Enslaved To The Billionaire CEO

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?

A week later, Bibi got up that morning and walked across the exquisite mansion of her late father's house, dragging her feet lazily, as she found her way to the kitchen – another part of the house that looked like it was worth a million bucks.

It was another weekend – another weekend after her father was buried and another weekend without Rick Salomon in her life. She couldn't exactly say she had been in love with Rick, but in truth, he had always made her feel safe and sane. He had shown her the kind of love her father had withheld from her for many years.

Unlike Paul, one of her exes, who had nothing but his good looks, strong, and sexy figure, to offer, Rick Salomon was different; he was charming, handsome, and loving to her.

Well, maybe he was truly the one who got away after all. He had dodged a bullet because Bibi was a whole lot for any man to handle, and the men in her life weren't spared – just like her other exes, including Jonah Jones, the popular weatherman, Jack Heavens, the prominent actor, and now, Rick Salomon, who was her late father's Attorney.

Dating her was a huge chore; she was an unfulfilled young woman with a determination to live up to expectations and show her father, even though he was now late, that she could go through life without his acknowledgment and encouragements, which he had withheld from her for many years. It seemed like that was all she lived for.

But with Rick, she had let her guard down as he had been a pillar of support to her on days when she felt lost and downtrodden.

So, even when Rick had decided to keep their affair hidden to prevent her father's wrath from falling upon them, Bibi didn't object; she knew her father so well. Anything that gave her happiness and peace was simply an abomination before him. She was certain that Rick's position as her father's attorney was bound to be threatened if they were ever discovered.

But when her father had passed on following a cardiac arrest, she had expected Rick to finally consider making their affair public. Instead, he had called off the whole thing, stating that the media would certainly troll them all day and night over their affair if it was made known to the public.

"Bibiana Stone and her late father's Attorney, Rick Salomon, in a secret affair barely a few weeks after her father's death," the headlines would scream.

The outrage!

Maybe Rick was right, maybe it was better this way. But still, it hurt her badly. Initially, she had protested his decision to end things with her for the sake of their reputations, but thinking about it now, the thought of such captions making their way to headlines made her cringe so badly that she clumsily dropped the spoon she was using to stir her cup of coffee. It dropped on the kitchen floor with a bang, and she sighed as she proceeded to pick it up and dump it in the sink, leading to another noise as her mind trailed off back to her thoughts.

What was even worse was that it was no news that Rick was popularly known as the Attorney who misadvised her father, Steven Stones, leading to a series of bad choices that affected the company and its multimillion business, which started to crumble about a year ago, leading the old man to so much heartbreak, which gradually weakened his resilience and subsequently led to his untimely death.

The media blamed Rick, together with the members of the board, for being incapable of handling the business. Rick's reputation fell; he was considered pathetic by the media. For Steven's incapabilities, Rick was made to take the fall. He was as much a victim as Bibi was in the hands of Steven Stone, and this sense of familiarity had fueled Bibi's interest in him.

But that wasn't the truth, and not just Bibi and Rick knew this, but everyone who worked in the Eternal Enterprise too. Steven Stone had been incapable of running the company well; he had made horrible choices for the business over time, and that was what led to its downfall.

"Bibi?" she suddenly heard her name and turned back to reality. "Is that you, dear?"

"Yes, Mum, I'm in here," Bibi called back.

Her mother, Mrs. Silvia Stone, poked her head into the kitchen. "Oh, sweetheart, I was wondering who was up so early in the morning."

"I've been up for a while," Bibi sighed. "I couldn't sleep, so I came to grab a quick cup of coffee."

"Oh my! I also didn't sleep so well. Can you make one for me?" her mother asked as she gently strolled into the kitchen.

Bibi rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Mom! I believe you have maids for that? Besides, you should not be having caffeine; it's clearly not good for your health."

"Oh, come on, Bibi, it's just one cup of coffee," Silvia insisted.

"Well, then get it yourself, Mum!" Bibi snapped. "I'm sick and tired of everyone underplaying my role in this family. I'm only good enough to run errands and do chores for you all, but I'm never good enough to run Daddy's company as his heiress!"

Silvia was surprised at her daughter's sudden outburst. This had often been a bone of contention between her eldest daughter and her late husband. For some reason unknown to her, her late husband had vehemently refused to let Bibi participate in running the family business. Still, he had no problem with her younger sister, Vivian, handling the business. This had made Bibi unhappy and constantly angry at her family.

This act had also put a huge strain on Bibi and Vivian's already strained relationship as sisters. They never seemed to agree on anything. While Vivian was the prized daughter, Bibi was always considered by Steven as the problematic and radical one, and sadly, Vivian never failed to rub it in her elder sister's face that she was their father's favorite child.

Silvia spoke, "You know, Bibi, your father and sister love you as much as I do."

Bibi rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee as her mother went on, "They adore you as much as I do too. I know he's no more, but you need to understand that they both love you so dearly."

Bibi had had enough; she knew her mother knew the truth but chose to remain in denial all these years.

Lowering the cup and turning to her mother sharply, Bibi contended, "No, they don't, Mum. They have only ever needed me when things are about to go south in the family business, and after that, they would discard me like some piece of rag."

Silvia tried to speak, but Bibi kept talking with so much emotion, "I'm only useful as a last resort! I mean, look what happened the last time I refused to step in and help out at the company as usual; the entire company crumbled under their administration, and suddenly father decides to make me a member of the board on his dying bed. That's what I am to him and you all! The child of last resort, the alternate daughter!"

Silvia had no words left; she didn't know what else to say. Even she knew that Bibi was not completely wrong, as Steven had, for unclear reasons, placed Vivian in charge of the company instead of Bibi, who was the eldest daughter and naturally, the heiress to the enterprise. When Silvia had confronted him about it once, he had told her in clear terms, "You and I know that Bibi is more level-headed than Vivian; that singular trait would make her a better CEO than Vivian when I'm gone. All I'm trying to do now is invest in teaching Vivian how to manage the company without Bibi's interference so that when Bibi eventually takes over, she'd have her sister right next to her, and together, they'll rule over the company successfully." Silvia wasn't sure if she trusted her husband's words, but she had no reasons to doubt them either.

"You're not a child of last resort, Bibi," Silvia lovingly said as she spoke to her daughter, "You'll always be my perfect daughter, Bibiana. I'm sure your father has better plans for you and your sister in the future."

Bibi went back to sipping her coffee, wondering why she even started this conversation in the first place. It was typical of her mother to defend her husband's actions.

"Listen, Bibi," her mother went on, "you have got to let go of all this anger towards your father and sister, especially now that he's gone. Things have gotten tough, and the company really needs you and Vivian to work together. Besides, we might have to let go of the maids and other house staff soon as we can't afford to keep paying them when your late father's company is gradually dying off."

Suddenly, Bibi dropped the mug on the table in the most uncareful manner. "You know what, Mum?" she turned abruptly to her mother, "I'm really not in the mood for all your nagging!"

"But Bibi..."

"No buts, Mom!" Bibi cut in impatiently. "I only came over to ensure you were getting home enough rest and also, keep you company, but I guess Vivian can certainly do that too. So, there's simply no use for my presence."

Her mother gasped in disbelief at her sudden outburst and was about to speak when Bibi raised a hand in the air.

"You know what?!" she went on, "I think I've overstayed my welcome. I'll leave before the end of the day. Besides, now father is no more, the company needs me more than you or that sister of mine will ever do!"

And with that, she stormed off and into her bedroom, better still, the former bedroom as she no longer lived in that house.

Silvia Stone sighed in despair.

Bibi had gotten worse of late, especially after her father had died and placed Vivian, instead of her, in charge of the company. Her mood swings had worsened and had become increasingly frequent; it was as if she woke up angrier than the previous day.

She wasn't always this way; what on earth changed? As a kid, Bibi had been as cheerful as every normal and happy child. She had loved candy so much that her father often teased her about it, "I'm certain that someday, all your teeth would fall off due to the fact that you eat so much candy, and by then, even the tooth fairy would be too petrified to approach you while you sleep." And Bibi, her sister, and their father would laugh so hard together.

But everything had changed one day, and Silvia had no idea why. All she knew was that her family had grown distant, and her constant failing health had made it hard for her to step in and save the situation until it became irreparable.

Bibi and her father barely saw eye to eye; they grew so distant that Bibi stopped eating on the same table with her father. And when she was old enough to get a job and move out, she did, and without hesitation too.

Silvia now sat at the kitchen table, pondering on the past. She didn't want to believe her what her heart was telling her; she didn't want to believe that Steven truly had bad intentions for Bibi; she didn't want to believe Bibi's theory.

By evening, after spending the whole day in her former bedroom in an attempt to avoid her mother, Bibi packed up, determined to go back to her apartment. For the longest time, this place had stopped feeling like home to her. Going back to her apartment was the best thing to do now, and so when she was sure that her mother would be asleep in her bedroom, she packed up her little luggage and left the room, determined not to run into her mother or even any of the maids in the house, particularly her mother, who might try to talk her out of leaving so soon.

As she approached the staircase, getting ready to climb down with her hand luggage and rid herself of the gloom of that house, she heard voices. She couldn't exactly tell who they were at first, but with the soft clatter of things that sounded like teacups and spoons, it was a clear indication that someone from the house was still in the living room, probably entertaining a guest.

Then suddenly, she heard that dreadful familiar laughter, one she didn't fail to recognize instantly, one that had made her life a nightmare for as long as she could recall. It was her sister, Vivian.

Bibi gripped her hand luggage tighter and shut her eyes as she took a deep breath.

"Here we go again!" she whispered to herself as she walked into the living room, which was unfortunately the only road to the exit.