"All of this really is mine now..."
One hour later, Lilian was standing before the large wardrobe of Rose Bennett, her eyes widened in surprise as her fingers trailed over the rows of gorgeous clothes hanging neatly inside.
There were lots of beautiful blouses in every color imaginable, pants, jeans, elegant evening dresses and even colorful, sinful undergarments. Shoes lined up like soldiers at the bottom, heels that gleamed under the closet light.
"Wow..." Lilian whispered, her eyes wide with something between awe and bitterness.
She pulled out a cream-colored blouse, holding it up against herself in the mirror. The fabric was soft and light, nothing like the rough, worn-out clothes she had owned in her past life.
All she had ever had, apart from the maid uniform of the Drayke's family, were five pieces of old, worn-out clothes, faded, patched thrift clothes.
Despite that she was pleased at what she was seeing, Lilian didn't allow herself the time to thoroughly check out the fascinating wardrobe or giggle and dance over it, just as she had been fantasizing when she would clean Cassandra's wardrobe and wish for at least a tiny bit of it.
What she got now was definitely more than a tiny bit, almost a quarter.
Lilian's lips curved into a bitter smile as she put the blouse back.
"This life is definitely better. Now it's time to get right to my goal." She muttered to herself.
"Finding means to destroy Cassandra."
At that moment, a sharp, shrill ringing cut through the room.
Lilian jumped, her heart leaping into her throat. She spun around, her eyes darting frantically around the bedroom.
"What the hell?" She pressed a hand to her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.
The ringing continued, insistent and loud.
Then realization dawned on her, and she exhaled sharply.
"Right. The original owner of this body would definitely own a phone."
Lilian had never owned a phone. In her past life, such luxuries were far beyond her reach.
The ringing was getting louder now, and she followed the sound, dropping to her knees beside the bed. She peered underneath and spotted it: a sleek smartphone, screen glowing in the darkness.
"How did it end up here?" She wondered aloud, reaching under and pulling it out.
Dust clung to the back of the case, showing It had been under there for a while.
"What exactly happened to Rose Bennett?" Lilian wondered curiously but she couldn't dwell for long on that, the phone didn't stop ringing.
The screen displayed a name: Victor Hale.
Lilian stared at it, her thumb hovering over the answer button as she contemplated answering it
Reluctantly, she swiped to accept the call.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" Victor's voice came through immediately, calm but sharp. No pleasantries, no greeting, just straight to business.
"I... I'm at home." Lilian replied carefully.
"I can see that from your location. My question is why haven't you gotten to the office yet?" The man asked.
"Office?" She muttered, her eyes blinking, then mentally kicked herself for sounding confused.
"Yes, Rose. The office. The place where you work. The place where you were supposed to be two hours ago." Victor's tone had an edge to it now, like he was barely holding back annoyance.
Lilian's mind raced: This was the man who had claimed she was his personal assistant yesterday. The one who drove her home.
"I was just getting ready, sir." She straightened up, forcing her voice to sound more confident.
There was a pause. Then Victor scoffed;
"Just getting ready? When it's past 10 AM already?"
Lilian winced before responding to that
"I'm sorry, I..."
"Save the apology, Rose." Victor cut her short.
"Just finish up whatever you're doing within ten minutes. My driver will be at your house to pick you up and drive you to meet me."
"We are working outside the company today. When you get in the car, you will see a document on the backseat. Read through it carefully. You will need the knowledge for where we're going." Victor explained, his voice clipped and professional.
"Where are we going if not the company?" Lilian blurted out curiously before she stopped herself.
"Somewhere quiet that we could discuss about how to handle my business rival." Victor said simply then ended the call before Lilian could ask anything else.
"His business rival?" Her pulse quickened as she thought what that would mean. She didn't know what kind of work Rose was doing for Victor. She didn't know what he would expect from her and she wondered what if she messed up and exposed herself.
She stood there for a moment, staring at the phone in her hand. Then she nodded slowly, a small relief washing over her.
"At least this saves me the trouble of finding my way to an office I have no idea about."
Then she nodded her head sharply.
"No. I will do anything to keep my ground in this life. I didn't survive death just to fail now."
She moved quickly, selecting a navy blue dress from the wardrobe and pulling it on. She didn't bother checking whether it fit her body or if it suited where she was going, as she was in a hurry to beat the ten minutes her supposed boss had given her.
She grabbed a pair of heels her hands could easily find and a leather bag, stuffing the phone inside.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ten minutes later, the sharp sound of a car horn pierced through the quiet neighborhood.
Lilian grabbed the bag she had taken from the wardrobe and did a quick check in the mirror.
She looked professional, nothing like the frightened maid she used to be.
"Here goes nothing..." She whispered, then hurried out of the bedroom and through the front door.
A sleek black car sat in the driveway. The driver, a middle-aged man in a formal attire, nodded at her from behind the wheel but said nothing.
"Hello sir..." The polite, respectful greeting escaped Lilian's throat before she could think of it, as she approached the car. It was a habit that working in the Drayke's family had imbibed in her.
Just as she reached for the door handle, her phone buzzed violently in her bag. She paused, fishing it out.
A message notification from a sender saved as 'Ellen' lit up the screen.
Lilian's brows furrowed as she tapped the message;
"Rose, just as you suspected, Victor Hale is bad news. Real danger. You have to resign today."
Lilian's lips parted in fear.
Her hand froze on the car door handle. The words on the screen seemed to burn into her vision.
"Danger?"
Her thoughts immediately spiraled: Who was Ellen? And why was she warning her about Victor?
"Miss? Mr. Hale said we are on a tight schedule." The driver's voice drifted through the open window, as he looked at her expectantly.
Lilian looked up, torn. Every instinct screamed at her to listen to the warning, to turn around, go back inside, and figure out what the hell was going on.
But then her eyes caught sight of something on the backseat.
A document, sitting right where Victor said it would be but the bold headline across the top made Lilian's breath catch in her throat:
"The Drayke's Empire."
Her fingers tightened around the phone. She looked between the opened car door and the message on her screen, her heart pounding loudly.
"That document has information about Cassandra, about the Drayke family... About everything I want to destroy?" She wondered inwardly.
But Ellen's message flashed in her mind again.
"Victor Hale is bad new..."
Lilian's jaw clenched as she wondered:
What should she do?