep, all the while thinking of the great resemblance between my one night affair at the club and my step-sister's fiancé.

The sound of sirens and wails of people jolted me awake. I quickly made my way out of my room, to inquire about the whole commotion. Nothing prepared me for the news that hit me.

Carissa was dead, found in a pool of her own blood.

To make the situation worse, my dress from the engagement party which I never got to take off was stained with blood.

"Lena, how could you?"