Reclaimed by the CEO

Abandoned

The rays of light in Mira’s room couldn’t make her life any brighter no matter how bright they shone. She couldn’t even move from the bed no matter how much her phone buzzed all night. The calls from her dad, the notifications from blogs and sites… her life was over and she knew it.

She finally decided to speak to her father, the one man whom she believes would love her regardless. Even if Richard tossed her away, the man she has called “father” in the last eight years and has adored her wouldn’t neglect her.

“Hello daddy…”, she said in a teary voice, trying to hold back her tears.

“Get out of my house this minute! I don’t ever want to see you here. I should have done the DNA tests way before now.”, her father’s voice thundered on the phone before hanging up on her.

She slowly dropped the phone and broke down in tears again. Even her father didn’t believe her.

What could she do? She only grew up knowing that her father was rich and lived in the city. He couldn’t be in her life because her mother was silenced with money by her grandmother who believed Alice was unworthy of her son.

Alice raised Mira all alone on the countryside till she died. Mira had no relative or family except her grandmother who sent her to an orphanage home because she knew she wouldn’t live any longer. Mira’s grandmother was the only witness she had to prove her existence but even that woman was gone,dead from cancer because they couldn’t afford her treatment. All she had left was her mother’s necklace and a pair of shoes she got from her on her 15th birthday.

She was no longer welcomed in a house she has called home in the last eight years so she decided to pack her things.

She decided to face her fears and picked up the phone again, going through the notifications one after the other.

“Gold-digger!”

“Imposter!”

“Fake heiress exposed!”

Her humiliation from the engagement party had spread overnight like wildfire. Social media was flooded with clips of Richard removing the ring from her finger, following Selina’s false announcement. The comment sections brewed with ridicule and the headlines were endless.

Just 24 hours ago, she thought that by dawn, she would have become the topic of discourse but nothing prepared her for this.

A sharp knock jolted her back to reality and the door burst open before she could answer.

Her stepmother,Lisa, walked in, her expression clearly showing victory and schemes. Behind her were two servants, dragging along suitcases.

“Mother…?” Mira’s voice cracked.

“Don’t you dare call me that,” the woman said as a hot slap landed on Mira’s cheeks.

“You have embarrassed this family enough. I’ve always known you didn’t belong here. My husband has been fooled all along. You came to rob my daughter of everything that belonged to her. You monster!.”

Mira scrambled out of bed.

“It’s not true, I swear! Selina forged those papers. I am real! I’m not fake!” Mira pleaded on her knees despite knowing how happy Lisa was deep down.

She has been living at her mercy all these years, careful not to cross her path and just last night, she vowed to take revenge but somehow, she found herself kneeling for this evil woman again.

“Silence!” Lisa shouted again, landing another slap on her cheeks.

“Do you think anyone cares about you anymore? We already know who you are, the whole world knows already. The company board is furious, the press won’t stop calling us and Richard’s family is demanding we return every gift they gave us. You have done enough! We no longer want you here! Leave!”

Once again, reality dawned on Mira as she rose to her feets slowly with her head hung down.

She knew she no longer has anything here. No name. No inheritance. Nothing.

“Be grateful we are not handing you over to the police for fraud,” Lisa spat.

“Get out of this house. You are dead to us.”

Lisa walked away in her heels clicking against the marble floor. The servants couldn’t look at Mira as they followed their master, leaving her alone in the empty room that had once been hers.

Mira sank to the floor beside her luggage, this time, her eyes no longer shed tears. They only burned from betrayal.

Her chest ached but she made sure no tears fell. She refused to give Selina or anyone else the satisfaction of seeing her breakdown.

Selina walked in and closed the door behind her.

“How does it feel to be stripped off everything you once owned?”, she asked mockingly.

“I’ve always told you I would get back everything you took from me and I waited for the perfect time to get it. You do not belong here, Mira. I do! I won’t let you come from nowhere and take what’s mine. You’ve stayed here long enough. Eight years was a lot of time to taste wealth and you’ve enjoyed that. Now, go back to the life you deserve.”

Mira couldn’t say a word. She just took her bags and walked out of the room with a swollen face and heavy heart.

She didn’t even bother that the dress from last night was still on her. All that mattered in that moment was getting away from there.

The servants looked on as she walked out of the mansion, a few shedding tears because she was the only kind lady in the house but they dare not help her.

Minutes of directionless walks later, Mira found herself dragging her suitcases through the city, ignored by passersby who scrolled through their phones, some pausing only to recognize and sneer at her.

She had no friends here, no money and nowhere to go.

The only people she ever knew stayed on the countryside and she couldn’t bring herself to be a burden to them after all these years of no contact.

“Isn’t that the fake heiress?”

“Shameless.”

“She deserves everything she got.”

Passersby kept making comments then she walked faster.

She found a bench at the edge of a quiet park and sat alone staring at the clouds, her gown still wrinkled from the night before, her hair disheveled.

A black Mercedes with tinted glasses rolled to a stop nearby. The glass from the back seat lowered slowly and the deep, commanding voice inside made her freeze.

“Hi, heiress”

She turned her head.

It was Khalid, the CEO who had been at the engagement party the night before. His sharp suit couldn’t go unnoticed and he had a slight smile on his face but Mira didn’t know if they were real. He fixed his gaze at her, not looking away for a moment but Mira didn’t see pity in his eyes, it felt like amusement, like he was studying something mysterious.

At first, she wanted to look away but she had way too much pride holding her in place.

“Who are you? Are you following me?” she asked coldly.

Khalid’s lips curved even more as his smile got noticeable this time.

“You saved me the stress of stalking. The whole city knows the name Mira now… perhaps not in the way you wanted. Even though I’m not interested in your business, I can’t help being drawn to it now that it’s all over the city”

“Then enjoy the show, Mister. I won’t dance for you too.”

She grabbed her bags and stood, ready to leave. But Khalid’s voice stopped her.

“Interesting,” he said.

“Even after being stripped of everything, you still hold your head high. Most women in your shoes would have run away, hidden, begged. But you…” His eyes narrowed slightly. “You still have fire.”

She turned back to him, her face visible with anger.

“And what if I do? Will you crush me too? Add your name to the list of people laughing at me? Who the hell are you?”

None of them said anything after that , all that followed her statements was silence.

Then Khalid leaned back in his seat, his gaze cool but still lingering.

“I usually don’t waste time laughing at weaklings. But I can never ignore someone who refuses to stay down. That’s who I am.”, he replied then the window rolled up.

His car pulled away before Mira could respond and she kept staring at the moving car with her heart pounding for reasons she couldn’t fathom.

For the first time since her world collapsed, someone hadn’t dismissed her completely.

But she didn’t need his approval. She didn’t need anyone’s.

Holding tightly to her bags, she said;

“You all can call me a fraud. A fake. Whatever you want. But I’ll rise again… and when I do, you’ll beg for mercy.”

The vow burned brighter inside her than ever before.