1 Betrayal

Elena drove through the busy roads of the city, rubbing her temple to ease her aching forehead. She hadn't slept at all for three days straight, sacrificing her sleep for the ultimate plan that would make her younger sister to finally give up her position as the heir. She had been plotting this for months- gathering even tiniest bit of information she could use against her sister, bribing and blackmailing a few people on the Board of Directors, sending spies among her sister's trusted aides, sabotaging her sister's projects just so the shareholders could finally see how incompetent her sister was and finally dismiss her as the heir. Her sister made it easier for Elena, since the naïve, innocent girl of nineteen was still a greenhorn in business matters.

It didn't have to be this way though. If only her sister hadn't snatched her –as well as her other siblings'- shares of the company, if only she hadn't conspired against her siblings and hadn't extended her greedy hands to what belonged to her older sisters, she wouldn't have fallen to this state.

A dark look flashed in her eyes and she mumbled under her breath, "Don't blame me for being heartless, Rose. It's your fault for starting this mess by coveting what should've belonged to each one of us equally."

Once upon a time, Elena had it all- riches, smarts, and a loving family. She had worked hard on her family's business, not only as a means to reciprocate the love she got from her family, but also because she had always known that she would inherit a part of it, just like her other siblings would too one day. Knowing her parents, she knew that she would split the shares of the company equally among the four of them one day.

However, reality turned out to be quite different, since the day her brother fell into a coma, her father declared her younger sister as the heir to his business. That was a huge blow to Elena –who thought that all her hard work was wasted and she wouldn't even get a single penny from the company she had helped in developing to this stage. She had tried asking him his reason for doing something like this, but other than a look of doubt towards her, she never got her answer from him. In the end Elena became frustrated because of her father's heavy suspicions as well as his silence regarding his actions in giving all his shares to her younger sister. What had Rose done to make their father suspicious towards his two elder daughters? Thinking that Rose must've conspired against her siblings, Elena became furious and started opposing her younger sister.

This caused a rift in their happy family. It didn't help that when she tried to dig up the truth behind her brother's coma, she found that her little sister had her hands in it. Needless to say, Elena was pissed. She really had underestimated Rose! Rose was always acting like an innocent, naïve girl, but she had actually turned out to be a cunning fox! No way would Elena let her get what she wanted, especially when she was coveting something that belonged to all the four siblings, and not to Rose alone!

Elena did everything she could to get back what was rightfully hers. She tried to team up with her eldest sister, but her eldest sister refused to ally with her, saying that she had no interest in the company and was happy with her husband. She didn't want to step into the murky waters and the politicking that took place in the struggle for money and power, and would rather focus on her home life than to cause troubles for her parents. Since her older sister refused, while her younger brother who was in a coma wasn't going to help her out, Elena decided to take the matter in her hands and fought against Rose's power in the company. Bit by bit she plotted and planned, and finally she can see the fruits of her labor. In twenty four hours, Rose's scandals would be aired in the public, and to protect the image of the company, the board of Directors will have to dismiss rose from her position as the heir.

She didn't think she was being ruthless. At least Elena is leaving her little sister alive. Rose hadn't even pitied her siblings when she had not only snatched their shares, but even caused their youngest brother to suffer from a grave accident and fall in a coma. Elena bet that their eldest sister being missing for the last few days must be related to her too. Really, compared to her sister's malicious scheming, Elena's plots were nothing.

Shaking her head to snap out of her thoughts, Elena concentrated on her driving, lest she get into a car accident or something. Getting distracted while driving was a recipe for disaster. Besides, it'll be over soon. As long as she exposes Rose's true face before everyone, everything will be fine.

Elena drove her car to her apartment building in the city, where she lived with her roommate-slash-friend –Andy Johnson. She smiled as she thought of her kind-hearted friend, the one who had stuck with her even when her whole family was against her. She was really grateful for Any's presence in her life, she really didn't know what she'd have done if Andy hadn't been there with her through every problems she had faced. Even when the whole world out there cursed Elena for being a vicious and scheming bitch, it was Andy who defended her. She really was lucky for having a friend like Andy during her difficult times.

She wondered what Andy's reaction would be when she'd tell her that everything's over now, that in less than a day's time all of Elena's struggles would bore fruit, and she'd finally get her company back from Rose's greedy hands. She'd surely be happy, since Andy had never liked Rose anyways, finding her to be a two-faced person.

Elena got out of the car and made her way into the building. She walked into the elevator and pushed the button of the top floor. The elevator closed with a 'ding' sound, and Elena momentarily leaned against the metal wall inside the elevator, and let herself rest a bit. Now that she had done everything she could, she can finally get the rest her exhausted body deserved.

'Ding!'

The elevator's doors opened as soon as it reached the top floor, and with a sigh, Elena walked out of the elevator and towards the door of her apartment –which happens to be the only apartment on the top floor. Knowing that Andy had night shifts this week, she pulled out her key from her pocket to open the door, expecting it to be locked. However, unexpectedly, the door was unlocked. Elena's eyes narrowed in suspicion- either Andy forgot to lock the door before leaving or some thief had decided to visit her apartment today.

Pursuing her lips, Elena opened the door and stepped into the apartment cautiously. She glanced around her apartment, and found that everything was normal –it didn't look like a thief broke in since nothing seemed to be out of order. So, does this mean her first guess was correct, that Andy forgot to lock the door today?

Rubbing her temple once again to ease her headache, Elena sighted. That silly woman...…. she almost gave me a heart attack.

Thinking of teasing Andy when she returned in the morning, Elena crossed the hall and decided to just sleep for the night, only to pause when she heard some strange sounds coming from Andy's room. The ambiguous sounds coming from Andy's room made her raise her brows in question. From the moans of the female, she recognized her as Andy. As for the male, why did his voice sound familiar to her?

Elena's head ached again, making her wince. Ugh, forget it, she'll interrogate her friend tomorrow. Right now she should get some sleep before her body crashes down from exhaustion. She should let Andy enjoy a night of pleasure with the mystery man, she'd grill all the details from the woman tomorrow and tease her endlessly. Besides, she was sure that even if Andy screams passionately, the sound won't reach her room, since Elena's bedroom was the only room in the whole apartment that has been soundproofed. Just as Elena was about to leave for her room, Andy's moans halted her steps.

"Ah, Brother Daniel! Ummmm…..Faster!"

Daniel-? Wait, no... How can that be? It must be some other Daniel... There's no way the person having sex with my friend is-

"As you wish, my dear." The man spoke, and Elena's eyes widened when she realized why she thought the voice seemed familiar to her.

-Brother-in-law?

Elena cautiously made her way outside the room as her friend and her brother-in-law made love to each other. She ignored their moans and the sounds of them having sex as thoughts whirled in her mind. Why was Brother-in-law here? And having affair with Andy too? Then what about her eldest sister? Just this afternoon he had been bitterly crying in her office, and now he was having sex with her friend? So this means he had been cheating her eldest sister this entire time? His love and care towards her eldest sister, and his worry about her being kidnapped was all an act? This man had been fooling around with her sister this entire time?!

And Andy, she knew about it too, didn't she? Even after knowing that Daniel had married Elena's eldest sister, she still had an affair with him?! Was this really what a kind-hearted friend would do? What else was this two-faced woman doing behind her back?!

Feeling her temper flare, Elena grabbed the doorknob and was about to confront the cheating couple, when she heard Andy speak after they were done with their love-making, "How long do we have to meet in secret like this?" She complained. "I'm fed up of it."

"Just a few days more, my love." He consoled her. "I've heard that Elena's going to finally give the finishing blow to Rose's already crumbling power in the Company. After that, it'd be easy to threaten that naive girl with Jenny's life and get her to sign the documents stating all the shares and properties to be given to us."

Elena was rooted to her spot with their words outside their room.. Impossible..... They didn't-

Andy cozied up to her lover and mumbled with a smirk, "I really have to thank my dear 'friend' for all her help these years. If it hadn't been for her causing difficulties for Rose and making a mess of the company, we might've been caught by Mr. Parker's underlings. If she hadn't diverted his attention, we wouldn't have gotten time to erase our tracks, and then that shrewd man would've known that we were the ones who orchestrated the accident that made Benjamin fall into coma."

Elena placed a hand over her mouth, her eyes widened in disbelief. They were the ones responsible for her brother's coma?

"Well, sister-in-law really is our luck star." Daniel's voice came from the room. "She really made everything easy for us. While she fought against her family and kept making things difficult for them, we were able to gather enough resources to be able to overthrow the Parkers' influence on their company and to get it under our control. It'd have been easier if that Jenny hadn't gotten suspicious of me these past few months, and hence, forcing me to get her kidnapped."

"Oh? Have you fallen for your wife then?" Andy asked scornfully.

"How can that be? I love only you, darling." He spoke in a fawning tone. "If she hadn't been the Eldest daughter of Parker Family, would I even have approached her? For the sake of our plan, I had to spend five years to get their trust and settle down in the company."

"You think I had it easy? Do you know how much paranoid that bitch Elena is? I had to constantly act like a kind-hearted white lotus, even a little mistake in my act and that woman would've thrown me to the wolves! She is definitely a vicious woman who didn't even spare her family from her scheming and maliciousness!"

"But it is only thanks to that vicious woman that we're on the brink of completing our plan."

Andy mumbled reluctantly, "...That's true."

Her hands clenched into fists as her eyes reddened as she tried to resist the urge to barge in and slap that cheating couple senseless. All this time she had been thinking that Rose had conspired against her and her other siblings. But she had been wrong- it wasn't Rose. Instead, it had been the friend she had trusted the most and the brother-in-law her family had come to love and respect who had manipulated her to cause problems to her own family. Like a fool, she had played into their hands and was about to hand everything to them on a silver platter.

Like hell she'd let that scheming couple win! She'll make them pay for messing with her and her family! She will tear off their masks and show the world how ugly their hearts are.

Taking a deep breath, she once again tried to reign in her temper and glowered once again at the door, as if she could see through it and directly look at the malicious scheming couple. Even though she really wanted to storm in and confront the two traitors –and maybe give a slap or two to them, she still decided against this, because for one- it would let them know that Elena knew about their schemes and would make them vigilant- making it harder for her to make a move on them. Secondly, Elena knew she was a vicious bitch. Elena held even silliest of grudges for a long time, and the thing she did the best was plotting revenge. Those who wronged her, she would never let them off. She had always made her enemies pay the price ten-fold for wronging her. Since this cheating couple dared to mess with her, they ought to be prepared for the consequences.

So, with one last glower at the door of Andy's room, Elena walked out of her apartment and went back to the parking lot to grab her car. She will definitely have her revenge…. but first, she needed to stop the scheme she had already set into motion. If what she had heard was correct, then it means that her younger sister Rose was innocent. Rose doesn't deserve what's coming for her. Hence, before she could destroy her sister's reputation and life forever, she'd have to stop that plan she had set into motion a few hours ago.

Elena got into her car and drove it away from the building, not noticing that she had already been seen by Daniel's driver, who had already informed his Boss about Elena's departure. Back in the apartment, Andy watched as Daniel picked up his phone, and soon his face darkened when he heard what the other side said. He quickly got off the bed and grabbed his clothes scattered around the floor.

"What happened?" she asked curiously as she clutched the blankets closer to her naked body.

"My driver had seen Elena depart from this building a few minutes ago." He spoke darkly.

Andy stiffened when she heard his words. "What had she been doing here?! Why didn't he inform you earlier that she had arrived?"

Daniel buttoned up his shirt and spoke, "Apparently, he did. But we were too busy doing, ah- you know, that I didn't notice my phone ringing."

She broke out into cold sweat. "Do you think she heard everything?"

"Most probably."

Andy let her head fall in her hands. "We're doomed now. That vicious woman won't spare us now, especially after knowing that we used her against her family like that! That scheming bitch will definitely not let us off!" Andy was really scared. She understood how vicious Elena was in these few years she had spent in her company. Elena never spared anyone who wronged her. After knowing that they have been playing with her and her family these past few years, how can that woman let them off?

A dark look flashed in Daniel's eyes. "That will only happen if we don't take action first."

Andy was stunned at his words. "You mean-?"

"It's time to destroy this pawn. After all, a pawn who tries to rebel is useless to me. Rather than waiting for her to scheme against us, we should destroy her first." saying this, he grabbed his phone and called someone, and gave them a few instructions.

Hearing what Daniel had planned for Elena, Andy finally relaxed. There's no way Elena will be spared now.

"What a pity…." She muttered under her breath, though her expression showed no sympathy for her friend. "We could've spared your life if only you had remained ignorant for a little more time."

The corners of her lips upturned into a smile as Andy said maliciously, "Not that you could've lived for longer anyways, Elena. Don't blame me for your death. You should blame yourself for being too vicious and cunning –and for being a thorn on our side. Rather than letting a ticking-time bomb like you to remain alive by our side, it is better to nip this threat before it harms us."