Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
“You know how to knit?” Mirabella sounded surprised.
“Yeah, my adoptive parents taught me when I was little.” Mentioning her adoptive parents made Carol’s heart sink again, “Tomorrow, I’ll pay my respects to them again.”As they passed a clothing store, Mirabella suddenly noticed the clothes on the mannequin bore a striking resemblance to her own designs from a while back, about ninety percent similar.
She looked inside at the other mannequin displays, the clothes they wore were incredibly similar to her previous designs as well. She glanced at the store sign – 2F? Never heard of it.
“Spotted something you like?” Carol noticed her friend pausing; linking arms with her, she suggested, “Shall we go in and have a look?”
The mannequins were adorned with tags that declared “New Arrival”.
“See anything you fancy, just try it on. It’s on me today!” Carol declared with a generous laugh.
“Did you come into some money?” Mirabella asked with a light chuckle.
“A bit,” Carol whispered, “Splurging on a few outfits isn’t a big deal.”
Mirabella had known for a long time that Carol mastered the “Deadly Seven Steps” – a drug she had once used against Mirabella. So Mirabella guessed, “Pharmaceuticals?”
“Nope, but how did you know I dabble in little concoctions?” Carol said; then suddenly remembering something, she laughed again, “It was my artwork, actually. Sold a piece on the underground market for 50 grand. You know, my foster parents were teachers; they loved painting and calligraphy, and I picked up a bit from them growing up.”
Though they weren’t masters of their craft, her artwork and calligraphy could fetch a decent sum.
“I also sold a calligraphy piece for 30 grand, so today you pick whatever you want, my treat!” Carol’s smile had just begun to bloom when a girl shot her an unfriendly glare.
“Carol?” The girl’s voice dripped with disdain, “What are you doing in a place like this? Dad’s been giving you too much pocket money so you dare to shop here?”
“Let’s head over there,” Carol took Mirabella’s hand, eager to avoid a pointless spat.The girl noticed the bouquet of white roses in Carol’s arms and said with even more scorn, “Your mom’s been dead for how many years now, and you’re still wasting money on that? Just looking at it brings me bad luck!”
“Katherine!” Carol’s anger sparked, but she held it in, not wanting to cause trouble for her father.
“What? Am I wrong? Your mom’s long gone, and you’re squandering money on something for a dead person. Think the family fortune is yours to waste?” Katherine’s words were cruel, and she even knocked the bouquet from Carol’s arms.
Carol watched the flowers meant for Crystal fall to the ground and felt her temper rise. Her voice carried a warning, “Pick them up.”
Instead of complying, Katherine stomped on the bouquet, “Pick up something for the dead? As if!”
Carol was skilled enough to handle Katherine in under a minute, but the problem was, Katherine was her half-sister; they shared the same father.
Katherine, still feeling unsatisfied, kicked the ruined flowers at Carol’s feet, “Pick up every petal and get out with your bad luck charm! This place is out of your league!”
As Katherine turned to leave, Carol’s hand shot up, delivering a stinging slap, “Didn’t your mom teach you manners? Living in my house for so long, you never learned decency?”
Katherine clutched her face in disbelief, staring at Carol, “You weakling!”
When had she become so strong?
“The ruined flowers, 19 bucks.” Carol said, taking out her phone and displaying the payment code, “Scan it.””You dare ask me for money.” Katherine seemed to be encountering such audacity for the first time, “Isn’t dad’s money enough for you? Now you’re after mine too.”
“Taking someone’s cash by force is called ‘robbery,’ and ‘compensating’ means you’ve got to cough up some dough because you messed something up.” Mirabella coolly explained, eyeing her with disdain, “Aren’t you old enough to know the difference, or are you just retarded?”
Katherine fumed, her cheeks flushing red, “I can’t believe it, Carol, siding with others to gang up on me.
Just you wait.”
“Think you can just leave without paying up? As if,” Carol grabbed her arm to pull her back.
“What more do you want? You’re gonna rob me in broad daylight? Help! Can’t anyone see this? Help me! Mom, Carol’s bullying me, Mom!” Katherine’s voice was piercing, drawing the immediate attention of a couple of clerks who dashed over, with the fastest being a posh lady.
The lady stormed in, shoving Carol aside with furious strength, “You little brat, you dare to bring trouble to us? Unbelievable!”
She whipped out her phone, trembling with rage, and made a phone call, “Your precious daughter is causing a scene in front of Katherine’s boutique, disrupting business! When she demanded cash and Katherine refused, she grabbed Katherine by the collar, ready to throw punches! Her manners are atrocious! What, you don’t give her enough allowance? She’s so desperate she’s resorted to daylight robbery?”
There was a request for Carol to take the call, but the lady barked, “Why should she? So she can spin more lies? I welcomed her and her brother into our home with open arms, treated them like my own, yet this is the thanks I get? She’s crossed the line today, and if I don’t teach her the lesson her late mom obviously didn’t, she’ll never learn respect!”
Maureen angrily ended the call, raising her hand to slap Carol.Carol caught her wrist, her voice ice cold, “You’re not the one to discipline me in this house!”
“You insolent girl, you dare defy me? Remember, I am your dad’s wife! The moment you set foot here, you should be calling me ‘Mom’ and obeying my rules!”
“I do have two moms, one who birthed me and one who raised me.” Carol appraised callously, “And what do you think you are?”
Maureen was shocked by Carol’s audacity, “Listen to this! Everyone here, remember her words and tell her dad exactly what she said! I refuse to believe I can’t put her in her place today! Grab her!”
The clerks moved forward, encircling Carol.
“People from QY are already on their way. You want a fight? Let’s clear up the matter of the knocking off designs first.”
Mirabella’s interjection left everyone momentarily stunned, and Katherine’s eyes darted around a bit guiltily, “And who might you be?”
“Your worst nightmare. All these designs could bankrupt you,” Mirabella stated coldly. QY wasn’t known for playing nice. She knew exactly how long the shop had been profiting from their boutique in the mall, and the sum to settle might be more than they could afford, not to mention the impending compensation.
“What’s this QY? And what about ‘knocking off’ designs? These clothes are all my daughter’s original creations, so stop trying to confuse everyone!” Maureen was desperate to find an excuse to discipline Carol. But then, the representatives from QY actually arrived!
They bowed respectfully to Mirabella, whispering something to her, and then approached Maureen and Katherine.Upon Katherine realized these were indeed QY’s people, her bravado evaporated, replaced by a creeping fear.
At eighteen, Katherine was a college freshman, living the dream with a little business venture her dad had funded for her. The modest profits from the shop were her spending money, usually blown on life’s luxuries.
“Our law grants us the right to demand a cessation of infringement, remediation of its effects, and compensation for losses.” The representatives from QY spoke with grave seriousness, “Preliminary estimates put your compensation in the seven figures. Our lawyers will discuss the specifics with you.”
Seven figures??? Who just casually drops seven figures???
Even if Maureen wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, she could tell that Mirabella came from serious clout. She turned to Carol, “Aren’t you going to handle this? If we have to pay up, it’s coming out of your dad’s pocket! Don’t let outsiders dip their hands in our cookie jar, get it?”
Carol bristled at her haughty tone and whipped out her phone, pulling up her payment app, “19 bucks.
Pay up, then we’ll talk.”
Maureen was flabbergasted by her pettiness over the money. It just proved that Carol was not ready for the big leagues. She gestured for Katherine to settle the debt.
With a reluctant scowl, Katherine stepped forward, transferring twenty bucks to Carol’s account, “Here’s a little extra for your troubles!”
Carol promptly sent the one-dollar surplus back. They had each other’s contacts on WhatsApp, and she replied coolly, “Keep the change. You might need it more than I do.”
“How dare you!!” Katherine and Maureen shouted in unison, fuming with the urge to tear her apart.
“Make sure QY gets every penny they’re owed. I want a public apology from you!” Mirabella dropped this bombshell and strode out with Carol.Perhaps they hadn’t expected things to spiral this far, both Maureen and Katherine were livid. That untrustworthy Carol, they’d see how to deal with her later!
Once Mirabella and Carol were alone, Bella inquired, “Is that your stepmom and stepsister?”
Carol nodded, “And there’s a twin brother born alongside Katherine. He’s a real piece of work too.”
Mirabella had never expect that Carol had finally found her way back to her family, only to encounter such a household. It made her appreciate the Collins family even more. At least there she had loving parents, and five protective brothers.
“Dad really wants us to stay, but that home is not the home it used to be.” Carol’s smile was tinged with bitterness, “The family name might suggest we’re kin, but I know better. Dad isn’t just mine anymore.”
“Does your dad know they bully you?”
“At first, Dad thought we got along fine. But then Katherine and the rest couldn’t keep up the act for long and showed their true colors. Whenever they clashed with me, Dad would scold them a bit much, which only made them despise my brother and me even more, especially the stepmom. She’s always whispering in Dad’s ear, trying to ensure my brother and I don’t come back to claim an inheritance.”
Truth be told, Carol couldn’t care less about the inheritance, and her brother was equally indifferent.
But the antics of her stepmom, stepsister, and stepbrother were just too absurd for words.
“They keep thinking Dad’s given me a lot of money. Indeed, on the day I came back, he handed me a bank card, but I never took it.”
As Carol spoke, she looped her arm through Mirabella’s and they strolled into the flower shop to buy a fresh bouquet of white roses.
While the florist was wrapping up the flowers, Carol whipped out her phone and started tapping away furiously, meanwhile saying, “Just give me a sec.”
Mirabella nodded, took out her own phone to catch up on some work emails, not prying into what Carol was up to but simply waiting quietly by her side.
After a short while, the florist handed over the neatly packaged bouquet, and Carol, finished with her task, took the flowers and linked arms with Mirabella as they left the shop.
“Once Katherine gets back, she’ll definitely paint a dramatic picture of what happened to my dad. So, I hacked into the store’s surveillance system and sent the footage to my dad already.”
Only then did Mirabella realize what Carol had been busying herself with. Carol’s hacking skills were nothing to scoff at. Mirabella had discovered this firsthand when she and Romeo had tried to break into Carol’s computer and found it safeguarded by a firewall. At that time, Carol had even set up three security questions, all relating to Clark.
Thinking back, it all seemed like a distant memory.
“I told my dad that Katherine started the whole mess, that she threw the flowers I’d bought for Crystal’s tribute on the ground and stomped on them. She even spewed nonsense about my late mom. I simply asked for compensation for the bouquet, and before I could demand an apology, she threw a fit. The surveillance footage clearly shows they were the ones who kept provoking the situation.” Carol explained, not forgetting to reassure Mirabella, “Don’t worry, I won’t let them walk all over me in this family.”She had been groomed to be the successor since she was little. Katherine thought she could take advantage of Carol? Fat chance.
On their drive to pay respects to Crystal, Mirabella mentioned, “The Doom gang has been pretty much wiped out. Romeo and Clark have really stepped up.”
Of course, her aunt and uncle abroad had also been a big help. Hans had lent a hand from the shadows too. Grandpa Eugene and his friends, along with other beloved elders, had all pitched in.
“You’ll finally have a peaceful year,” Mirabella said with a gentle glance at Carol.
Carol felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she looked ahead, reflecting, “I don’t even know how I got through those days before.”
The days of running for her life, being on constant alert, were about to be behind her. And it was all thanks to Mirabella.
“Bella, thank you.” Carol looked at her gratefully, “If it wasn’t for you, Clark might still be looking for me, my brother and I might still be living in fear, Doom wouldn’t have fallen so quickly, and I wouldn’t have found my birth family so soon.”
“If you really want to thank me,” Mirabella replied with a smile, “just live a happy and fulfilling life with Clark. That would be the best thank-you I could ask for. I wish you both all the happiness in the world.”