Prologue
"A lot are still after my life than there are, after my money. If it was money, ten percent of my savings would settle them all. Soon, everything would be fine and we would be back to living together," he said.
"You said it countless times last year. You've said it three times this year. I'm sure you'll say it again very soon. I'm use to the system, dad. I know it is necessary, so I understand," Elena replied and dropped the phone on the shelf before her after she activated the speaker.
"First, I must thank you for understanding. However, we need to keep on hoping that one day, all would be well. I need you to do just that for me. Hope!" he implored.
"Of course, I'm hoping. But there were times when it wasn't tough to this extent. It kept on hardening, it will continue to be so. You once had an enemy, now they are countless isn't it?" Elena returned.
"And that is why you have to be safe. It is tough here, Elena. I'm glad I sent you off when did. You're all I've got and it was best to keep you faraway. Never complain if I send you huge amount of money onwards. It's not about you needing it, it's about you being fine now and forever. I'm doing some things here, I'm taking some measures, tomorrow may come to reveal a disaster, just live on and don't show up…"
"Dad, I believe. I'm hoping on life. Please, live for me," Elena pleaded.
"That is just what I'm doing. I want to stay around as long as I can. Be good for me. Have a life, have friends, have a boyfriend," he chuckles.
"You haven't told me about one, ever."
"Soon dad, soon," she replied.
"Hey, talk to you later. Don't forget - you're not Ella Wayne, you're Elena Coleridge. Keep your identity from all. Never trust anyone with your background. Some remembers that Desmond Wayne has a daughter and are out there looking for you. Be smart, baby," he said and ended the call immediately.
It was the beginning of the new semester and Elena Coleridge planned to resume with a new look. Over the holiday, she put on weight; weights that were a result of Mr Alaric, her aunt's husband, who paid her weekly as though she was receiving salary and all were spent on junk. She was a billionaire's daughter who would get all she wanted and all she had to do was ask only. But the concept of asking only was introduced with the saddening idea of living far away from her father to stoop low in places that exposed her to traumas. Elena let out a sigh, a sigh of relief birthed from the idea that she was breaking loose after the long weeks of s****l tantrums from the perverted husband of her aunt. He had sneaked into her bedroom at night, peeped on her in the bathroom and had sent his nude pictures to her - Elena blamed all these on the covert life she was forced to live. And whenever she remembered her father, Desmond Wayne's advice, she would sigh and without being told, she would reiterate it to herself that it was for the best.
"My sweet Ella, stay away from me and stay away from death," he had said.
Since, she had decided to live on in the most natural way; most natural way that involved not coming close to her father or the city where he lived; not revealing that she was the heiress; living a low budget life and had to share an apartment with her best friend when she could have lived in a mansion; going out with friends and the craziest need to change her last name to Coleridge, just to avoid the scrutiny she would be subjected to when the name Wayne was said and when it would thereafter be revealed that she was from the same city as Desmond Wayne.
Elena looked at herself in the mirror and admired her fair face, with all the facial features existing on the surface - nothing superfluous. She was a blonde, more the reason for the sexiness that Mr Alaric saw in her. Her hairs would sit on her shoulders when unpacked, giving her the hot appearance and when packed, the pony would reach the small of her back. Before she was forced out of the city that had her father's name written all over, she loved to think the world was about her and had lived just like that; when she finally left, the feeling was heightened - this brought about the altercation in her way of life as she had to try and fit in.
She stood before the mirror and checked her waist and realized the sideways bigness. She needed someone to describe it to her and as she tried to turn to an angle where viewing her backside would be possible. She placed a leg on attention and other on akimbo and pushed out her backside, then she stood straight and smiled.
While she do this and smile, her phone beeped with a designated tone; it was a SMS message from Marcos Tote - her boyfriend. Just right as rain, she thought. Marcos would be ther one to describe the increment to her and she looked forward to it.
"Hello, Elena. I'm coming tomorrow. Are you coming as planned too? If you are, remember to shave. You know I love the coast clean. Love you."
Elena read and smiled.
She looked forward to resumption, meeting and f*ucking Marcos over and over; reuniting with Jojo Jackson, her best friend and talking about how they spent the holiday; meeting Robert DeJong, the Scottish guy that wanted to have her, and lastly, the circle of the hot and dirty boys and girls who had planned a kick-off dirty party where they would play truth and dare game – these were people that mattered to her, people who filled the part of her life that missed her father and made her forget the thought of being alone. They were people who introduced her to the world, caused the altercation, and gave the portal to flying free in the world while forgetting that she had a father who was somewhere living in fear and being guarded by bodyguards whenever he stepped out. That she was able to leave and live outside the the caging of her father alone was a heavenly feeling and she was ever thankful to the circle she bad chosen.
Among the futuristic meeting she had listed, she retained the thought of the new comer - Robert. Elena knew from her perspective that he would be better. That he won't cheat like Marcos was doing. Part of what she found out during the holiday was that Robert was a virgin, but the level of sexuality that Marcos had taken her was not a thing feasible in Robert. As Elena thought about all these, the need to resume immediately became the priority and she began with the packing.