FREEDOM AT LAST
1103 Words
(Season 1)
CHAPTER 3
The rain was a war drum against the roof.
Inside the marble hall, the storm was worse.
MRS. BROWN stopped pacing. Her mind was racing, but her face was stone. _What do I do? What do I do?_
The deal. Kalen Vex. The company shares. All of it hinged on a girl who looked half-drowned and half-dead.
She didn’t get to decide.
A sound.
A _thud_. Wet. Heavy. Final.
“Little Miss!!!”
MR. PHILLIPS’ voice cracked. He lunged forward, but he was too slow. Too old.
Liora hit the floor.
No cry. No last word. Just her body giving out, the way a candle does when the wick is done. Her wet dress pooled around her like dark water. Her lips were blue. Her chest barely rose.
The maids rushed in. Hands. Towels. Gasping.
Mrs. Brown and Jae didn’t move. They just stared.
Horror.
Because this wasn’t the plan.
Unconscious wasn’t on the contract.
Internally, Mrs. Brown was spiraling. _Panic attack. No. Breathe. Not now._
She was this close. One signature away from the Vex merger that would save the Brown name. If Liora died on this floor, the whole thing collapsed.
She had to move. Now.
“Maya!” Her voice snapped out, sharp and practiced. “Hot bath. New clothes. Now.
Mr. Phillips — kill the AC. Heater on full in her room.
Jae— call George. The doctor. Here. Five minutes.”
The staff froze.
This was the same woman who, thirty seconds ago, was ordering Liora into a cold room.
No one asked questions. You didn’t survive Mrs. Brown by asking questions.
“Move!”
They scattered.
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Pain.
That was the first thing.
Her skull felt like it was going to split. Her eyes were sandpaper and lead. But there was noise. Voices. Urgent.
She forced them open.
The ceiling was white. A chandelier. Her room.
And leaning over her bed, arms crossed, was the face she’d hated her entire life.
Mrs. Brown.
Looking down at her like she was a weed in a perfect lawn. Something to be ripped out.
Liora’s chest tightened.
All her life, she’d asked the same two questions: _Why am I like this? Why am I different?_
Her mother hated her. Her sister, Jae, bullied her. Her father? Gone. Vanished. No trace. No note.
She’d tried. God, she’d tried to be good enough. To be loved like Jae was loved.
Then she was fourteen and found the birth certificate in Phillips’ desk.
Not Mrs. Brown’s daughter. A ward. A ‘charity case’ with a trust she wasn’t allowed to touch.
That was the day her world crashed.
She was alone. No one to hold her when she broke. No one coming.
Now, all she wanted was to run. Far. And never look back.
She didn’t belong in this house. She never had.
“It took you long enough to wake up.”
Mrs. Brown’s voice was ice. No relief. No concern.
“Get up. Get dressed. Downstairs in five.”
No room to argue. Not that Liora had strength to.
“And listen very carefully.” Mrs. Brown leaned in. “If you mess this up this time, I will strangle you to death myself.”
Liora gulped. Her throat burned.
She watched Mrs. Brown turn and leave, the door clicking shut like a lock.
---
The bath was scalding. The clothes were silk and expensive.
Liora stared at the dress on the bed afterward. Navy. Designer. Meant to make her look ‘presentable’.
Her hands were shaking.
This was it.
This was the moment.
She didn’t know why Mrs. Brown needed her for ‘company paperwork’ so badly. But she knew it wouldn’t be in her favor. It never was.
So she didn’t put the dress on.
She pulled on black cargo pants. A plain T-shirt. A black hoodie.
The only thing she took was a small wooden box from the drawer.
George gave it to her when she was twelve. “Keep this safe, kid.” She didn’t know what was inside. Something about her mother, maybe. It felt important.
She grabbed a folder of files from the study. Things with her name on them.
And *Beck.* Her pet rat, tucked into her hoodie pocket. The only living thing that had never hit her.
Getting out wasn’t hard.
The estate wasn’t a prison. No one guarded the girl they thought was too broken to run.
She slipped through the side door. Rain hit her again. Colder now.
At the edge of the drive, she stopped. Looked back once.
The mansion. All that stone. All those mirrors. All those lies.
It only held her worst days.
“We’re finally leaving that mean witch, Beck,” she whispered. Her voice broke.
Tears came anyway. She couldn’t stop them.
Then she turned and ran into the dark.
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Mrs. Brown had on her best smile. The one she used for donors and judges.
She was pouring tea for a man who wasn’t supposed to be here.
MR. VEX.
Not Kalen. His younger brother. Mid twenties. Calm. Suit perfect. Smile gentle. And eyes that missed nothing.
The delay was getting painful. Liora was 20 minutes late.
“Mrs. Brown,” he said, setting his cup down without drinking. “Did you really think I’m so jobless?”
Mrs. Brown frowned. “What?”
He chuckled. Soft. No humor in it. “I see you know nothing about how my brother works.”
He leaned back. “Kalen Vex, Mrs. Brown. One thing he hates more than liars are people who waste his time. You should be grateful I came instead of him. You’d be apologizing to an empty room.”
He stood. Smooth. Final.
“Mr—”
He cut her off with a look. “It’s okay, Mrs. Brown. We can do this another time.”
He nodded to his PA. “We’ll take our leave now.”
And he walked out.
In the car, he exhaled. Long. Shaking.
If he’d stayed one more minute, he would’ve lost it. Jae had been hanging on him all night. Both mother and daughter are fake down to the bone.
It was a good thing he’d came instead of Kalen.
Because if Kalen had walked into that house and was delayed this much?
He wouldn’t have asked about paperwork.
He would’ve walked out and that would be the end.
TBC
- Writer
