Morning at Gabriella's House
The grand bedroom of the Cardenas estate, normally a sanctuary of quiet wealth, was thick with tension. Sunlight streamed through silk curtains, illuminating motes of dust dancing over a luxurious antique carpet. Roselette , a woman whose beauty was usually sharp and commanding, looked pale and fragile, her neck swathed in a white bandage.
Fiona, her husband's sister , sat patiently beside the four-poster bed, a silent, watchful presence in a cream silk robe.
The door opened, and Gabriella stepped in. She was a striking figure, even in the stiff uniform of Brighton Wisdom School: a dark green coat, a crisp white shirt, and a neatly pleated dark green short skirt. The deep, almost military green of the coat seemed to reflect the storm brewing inside her.
"Mom, are you okay?" Gabriella's voice was soft, laced with genuine worry.
Roselette's eyes, however, flashed with a sudden, furious light. "Why did those intruders arrive in our house, Gabriella?" she demanded, the question sharp as glass.
Gabriella froze, stunned. The air grew heavy.
"And I listened," Roselette continued, her voice low and dangerous, "I listened when you were talking to someone... begging them to leave me alone." Roselette's gaze bore into her daughter. "Don't tell me that yesterday's incident was because of those who have been bullying you."
Gabriella's head dropped, a gesture of defeat and shame.
Fiona watched the painful exchange, her face a mask of neutrality. She remained silent, a calculating observer.
A cruel smirk played on Roselette's lips. "That means I am right." The smirk vanished, replaced by a raw, emotional intensity. Then, with the force of a tidal wave, her rage broke.
"GABRIELLA! I am warning you!" she roared. "Don't do anything for revenge! Look how it's turned! Our family peace has gone!"
A silent tear slipped down Gabriella's cheek. It was a tear of sorrow, guilt, and a hardening resolve.
"Roselette," Fiona smoothly interrupted, placing a calming hand on the elder woman's arm. "Take care of yourself. I will talk to her."
Roselette turned her face away from her daughter, a gesture of absolute emotional betrayal. Fiona immediately gripped Gabriella's arm and rushed her out of the room.
Before Fiona could speak, Gabriella raised her head, her eyes brimming. "It's all my fault. Sorry."
Fiona's reply was initially cold. "Yes, yours," she said, pausing dramatically. "You should have brought your enemies down before they reached you."
Gabriella stared, shocked. "What?"
Fiona's stare was unwavering. "I can understand. After yesterday, you underestimated your enemies' power."
A deep, steel-like resolve entered Gabriella's voice. "You're right. I won't leave her. I will make her regret that she touched my mother."
The look that passed between Fiona and Gabriella was one of shared, angry intent.
The Vultures of Brighton Wisdom School
The Brighton Wisdom School was a monument to old money and high-stakes education. On the second floor, by a marble pillar, a group was huddled in comfortable camaraderie. There was Raina, the undisputed queen bee, Selina, Ronnie, and Jake. All were wearing the same school uniform as Gabriella, but on them, it looked less like a regulation outfit and more like a costume of power. They were chatting and giggling, the sound grating on Gabriella's raw nerves.
Twenty steps away, Gabriella stood, her face a mask of cold fury, her eyes locked on them.
"Now onwards, I won't allow you to smile," she whispered, her face utterly cold.
Gabriella walked up to the group, the distance seeming to shrink with the force of her approach. She reached out and spun the smiling Raina to face her. Raina was initially startled but, upon realizing it was Gabriella, her expression twisted into a mocking smile. Selina, Ronnie, and Jake all watched the confrontation.
"Are you okay?" Raina drawled, the smirk widening. Selina and Ronnie joined her silent ridicule. Only Jake looked away, his expression bored and uninterested.
Gabriella didn't reply. Her silence was a weapon.
"I know you're afraid," Raina said coldly, stepping closer. "As I mentioned before, I am a snake. I will swallow you, only after my inch-by-inch tight grip has killed you." Raina's eyes darkened with malice, her face a chilling picture of cold intent.
Finally, Gabriella spoke, her voice a dangerous monotone. "I haven't that habit, as I mentioned before." Her eyes turned to fire. "I'm an Eagle. An Eagle will eat his prey alive. That's more interesting than eating dead meat."
Raina's eyes went dark with instant fury. Selina and Ronnie were equally enraged. Even Jake watched now, his face straight.
Gabriella took a step back, then stopped. She produced a small, black pendrive from her coat pocket and raised it high.
Raina's eyes widened in recognition and shock. Selina, Ronnie, and Jake were completely confused.
"Shocked?" Gabriella asked, a mocking smile curving her lips. The smile instantly vanished, replaced by a face of granite. "For this, you sent those intruders to my house, right?"
Raina's face remained a mask of raging fury. Ronnie and Selina exchanged shocked glances.
"So, this pendrive was with her all the time?" Selina whispered.
"She fooled us," Ronnie muttered.
"Intruders?" Jake whispered to Ronnie, a crease forming between his brows. "What pendrive?"
Ronnie quickly hushed him. "It's… don't ask anything." Jake looked suspicious but stayed put.
Raina, desperate, began to move closer. Gabriella backed away again.
"Stop!" Gabriella commanded.
"Give that pendrive to me," Raina pleaded, her voice suddenly, sickeningly sweet. "I will leave you, and I won't do anything to you. We can stop everything between us."
Gabriella smirked. "Stop? But I am the one who decides that, not you." Her eyes, now blood-red with rage, bore into Raina. "You started everything. I will end this."
Raina looked genuinely shocked.
Gabriella smiled—a small, icy lift of the mouth—and it vanished as quickly as it came. "Do you want to know the ending?"
Raina didn't reply.
"A happy ending," Gabriella said.
"What?" Raina whispered, confused.
"Yes. A happy ending would happen only when the heroine will end the villain's story."
Raina scoffed. "Heroine can't kill a villain. Heroines follow their heart and are filled with useless humanity. But the villain won't follow these useless stuffs."
Gabriella's face was cold, deadly. "You are wrong. I was the heroine you mentioned above… until you touched my mother." Her voice dropped to a lethal whisper. "But now, I will go to the extreme to bring down my enemies."
Gabriella smirked. "Do you want to see, dear?"
Before Raina could process the question, Gabriella suddenly threw the black pendrive over the balcony railing!
"NO!" Raina screamed, a primal sound of absolute terror.
Gabriella leaned in, her voice mocking and low in Raina's ear. "You're afraid." She pulled back, smiling at Raina's shocked face. "I see your afraid face. It makes me feel good."
"GABRIELLA!" Raina roared.
"Go take your pendrive," Gabriella said calmly. "Before anyone takes it."
Raina turned to run, but Gabriella's voice stopped her. "Stop."
Raina spun back. In Gabriella's hand was the exact same black pendrive.
Raina groaned, her face contorted. "You…"
"You're shocked again?" Gabriella chuckled. "Let's wait."
This time, Gabriella really threw the pendrive over the railing.
"This time I really threw it. Go. Run. Get it back." Gabriella laughed, a sharp, cold sound.
Raina's eyes were frantic. She ran, crazed, toward the stairs. "Come with me! Find it!" Ronnie and Selina followed, completely bewildered. Jake, still uninterested, trailed them, but not before sparing a thoughtful glance at Gabriella.
Gabriella merely smirked.
The Fountain of Humiliation
Gabriella leaned over the balcony, watching the chaos unfold below. Raina, Ronnie, and Selina were crazily searching the school grounds. Students were storming the area, drawn by the commotion.
Suddenly, Raina spotted the pendrive. Before she could grab it, a hand swooped down—it was Ajax. He smiled, then threw the pendrive to another student, who caught it and immediately began to run.
"You're all with her, right?" Raina whispered, her voice shaking with rage. "I won't leave whoever is behind her!"
"We are doing the same thing you did to us," Ajax smirked. "Run, run, get your pendrive!"
The girl with the pendrive ran. Raina chased her. Selina and Ronnie were still frantically searching the ground until Jake arrived.
"What are you doing?" he asked Selina.
"Can't you see? We're searching!" Selina snapped madly.
Jake smiled faintly. "A girl has that pendrive. Look, she is running. Raina is following her."
Selina, instantly realizing the truth, followed Raina.
"Come with us, Jake," Ronnie urged.
Jake smirked. "You didn't even say what's inside it."
"The video in it can trap us!" Ronnie said desperately. "Don't ask much! Come!"
Jake, still confused, followed Ronnie.
Twenty minutes later, Raina was exhausted. The students of Brighton Wisdom School were playing a vicious game of hot potato, passing the pendrive from one to the next.
Selina found the ragged, panting Raina. "Did you get it?"
"No!" Raina snarled, pure rage in her eyes.
Just then, a boy threw the pendrive, and unexpectedly, it landed in the school's fantastic water fountain.
"Look over there!" Selina gasped.
Without a second's thought, Raina rushed forward and jumped into the water fountain. Her uniform was instantly soaked, clinging to her like a second skin. Students gathered, whispering and pointing at the sodden figure splashing in the water.
Ronnie and Jake finally reached the scene. Jake stopped, pointing. "Here she is."
Ronnie stared in horror. "What is she doing? Oh, no. The whole school is watching her!" He rushed to the fountain's edge.
Raina, oblivious, continued her search. Finally, her hand closed around the small, black object. She pulled it out and laughed—a high-pitched, crazy, hysterical sound of triumph.
Gabriella, watching everything from the school building, had a face as cold as ice.
Raina looked up and saw Gabriella. The joy instantly evaporated, replaced by a murderous darkness in her eyes. Gabriella, in turn, smirked from the balcony.
Suddenly, Raina realized the audience. Her victory turned to mortification. With a roar of pure, frustrated rage, she slapped the water in the fountain, sending a desperate spray into the air.
In an Empty Classroom
A few minutes later, Raina was huddled in an empty classroom, shivering slightly. Selina was gently trying to dry her hair with a white towel. Ronnie and Jake leaned casually against the wall.
Raina took the still-damp pendrive and inserted it into a laptop on the teacher's desk. Ronnie, Jake, and Selina leaned in as Raina clicked on the only file.
After a few seconds, Raina roared, "NO!"
She threw the laptop with unbelievable force. Selina, Ronnie, and Jake all jumped back. The laptop lay shattered on the floor, several keys broken, but a video was still playing on the cracked screen.
It was an animated crow, which suddenly turned its head toward the viewer and said, in a cartoon voice, "Fool!"
Suddenly, Raina's phone rang. She snatched it up. "H-hello…"
From the other side, a crisp, cold laugh echoed.
"Gabri… ella…" Raina whispered, her voice filled with venom.
"Yes, it's me. How is my prank?"
"If I get you, you are dead meat!" Raina shrieked into the phone.
Gabriella's smile disappeared. "Don't believe your enemies' words," she said coldly, and hung up.
Raina let out a deafening, animalistic roar. Ronnie and Selina covered their ears, terrified. Jake simply stared at Raina.
"She really has the capability to stand against Raina," he whispered to himself.
Raina slowly calmed, her chest heaving. She stared at the broken laptop, her eyes burning with an unholy light.
"Gabriella," she whispered, her voice deadly quiet. "You will regret for what you did to me. This isn't over."
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