Vengeful Heiress

The Return. New York did not remember her. The city remained the same, the glass towers cutting into the sky, yellow cabs moving past in impatience, strangers brushing shoulders without apology. But to Elena, it felt like stepping into a memory that had never healed. She stood outside the Airport, dressed in jeans, black sleeves, and sneakers. The cool wind tugged at her dark brown hair. Shades on. Three suitcases. A heart that hadn’t stopped racing since the plane landed. Twelve years later. Twelve years since she left the city. Crying in the back seat of her Aunt’s car asking for her parents. She took her phone and looked up her father's name. Fraud. Embezzlement. Corporate scandal. Lies about her father. Her fingers tightened around her phone. She opened the finance app she had checked every day for the past two years. Whitmore Global Holdings. CEO: Sebastian Whitmore. Majority Shareholder: 80% Her Uncle. She hissed as she turned off her phone. A black car pulled up. Elena slid into the back seat, her expression calm again. Composed. Controlled. She had come back for the truth. And truth required patience. Her phone rings. Her aunt's calling. She picks. “Hi Auntie” “Eli my love, how are you doing?” “I’m fine Auntie, how are you?” “Oh I’m fine my darling, I was tracking your flight and I saw you’ve already landed.” “Yes Auntie” “How are you feeling? Have you been picked up already? Are you at the apartment?” “I’m still on my way to the apartment, and so far I feel pretty good. Just tired from the flight.” “Alright, my love. I still don’t know why you were persistent about applying for your internship there. But don’t worry, I’m not going to stress about it. You’ve already made your decision, and I trust you. Just take care of yourself, keep me updated always, and let me know when you get to your apartment.” “I will Auntie. Thank you so much. I love you.” “I love you too.” Call ends. Elena takes a deep breath. “I still don’t know why you were persistent about applying for your internship there…..” her aunt's voice replaying in her mind. “For the truth,” she murmured under her breath. Later that evening, inside her apartment, Elena unpacked. She had the place cleaned up earlier. All she did was put her clothes away. She went to shower before bed. Already picked up pizza and had it for dinner. She got into bed and was lost in her thoughts for a while. She remembered her Uncle inheriting her father’s shares after the accident. Publicly denounced her father’s “financial misconduct” just weeks after the funeral. Her jaw tightened. She closed her eyes slowly. Tomorrow, she will step inside Whitmore Global for the first time in twelve years. Not as a Whitmore. As an intern. That night she had a nightmare. “Mommy, Daddy”, eight-year-old Elena cried in the backseat of their car. They had just been involved in an accident. Her mother and father were unresponsive in the front seat, blood everywhere. “Somebody help us”, she cried out. Soon people gathered, they broke the glass and pulled out the little girl. Elena had cuts but was fine. Her parents were dragged out, unresponsive, blood everywhere, almost unrecognizable. They were pronounced dead on the spot. Elena crying and screaming, “Where is my Mommy? Daddy? Where are they? Give me my Mommy back. Mommy!! Daddy!!” Elena woke up gasping for air, sweat on her temples, her heart beating so fast. They sat up and looked around. How ironic, her first night in this city and she’s already having nightmares. She refused to cry that night. She has to be strong. The next morning, her alarm went off. “Oh s**t I’m late”, Elena said as she bolted up. She stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and yelled as Icy water hit her skin. “s**t, it's cold! Why didn’t I heat it?!” she shivered, scrubbing quickly, muttering under her breath. “This is not how future heiresses start their days…” Back in her room, she tore through her closet. “Where’s that blouse? I arranged everything last night!” She pulled one out. She grabbed her hairbrush - except it wasn’t there. “Brush, brush, brush where are you? Don’t betray me now” She spotted it. Snatched it and yanked through her wet tangled hair. Shoes next. She shoved it on while hopping towards her desk. Her bag is half-packed. She stuffed her note, pen, and ID into her bag. She paused at the kitchen counter. Her gaze landed on the pizza box from last night. “Fine. Cold pizza it is”. She grabbed a slice, shoved it in her mouth, slung her bag over her shoulder, and sprinted for the door. She stood across the street from Whitmore Global’s headquarters. The building rose like a monument. Glass and steel reflecting the sunlight. Employees flowed in and out, polished and purposeful. She watched. She took a deep breath and went in. She went to the reception desk. “Good morning, my name is Elena Hayes. I’m a new intern starting today.” She said to the woman behind the desk. “Hold on, let me get your supervisor, please have your seat” the woman said. After a few minutes, a lady walks up to her.. “Elena Hayes”, she calls out. Elena quickly got up, “Yes, good morning” “Follow me”, she said as she led the way. She stopped at a room filled with other interns. “This is your department. The operations departments. These are your colleagues” “Hi”, Jenna, a colleague said as she approached. “Jenna, please brief her about the company, explain the rules, resumption time, dress code, and conduct. Also, explain her job here at the operations department and show her to her desk.” the woman said without looking back as she exited the room. “Hi I’m Jenna and these are my colleagues, well our colleagues now”, she said with a smile. “Hi I’m Elena, it’s nice to meet you all” “Ok let me introduce you to them,” Jenna said as she approached her colleagues. “That’s Hailey, she is the assistant to the HSE officer; that’s health, safety, and environment. She ensures safety rules are followed and records incidents or hazards, makes safety reports, and all that.” “It’s nice to meet you Elena,” Hailey said. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Elena gave a warm smile. “Alright, so that’s David, Joshua, Trisha, Cameron, Quan, and Mike.” Jenna continued. “We all have roles from site supervisor, to project engineer, operations analyst, and yeah. But since you’re new, you’ll work with me as Documentation and reporting officer, we collect daily site reports, submit, and so on.” She led Elena to a desk next to hers. “Here, I hope you feel at home,” she said with a cheeky smile. “Oh and the woman that brought you here, she's Mrs Ivy, she’s the Head of our department, she supervises all, makes decisions, reports to senior management, and yeah.” Elena just nodded, listening to everything. Elena sat at her desk during a quiet lull in the afternoon, staring at the company's logo on the folder before her. She whispered on her breath, almost like a vow: “No one here knows, no one knows the daughter of the man whose blood and sweat built this empire. But soon….. I’ll take what’s mine. Father‘s memory will be restored.” Her eyes hardened, determination, flickering behind them before she shook herself back to the present, returning to the task of the day. The office was dim now, most of the stuff already gone. Elena gathered her things, sliding her notebook into her bag. She smiled friendly at other interns. “Bye, everyone. See you tomorrow.” She turned to Jenna, who guided her through the chaos of the first day. “Thanks for today, Jenna.” “Don't mention it, Elena. You did great for your first day.” As Elena stepped into the hallway, she collided with someone, a tall man with a chilling presence. His aura was cold, commanding. He didn’t apologize, didn’t even glance at her, just brushed past and kept walking. Jenna rushed over, “Oh my, are you okay?” Elena straightens herself, “Yeah…. but who was that?” Jenna lowered her voice, “He’s the right hand to the owner of Whitmore.” Elena scoffed, muttering under her breath as she adjusted her bag. “Figures. Too proud to even say sorry. What a—” she cuts herself off, shaking her head. With a final glance at the man’s retreating figure, she pushed open the glass doors and stepped out into the night, the city lights reflecting in her eyes.