Justice For The Billionaire's Daughter

OLIVIA I wake up with a start. My bedroom is dark, the whole house is dark. There's a strong smell of gasoline, then suddenly I hear a loud explosion followed by a bright light. Our house is burning. With only my pyjamas, I quickly unplug my phone from my bedside socket, then slip my feet into my boots, a process that takes a few seconds. I rush to my elder sister's bedroom. It isn't locked and I barge in, only to be surprised that she is deep asleep, oblivious of what is happening outside. “Wake up! Quickly Carla!" I whisper to her, worried that she may take long than necessary because we still have to wake up our father who is in a separate bedroom downstairs where the fire is. Carla gets up, and when she sees the fire she screams at the top of her lungs. I try to stop her but she is hysterical. The fire is now getting more fierce, and we can hear it cackling as it approaches our direction. I only allow her to wear some shoes and we dash out of the bedroom, heading to the stairs. I lead and she follows silently behind me. I can tell she is crying, but I try to be strong and optimistic. We arrive at the stairs and have a good look at the fire. All the ground floor is engulfed in flames. The stairs can't help us now, we need to look for a way out of the house, and quickly before the fire consumes our wooden floor. Just then I remember the fire escape at the backside. “Follow me." I command a stupefied Carla and she follows me down the corridor until we get to the door. I open it to reveal the fire escape. Quickly I grab the rungs of the fire escape and start descending. I whisper to Carla to follow suit. Moments later we hit the ground just as another loud explosion tears the whole house apart and it crumbles into a huge ball of flames. My name is Olivia Forrester, daughter to business magnate and billionaire Robert Forrester. My father is the leading businessman in the city, specializing in import and export. Carla and I are his only family, after our mother left following a messy divorce. Dad is the CEO and chairman of FORRESTER INCORPORATED and I am the managing director. My sister Carla, even though older than me, holds no managerial position because she isn't really interested in business. As we watch in silence, I wonder what could have happened to our father, was he lucky just as us? Did he manage to escape? And where is our security? With a case like this they should be visible around the house. From our hideout I watch the inferno in silence, wishing that father made it out alive, but also worried that it may be worse. This fire was not an accident, there was gasoline involved and that means the presence of an arsonist. With Carla still in a shocked state, I rise up from my crouching position, then as I make steps towards the burning wreck I see movement. Light from the fire captures two figures running towards me. I turn back and instruct Carla to follow me, then we run into the forest. Just a few meters into the forest darkness reigns, and turning back I can see Carla some yards behind. I can also see our pursuers, not two as I thought, but at least five. “You have to run Carla. We need to get out of here fast." I shout, but she lazes around, her hands constantly rising to her eyes to wipe tears. At this rate the pursuers will be on us in a minute. I walk back to her, to emphasize the need for running away. “Please Carla, let's run. They are closing in on us." I tell her. I can clearly see them looking for a way into the forest, and one of them shouts to the rest, “This way, I saw them going this way." “Please Carla, let's run. we are in danger." I plead once more. “No." Carla finally speaks. “I can't leave. Father is in that house. I need to go back there and rescue him." She yells, and I'm afraid the pursuers may have heard her, and I am not wrong. “There! I just heard some voice." Someone says. I need to act now, quickly. “Carla, I am going to run away now, for my own life. If you want to stick around and find out about father, be my guest. But if you want us to live, follow me." I say. In the shelter of the trees I can make out some silhouettes of the men approaching us. “I am going nowhere Olivia. You can proceed without me." She says as she supports her back on a tree trunk, then slides down to a sitting position. I have no time to waste, the men after us are not good people. With that I feel pity for my sister but I have my own life to live. Driven by instincts of self preservation, I dash into the woods, leaving Carla behind. My conscience knows I tried to help. The woods aren't very deep, having been planted by father when he acquired this property few years ago. I know every hideout here and after running for about three minutes I find the perfect hiding place. Beyond the clearing is a huge tree that has been dug out by some animal. I creep inside and stay still. I can still hear some noises approaching, and now flashlight beams crisscross the woods as they search for me. I am certain they have found Carla because she was just a sitting duck, waiting for capture. The noises intensify in the otherwise silent night, and they are approaching my hideout. Finally I can see them, about six men dragging a screaming Carla with them. They reach the clearing and throw her to the ground. I pray that they don't harm her. In the moonlight, I see another figure joining them, holding a very powerful flashlight. “Have you found her?" He asks authoritatively. “No sir. She must have run away." One man replies. “Why do I have to work with incompetents?" He asks. “But sir, we needed to deal with the old man first. They escaped when we were just executing our objective." The same man answers. “What exactly did you do?" The commanding voice asks. “We have the files. The old man died of my knife wounds and burnt to ashes." Comes the reply and I am utterly shocked. Carla screams again and I can see someone acting on her, maybe gagging her mouth, or tying up her hands. “Good, the boss will be happy. But you can't explain why you let that w***e run. You have failed." The commander says and right then I hear the sound of gunfire, and a man goes down. “Find that w***e, or you suffer the same fate. Find her now." He orders the remaining men, who scamper in all directions, leaving the commander with a tied up Carla. They can't find me, that one I am certain. I witness what I'll never erase from my memory. The bad man stoops low, then lifts up my sister Carla to a sitting position, talking in low tones. Then a struggle begins, and I now understand what this is. He's forcing himself on her and that makes me very sick. I can't do anything because coming out of my hideout means instant death, and I watch the sad incident silently. At some point tears of fury pour down my cheeks, mostly because there's nothing I can do to help my sister but I swear revenge. Finally he gets up from her, just as his accomplices return to report failure. In a fit of fury he admonishes them, then I hear several other gunshots, but this time the gun is aimed at Carla. “She can run, but she can't hide. I'll get her. The boss wants her dead, and I'll kill her. Let's get outta here." He says. I watch as the men walk away. Carla is silent, and I am praying that I find her alive. She's my only sibling and I love her immensely, having grown up together. After the divorce we chose to stay with father together despite several advances by our mother to join her. Creeping out of my hideout, I walk to the clearing where all the evil deeds took place. My fingers are crossed, wishing to find her alive, but something tells me to stop hoping against hope. I reach where she lies motionless, her body spread on the grass, her nightgown torn away to reveal her thighs. I don't need an expert to tell me that she's dead, but I call her name anyway. Maybe, just maybe she may be alive. “Carla! Carla." I call, shaking her body. Looking closely at her head I see the hole where the bullet entered. I stoop lower to examine and that's when I hear a voice. I get up abruptly, thinking that the evil men are back, gearing to run back to my hideout. But the voice comes from the man who was shot by the evil man. I walk closer to him and examine him. He coughs heavily and spits the contents, then whispers to me to get closer. From his condition I need not fear him. He's harmless. “Who are you and why have you killed my father?" I ask, stooping low to face him. He is expressionless, and he starts coughing again. “You will be killed. They won't stop until they kill you." He whispers and the message sends cold shivers down my spine. Who is he? My head is running very fast and I don't know which question to ask him because I have so many of them in my mind. “Who are you?" I ask him when I compose myself. He doesn't speak, but he keeps on coughing. He is lying in a pool of blood and the smell alone drives me to near nausea. “Michael, he has been paid to kill you. If you want to live, run away from this city and never come....." He stops mid sentence to cough, and this time it's serious. The spasms consume all his energy but the message is home. I stand transfixed at the spot, watching him struggling to stay alive. I want to hear more from him, especially about this Michael who is out to kill me. “Who is Michael?" I ask him even as he continues coughing. He spits away and goes quiet for a while. “Run Olivia. Run." He says again, then keeps quiet. I can see that he has lost consciousness and there's nothing I can do to help him regain it. Just then I hear several sirens approaching our house. Must be the fire department and the police. Our house is in a secluded part of the city, away from any other settlement. The road leading to our home is more that ten kilometers long and it serves only us. I ponder the events that have taken place slowly as I walk to the house and a lot of things don't make sense. My father, being a very rich man, had almost a dozen security guards guarding his compound around the clock. Also, he had a personal bodyguard who never left him. I wonder where all these people were when our home was being raided. I need to get to the bottom of this. I get to the house, which is now completely razed to the ground. There's a fire engine which is putting off the flames and a police vehicle. The policemen approach me when they see me. “Sorry Miss Forrester for what happened. Do you have anything you can tell us that can aid in our investigations?" A tall policeman asks me. I narrate my ordeal to them as one of them takes notes. Two officers are dispatched to the woods to find out about Carla. Minutes later they report through their radio that both Carla and the criminal are dead. I am not surprised about Carla, and it's as if I have already accepted that she is gone. Too bad the criminal has died without revealing who his accomplices are and their motive. “What shall we do?" I ask the policemen. “We have established that the arsonists came in through the gate and overpowered your security. Would you know anyone who would like to kill you and your family?" He asks. I pause for a moment to think, going through our business rivals, family, and neighborhood but I can't figure out anyone who would harm us. “No. None that I can think of." I say. “Well, this goes straight to our homicide department. Hopefully the detectives will report here in the morning. They will get to the bottom of this. Meanwhile, we have to leave. If you need our help you can call us." He says as he orders his colleagues to the van. The fire engine has put off the dying embers of the fire and their experts are inside the house, looking for my father. They get nothing, no body, no remains, nothing. He has been reduced to ashes. Somehow I manage to suppress my tears. Suddenly I realize that I have nowhere to go. I am standing in our compound but the house is gone. I don't even have proper clothes, and everything that I own has gone up in flames. Luckily for me, my identification documents are in my car, parked in the garage. There's a whole suitcase in the trunk. I always have some personal effects in the car, a habit that used to annoy mother. And talking about my mother, maybe I should look for her now and tell her what has happened, but I dismiss the thought immediately. Maybe she's asleep. Everyone in the compound is confused. The freed guards are crowded outside their house, talking in low tones. However I am looking for Alfonso, my father's bodyguard. I only wish that he is fine wherever he is. I walk to the garage where my car is. I just want to drive away from this trouble. I switch on the lights and look at the expensive machines parked inside. Walking to the far end where my Audi is parked, I open it using my thumbprint. Fortunately there's a spare ignition key in the glove compartment. But first things first, I need to change clothes. I open the trunk to retrieve my clothes, but right then I see people entering the garage.