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 Chapter One

•KIANA•

"Kiana, you're still here?" I heard my boss, Mrs. Kareem, ask and I raised up my head.

"Yes ma'am, I'm still here." I replied in a low voice while rubbing my eyes to chase the sleepiness away.

I work as a salesgirl in a convenience store and I'm currently sleeping in the backroom where my boss found me now.

"What are you still doing here? I was about to close up the store and I thought that I should check around before closing up, thank goodness I found you here or you would have been locked inside the store." Mrs. Kareem said with a hint of a smile on her face and I chuckled lightly.

"Oh, I'll get my things and leave now, ma'am. Thanks for waking me up." I got on my feet and said. I was about to walk away and get my things when Mrs. Kareem stopped me.

"Wait a minute, Kiana. Are you okay? I've been noticing that you've been sleeping on duty lately, is everything alright?" She asked with concern on her face and I put on a faux smile on my face.

"I'm fine, ma'am. Thanks for your concern. I guess I've been more tired than usual, and that's why I'm sleeping more than usual. I'll stop sleeping on duty, I promise." I said to her and she sighed.

Things are definitely not fine, for years now. But there's no way I'm going to tell her that. I don't need to burden anyone with my person problems.

"Well, if you say so. Don't fail to tell me if you need anything, dear." She stated and I smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, ma'am." I uttered and walked off to get my things.

I packed my stuff and went to meet Mrs. Kareem to inform her that I'm about to leave.

"I'm going home now. See you tomorrow, ma'am." I told her and she flashed a smile at me.

"Okay dear. See you tomorrow." She responded and I walked out of the store into the dark night that was brightened up by the street lights and full moon.

I began the thirty something walk to my house. I would have taken a taxi but it's too expensive for me and I couldn't afford to take out of the money I had on me.

Thirty five minutes later, I arrived at my house. I stopped at the front door and took in a deep breath before opening the door. I got into the house and began walking silently towards my room. I was climbing the stairs when I heard a booming female voice behind me and I flinched. The voice belonged to the only person that scares me. My stepmother, Aria.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked in that sinister voice of hers and I slowly turned around to face her with a feigned smile that I knew she hated.

"I was going to the toilet real quick, I'm pressed." I lied through my teeth but I knew that she saw through my lie.

"There are some chores waiting for you." She said with a scowl and I groaned mentally. I knew it.

"But I just came back from work. Can't I just rest for a little bit?" I blurted out mistakenly and my face went pale when I realized what I said.

Oops.

"Did you just talk back at me?" She asked with a dark look on her face as she approached me.

"No, I would never." I shook my head in denial.

"Looks like you just did. No dinner for you tonight." She stated.

"Yes ma'am." I didn't bother to argue with her because it wouldn't yield a good result.

"Back to the chores... You're to prepare dinner for the house; after that you should do the dishes, there are plenty of dirty dishes in the sink and then you should do the laundry. Wash all of the clothes in the laundry room and don't use the washing machine, I want you to hand-wash them." She listed out the chores and my eyes went wide. I shouldn't really be surprised as she always does this to me, that's how much of a witch she is.

"All of these chores in one night? It's 9 p.m. already and there's no way I could finish the chores in a few hours, can I do them in the morning before going to work?" I asked, pleading with my eyes.

"No, you have to do all of them tonight. And did I forget to mention that you'll be sweeping the whole house?" She added with a wicked smirk.

"I can't possibly do all of that. Can't Candice help me?" I grumbled.

"My wonderful daughter can't possibly associate with a vermin like you. She's got something more important to do with her time." She uttered.

I bet the important thing she's doing is some influencing shit.

"You could have started doing the chores with the amount of time you have spent standing there or do you want me to give you a slap that will reset your brain?!" She yelled and was moving closer to me when I ran to the kitchen to prepare dinner for them.

After some minutes, I was done preparing the dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. I dished the food into three portions; for my father, Aria and Candice. I sneakily ate a few spoonfuls of the food before proceeding to take their food to the dinning room and setting the table.

I went to the sitting room where I was sure that Aria's daughter, Candice will be busy with her influencer stuff.

"Hey Candice, dinner is ready!" I called out to her to get her attention.

She snapped her eyes away from her phone to look at me.

"Are you blind? Can't you see that I'm busy? You just ruined my video, you vermin!" She shouted and I flinched.

"I'm sorry, I just came to tell you that breakfast was ready, I didn't know that you were in the middle of making a video." I apologized.

"Saying sorry is not going to fix my video! You're such an idiot!"

"What is going on here, darling?" Aria asked as she walked down the stairs.

"This fool here just ruined my video, mom." Candice kvetched to her mom.

I knew it wasn't that bad but she was making a big deal out of it.

"You should punish her for it, don't you think?" Aria quirked a perfect looking eyebrow.

"I really should." Candice responded, a wicked smile creeping up on her face.

That cannot be good.

"I have some dirty underwear in my room. I want you to fetch them and hand-wash them." She said and I scoffed quietly.

She could do better with the punishment, washing underwear is not a big deal. I mean, I've been washing my underwear since I was like six years old.

"No problem." I shrugged nonchalantly, a shadow of a smile on my face.

"Did I forget to mention that they include my period panties too." She grinned wickedly and my smiled dropped.

Now, that is disgusting.

"I can't possibly wash your period panties, that is disgusting." I said defiantly.

"Oh, but you have to." Aria supported her daughter and my shoulders sagged. There's no way I can go against Aria's orders.

"Yes ma'am." I bowed my head before walking away, tears threatening to fall from my eyes but I held it in. I can't show weakness. I have to stay strong and not give them the satisfaction of making me cry.

I bumped into someone on my way to the laundry room. I raised my head to see my father and I quickly tried to blink my tears away but he saw them.

"Good evening, Father." I greeted and attempted to walk away from him but he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

"Kiana, why are you crying?" He asked.

"I'm not crying." I retorted, but my cracking voice betrayed me.

"You're lying. What's wrong?" He asked again.

"Well, to put it nicely, your wife and her daughter are bullying me." I answered, my tone showing that I was angry.

"Kiana! She's your mother and Candice is your sister too!" He snapped and I flinched.

"She once said and I quote "Don't you fucking call me mom. I can't be a mother to a vermin like you." She's so not my mother." I uttered and he heaved a sigh.

"I know that she can be aggressive sometimes but she means well. She's just training you." He said.

"If she treats her daughter the same way she treats me, then it won't mean anything to me." I glared.

"Kiana... I..." He stuttered and I cut him off.

"Dad, I should get to work before your wife finds me here." I stated and was going to walk away when Aria came to the hallway.

"Peter, you have some visitors." Aria said, looking shaken and I wondered what was up with her.

"Visitors? I wasn't expecting any visitor today, especially not by this time of the night." My Dad replied. 

"I don't know... But there are some huge men in suit demanding to see you." She pressed on and something like realization dawned on Dad's face, his face went pale as he staggered back in shock.

"No, no, no. It can't be."