Once Damian was gone, I decided to look around the room for some clothes. I wanted to change into a better set of clothes and get out of my current rags.
I had not gotten to have a proper shower in the past few days because of all the pranks the manager and other workers kept pulling all the time, and once I found some decent clothes, I hopped in the shower.
I had to admit that it took too long to detangle my hair and to get it treated to a level that I found acceptable. I felt like a different person when I came out of the shower.
After a long time, I finally felt free. But the freedom did not taste as sweet as I wanted. Everytime I closed my eyes, my past haunted me and pricked me for wasting time here.
Every small moment I had ignored, the brief touches between Rose and Karl I had ignored, the way they spoke about me that I had overlooked, they all came back to haunt me slowly.
So I distracted myself by looking through the clothes in front of me.
The clothes Damian had brought felt a little baggy on my frame, and I could tell that they were clearly purchased for me when I had a healthy body. But at least they fit nicely...which was weird. Had he looked up my measurements online?
Once my still-wet hair was tied up into a messy bun and I had a new pair of clothes on my body, I looked at my face properly.
A semi-familiar face looked back at me, and I opened the drawer to find makeup. I wanted to see how far I could push myself, so I grabbed some of it and started to apply it the same way I usually did.
When I finished, there was no difference between my current face and the one I used to have in the past. I finally felt like I had worn my battle armor, and I left the room to find Damian.
We had things to talk about.
I found Damian sitting in his study, his working glasses covering his eyes as he read through the documents. I gently knocked at the door to let him know that I would be entering before I walked in.
Damian looked up at me, likely to tell me to fuck off, when his breath visibly hitched and his words got caught up in his throat.
I ignored his shocked look and kept walking toward him till I stood in front of him.
"There is a lot we need to talk about. Should we go over it all?"
I told him, and he still looked shaken... not that I blamed him. Anyone would have been shaken if they saw someone dead walk in from their front door like I did.
Finally, after five minutes of silence, Damian dragged his hand over his face and gave me an almost-glare.
"Don’t walk in here with a face exactly like hers. Have you applied makeup? Go and wash it off."
"I don’t want to. You brought me here because you needed my help. That does not mean you own me..."
I trailed off, recalling that this man actually did own me. He had paid the price to buy me. But he still did not have my will.
Damian sighed and muttered something like-"how is she as stubborn as Jenna?"-but I ignored him and just looked at him.
He gestured for me to sit on the sofa, and he got up to join me as well. I tried to sit close to him, but the intensity in Damina’s eyes shook me and made my stomach turn.
"You are right. I should tell you about what I want from you and what you need to do. Now that I have seen you like this, I am even more sure that you will be just fine."
The man told me, and I kept looking at him without asking any questions.
He coughed to get his nervousness under wraps before he gave me a calm look.
"Miss Jenna, I already told you that you needed to act like Jenna Harvous, right? I also feel compelled to tell you that both you and Miss Harvous are distant relatives. Your mother used to belong to the Harvour family, but she decided that she did not want to marry as per family wishes and ran away with her lover."
"Because of that, your mother and father got cut off from their families, and you know the rest. I will seal any record of your past, so all you need to do is make sure everyone thinks that Miss Harvous is back from the dead."
Damian told me, and I could not help but narrow my eyes. I did not care about this ’story’ because it was not mine. But it was still good to know the basic information.
I sat back for a moment, letting my thoughts drift to my step-sister.
She had humiliated me in every possible way-taking over the family’s wealth, charming my fiancé until he was hers, mocking my failures, and making me a laughingstock in my own life. Every careless smile of hers had cut me deeper than the harshest words.
Every time I had looked at her, I had felt powerless, small, and unseen.
And now, with this chance, I would not just survive-I would make her feel every shred of the fear, helplessness, and humiliation I had endured.
I would get close to her world, gain the power she had always wielded over me, and take it away, piece by piece. She would have no idea what hit her.
"Why do you want to do that? You told me that you wanted to grab control of the Harvous industries. How will this help you?"
I could not help but ask, testing Damian’s patience, though I already knew I had to tread carefully.
"You don’t have to worry about it. Just know that Harvous industries has been a mess for the past few years, and this is the perfect time for me to act. Now, are you in or not?"
Damian was avoiding talking to me, which meant that he wanted me to drop this topic. So I dropped it because I did not want to miss this opportunity. I was already pushing my luck by bringing it up for a second time.
I leaned forward slightly, letting my fingers rest lightly on the arm of the sofa. I would play Jenna Harvous, infiltrate her life, win her former fiancé and her business contacts’ trust, and slowly dismantle everything she had built around herself.
Every calculated move I made at these events would be a strike, every smile a weapon. Every whispered secret, every opportunity I could find would work toward reclaiming what was mine.
And it would all be possible because I knew the world I was about to step into inside-out. The main reason I had everything taken from me was because I had been careless and allowed my fiance...ex-fiance and sister too much freedom.
But that would no longer be the case.
I will start slowly, first take away their public trust, then slowly their investors and partners as well. I had information and with Damian’s help, the resources to do that as well.
And when the castle that my betrayers had build start to crumble, I will swoop up and take it all.
"Anyway, now that we have cleared the air between us, you should get ready. I want you to come and attend a party with me. It is being held by Karl Hanson, the ex-fiancé of Jenna Harvour and the current fiancé of Rose Harvour. There, we shall make our first appearance."
Damian told me, and I felt excited and nervous. I did not want to see Karl. Just thinking about him made my breath hitch, and my hands felt sweaty.
Every time I tried to think of him, the last memory of my previous life flashed across my eyes-of him standing over me with that bottle smashed on my head.
Much of what I recalled was not clear to me, but that terror I felt as life slipped away from me was real, and it made my body shake.
"Miss Lorance-! Hey, Jenna Lorance, get a hold of yourself. Are you alright?"
Damian asked as he grabbed my shoulder. I had not even realized I had blanked out until he called out to me.
I took in a deep breath as I looked at Damian’s eyes, gathered myself, and finally spoke.
"Yeah, I am fine now. You can let me go."