1 1. Released
The Year 2021...
The 24-year-old Leony O'Dwyer, marks today's date on the calendar hanging on the wall of her prison cell. It's been seven years since she was incarcerated.
Yesterday, she had an interview with the parole board. If given a positive review by them, she is sure to be released in a few weeks time.
She couldn't wait to go back home and get her life back on track. It's not that she was being treated badly in jail, in fact, most of the inmates like her very much.
She herself has grown quite attached and knows that she will miss them.
The only people who come to visit her and keep motivating her were her oldest sister Kenia, her boyfriend Beckett, who is also her friend since their childhood, and Arya, their butler's daughter and her grandpa. She misses them all.
Sometimes Leony feels that the inmates treated her better than her actual parents.
They have never come to visit nor call her since she was convicted but she had assumed that they must really be busy.
Her second older sister, Alexia, has never once contacted her but with her, Leony understands.
Maybe Alexia is drawing away from her while she is in prison, because the police could record their conversations, and know who the actual offender of the crime was, should they slip-up.
Yes. You read right. Leony was incarcerated for a crime that her sister committed.
She was made to believe that the system will be lenient on her since it will be her first offence but that wasn't the case.
The result of the parole board interview came in and indeed it was positive.
She was really elated and even most of the inmates celebrated with her.
She texted her parents and her siblings but as usual, only her oldest sister, Kenia replied.
In a few weeks time, she got released from prison. Her three other cell mates Faye, Amirah and Anahi together with some of the inmates, organised a send off party for her the previous day before she left. Even the prison guards chipped in.
When she got home, a duffle bag was left with the security and given to her. Her parents have disowned her. They didn't want her tarnishing their family name. They didn't want a killer for a daughter.
She saw her parents and her second older sister, Alexia come from inside the house to the gate and that made her very hopeful. Perhaps the security guards have made a mistake.
"What are you still standing there for?" Her mother asked in an unwelcoming tone even before she reached the gate.
"Dad, mom, please tell the guards to let me in. They are the reason I am still standing outside here, they refuse to let me enter the house. They're saying some things that I don't understand. I just want to come in and rest." Leony explained to her parents.
"What don't you understand? Haven't they given your things to you? Shouldn't you be on your way? We do not want an ex-convict in our family." Her dad told her.
"Just leave and don't you dare tell anyone anywhere that you happen to know me or any of us here." Her sister added.
"Sister!" Leony couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What is happening here?"
"What? Call me your sister again and see what I wouldn't do to you." Alexia was getting too annoyed that this ex-convict dared to call her, her sister.
"Sis, how can you say this. I went to prison for you and I am only coming back now. Mom, dad, how can you all do this to me? Is this my reward?"
"And so? Leave here quick before my visitor comes. I don't want him to know that we have a criminal in our midst. Dad, Darragh will be here soon. Let's make her leave before then.
"Stop talking nonsense and move out of the gate. Or I'll release the dogs on you if you do not leave there this instant. Guards. Bring the dogs here!" her father commanded.
In a matter of minutes, the guards came with three large and scary looking dogs, each one on a leash. These dogs were brought in after she went to prison.
She has been away for seven years but she was sure she would've been able to recognise these dogs if they had them before she left to serve time.
They were very wild and aggressive even though they are chainged.
They kept barking at her from inside the house with only the gates separating them.
Leony was afraid, for she could feel that these big dogs will not spare her if they get the chance.
Her oldest sister is in her matrimonial home and so she can not go there.
She turned to leave. It was then that the tears that she didn't know she was holding finally came out like a flood.
For someone who had to be incarcerated for a crime that her sister committed, Leony felt so betrayed.
She was made to believe that the system will be lenient on her since it will be her first offence, so she will only get a slap on the wrist.
But she soon realised the folly of her actions after receiving her final judgment at the state court.
She tries to hold back from breaking down again as she made her way to the last relative she could count on.
As for her lazy brother Cedric, she wouldn't go to him even if he happens to have a place of his own because of his lifestyle. At the end, the only place left was her grandpa's.
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The Year 2024...Three Years Later...
After being disowned by her parents three years ago for being such a disgrace to them, Leony's paternal grandpa took her in.
She was his youngest grandchild and his favourite among his grand kids anyway, but this only made the others hate her more.
Since she had not completed her senior high school before she went to serve time, he didn't want her to work so she could focus on her studies, but she had insisted to, so he offered her a job at their company as only a receptionist.
Unfortunately, his children and his other grandchildren refused vehemently, including Leony's own parents and siblings.
Not wanting to put her grandpa in a tight situation, she quit working there and searched for a job elsewhere.
Not so long after that, her grandpa's health kept deteriorating and since none of their actual family members lives with them in the big mansion except for the servants and the nurses, she puts a break on the job hunt.
She decided to focus on her studies and therapy, and spend more time with her grandpa. Other times, she will go to her boyfriend's place and spend the night there but two nurses and a doctor will be on call duty.
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Leony considers herself to be very lucky in the boyfriend department.
She and Beckett Lyons, the 27-year-old current CEO of Lyons Group, started to date a few weeks after she was released from jail. He has been there for her throughout her prison time.
The two have been crushing on each other since they were in middle school.
He had wanted to ask her out once they were done with their terminal examinations the very academic term that she got arrested.
So when she was finally out, he didn't want to slack and lose his chance again.
He went ahead to shoot his shot and luckily Leony accepted two started to explore the love together.
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"Two shots of margaritas?", the bartender asked and Leony nodded. She needed a lawyer for tonight. Not one in state courts but one in the bedroom departments.
Lately, her boyfriend has been quite busy with the running of his companies, so she comes to his side instead and they spend some quality time together.
Sometimes they would meet at his home and other time they meet at hotels, depending on his schedule.
Tonight, she wore his favourite, a very sexy lingerie that he himself has bought for her on her last birthday, underneath her long coat. She gulped down her drink and decided to leave the bar afterwards.
There's something new that she would like to try on her boyfriend tonight, so she needed some alcohol in her system to psyche her up.
"Are you okay? Do you need me to call a cab for you?" the bartender asked as she was struggling to stand firmly.
"It's okay. I'll be okay." She said and got off the long stool at the bar. She stumbled and bumped into the chest of a stranger.
She looked up at the broad chested man. "Sorry, I'm a bit tipsy." she belched, still leaning on him.
The man signaled an employee to come and told him. "Take her to one of the private rooms. I don't think that it's safe to let her leave in this state."
She pulled herself up and move away from the man when she heard him tell the employer that.
"Thanks, but I'm okay. My boyfriend has a room here. I'll be on my way.",
She waved at them and left them as she made her way to the hotel room that she and her lover usually use.
Seeing that she has a room there already and won't need to step out in her current state, Ryan Buckley told the employee to let her go, as he too went about his business for the night.
