Ocean City, proud and loud, once bent its glass skyline toward a single name: DY Group.
The skyscraper that wore that name had glittered like a crown in the sun.
From those top floors, many voices moved money like tides, many deals rose, many deals fell, and many old families bowed their heads because the 'Dylan Family,' the owners of the skyscraper had ordered or forced them to.
But now the owners of the skyscraper could not say anything when the gold 'DY' at the top of the skyscraper came down in a live stream watched by millions of people.
They couldn't even protest or stop the crane from swinging, they couldn't stop the humming of the cables and couldn't stop the giant 'DY' letters that got peeled off the building's crown, dropping down slowly like teeth falling from a jaw.
Damian Cross, one of the biggest movie stars in Gilead,had bought the tower for a price that sounded like a joke to many billionaires and owners of companies.
The sign of the skyscraper that had read 'DY,' for years in Ocean City, Gilead's capital city would soon read 'Cross Entertainment,' because the era of DY Group had ended in a single, sharp breath.
But none of this misfortunes happened to DY Group or the Dylan Family by accident.
The first blow that hit DY Group and the Dylan Family came from Erica.
She did not raise her voice nor did she pound a table, she simply told Susan, her right hand and assistant to pull every line that tied Shen Group to DY Group.
Susan immediately carried out Erica's orders by ending Shen Group's partnerships with DY Group without a warning or notice to them and pulled out all the Investments from Shen Group to DY Group.
Many Banks and suppliers who saw the wind turn away from DY Group, turned along with it.
A collapse normally takes years to happen for others but the one that happened to DY Group and Dylan family bursted like glass under heat.
In a few days, creditors lined their doors, Business Partners filed suits against them, News anchors read out news about leaks, crimes and scandals of the Dylan Family and DY Group's executives—some were true, some were half-true but no one of these news that spread wide like fire in a harmattan season talked good about them.
All the rivals and enemies of DY Group including those weaker ones that wouldn't have dared to fart or raise their heads in front of DY Group when it still had its prestige, circled like wolves and tore off any piece of DY Group that still had some meat left.
Three months later, DY Group became a stack of worthless paper and a long list of shame.
Two and a half months after that, auctions swallowed the private jets, the villas on clifftops, the hotels, the cars, the resorts with blue pools and white stone.
A week and four days later, both the main branch and the side branches of the Dylan family behind DY Group slid to the bottom of the ladder.
Some slept in parking lots, some held out hands on street corners, some took what they could from anyone slower than them.
People who saw them in their sorry state shook their heads and said, "How the once mighty have fallen."
So many top Professors in sharp suits from top business schools and universities all over the world used DY Group's misfortune as a reference and wrote case studies to teach their students before the dust could even settle down.
The fall of DY Group and Dylan family was so fast that the city almost missed it.
A sun set, and 'DY Group along with 'DYLAN,' the last name of the wealthy and influential family behind DY Group; the names that had once filled numerous news headlines all over the Republic of Gilead became a caution and a whisper in many boardrooms.
Two days after the last auction, high above the streets, a penthouse sat in a quiet sky in River City.
Charlotte stood inside the penthouse, the place she had fought to keep when everything else went up for sale.
It had a view like a painting and it held many precious memories of her and Liam that she had pressed like flowers in a book.
In that silence, Liam faced her with a blank look.
Her eyes were red, not with grief but with heat.
She stared at him and the marble walls felt closer with the air getting heavier every second.
Charlotte knew the bitter truth: she had walked into this mess with her own feet.
She had opened the door with her own hands.
But inside her chest, the small girl she had been still breathed.
She saw a younger day, a street, a dog with wild eyes, and a boy who ran between her and fear.
That boy had grown into a man who knew how to look at her and ask for help.
He asked for an investment of five billion Gilead dollars and later asked for another investment of ten billion Gilead dollars with a promise to do anything she asked of him.
She had been the kind of fool who believes the sun will stop for love as she made a deal with Liam, asking him to be her boyfriend for a year as she told herself, "Just one year."
She knew ending up with Liam seemed impossible as he already had a girlfriend who loved him deeply but she needed just one year to be with him, a memorable and sweet one year and after the one year runs out, she would let him go without regrets in her heart.
But the year hadn't even ended before all her numerous fantasies of being with Liam, all lovey-dovey for a year, broke in Liam's hands because of his moment of impulse.
"You ruined everything, Liam," she said, her voice shaking. "You hit her, Liam!! You were the one who put Rachel in a coma.... Not me nor any of my family but my family are the one that paid and beared the consequences of your actions... My family paid for your sin.... They carried the weight of Erica's anger alone while you breathed easily and flirted with other girls.... I don't blame you, Liam! Why should I when everything that happened to me and my family all happened because I let you go wild, all this happened because I overlooked you." Charlotte yelled at Liam, her voice laced in raw resentment and fury.
Liam opened his mouth to speak and reason with her but she raised her palm, cutting him off because she did not want to hear him speak a single word of excuse to her.
This made Liam's face to darken with rage.
He moved fast towards her with a sour face while glaring at her with his dark eyes that were blazing with rage and fury.
Charlotte stumbled backwards in fear when she saw the look on his face but what followed next did not have the softness that was called "Love."
It had force, and pain, and the kind of shame that crawls under the skin and will not leave.
She screamed at the top of her lungs as she desperately yelled 'NO,' at him but Liam didn't listen, nor did he stop his advances.
He yanked her hair and pinned her arms down on the bed then he ripped off her clothes and flung them away with no care about where they fell on.
With darkened eyes laced with menace and lust, he spread her legs wide, hurriedly loosened his belt and pulled off his trousers and shirt before turning her over and forcefully thrusting in his hardened groin into her vagina without caring to listen to her painful moan and scream.
He made the room feel like a trap as the words fell from his mouth like stones, cruel and cold, hitting Charlotte as he continued banging her aggresively.
He kept on banging her aggressively until he came inside her before turning her over to face him.
After making sure to pin her forcefully on the bed to stop her from running away, he shot her an icy look then with venom laced in his voice, he glared at her coldly and said, "Charlotte, who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" he hissed... "Wait, do you still see yourself as a princess? Well, newsflash, you are no longer one and besides you were only treated by people like a princess only because your last name had weight but now?" He paused then burst out laughing as he continued,: "All those times you tell me that you love me and I see the sincerity in your eyes, I felt guilty that I only had lust for you instead of 'Love,' I tried countless times to force my heart into feeling a bit of love for you... Out of guilt, I desperately showed my heart that you were worth having feelings for but for some reasons I can't put a finger on, it didn't budge at all. Why am I even saying this to you? Anyway I could have tried to see how I can help you family and pull them from their misery with the little I have saved but too bad, my heart never opened up for you so I can't do that..... And please stop deluding yourself and thinking you are still the untouchable second princess of the Dylan family and wake up to see how low you and your family have dropped to being homeless and begging on the street and the others even resorting to stealing... Charlotte, looking at how miserable and pathetic you now look, I can't help but feel a little bit of sorry for you but I have to tell you a bitter truth: You aren't a princess anymore, you weren't even one in the first place not even when your family was wealthy, to be a princess requires grace and poise and maybe a tiara on your head but you never had grace nor poise, you were spoilt and you were always arrogant and cruel to people you feel they are beneath you, trampling on their dignity whenever you had a chance while forgetting that, 'You are nothing without daddy's and mummy's money... Shame on you, Charlotte! Shame on you."
After ending his speech, he climbed down from the bed after finally deciding to let her go.
Charlotte mustered up her strength to get up from the messy bed, despite her hard effort, she couldn't stand straight because of what Liam had done to her.
Liam watched Charlotte trying hard to stand straight with a look that made her want to tear her own skin off because of disgust.
She greedily dragged into her nose the oxygen in the fresh air as hot tears welled up in her eyes and flowed out after she lost the inner battle of holding it back.
After crying and sobbing for a while, she wiped the tears with the back of her hand and met his cold eyes.
"I told you we were done for the day you hit Rachel," she said, voice raw. "I told you multiple times but you waved it away dismissively... After what happened to me because of you, you treated me like a whore, forcing yourself on me multiple times.... You called me names no woman should ever hear... You just said I'm nothing without daddy's and mummy's money but what about you? You are nothing without women!—first it was Rachel, then me.... Today you crossed a line of no return, Liam and I'm gonna make sure I sue you for all the crimes you've committed against me when I get the chance... Don't think I lack evidence because I don't! Because of your arrogance and entitlement you forgot I own this penthouse.... Let me break it to you: I have countless hidden miniature cameras scattered in various angles of this penthouse that I installed as a way of keeping you on a leash incase you tried to play dirty with me, everytime you came to visit, they were cameras recording and sending the surveillance footage to an encrypted cloud manufactured by Shen Cloud... So know that I have backed up, all your words and videos showing how you forced yourself on me multiple times these past few months, how you treated me like dirt and a whore.... I am never going to forgive you for all the cruel things you've done to me and the misfortune you caused my family... Not after losing the love of my family and getting disowned by my own father, not after losing my name... For all the things you've done to me and for causing my family to fall to this point,"
Even if I die trying I will make sure to have justice... On you, and on Erica, this I promise you, Liam."
After she finished talking, she pulled on a dress with shaking hands to put on and under Liam's cold stare, she shoved some clothes and some shoes with a laptop into a suitcase, closed the suitcase and pulled it along as she walked to the door and walked with her shoulders slouched.
After composing herself a little, she got into the elevator that brought her down to the first floor after what looked like forever to her.
She got into her porsche and drove out into the busy streets, heading for nowhere in mind while using the last Gilead dollar in her Shen inter-pay to book a business class plane ticket of Shen Airlines.
By nightfall, she arrived at Oceana International Airport and boarded a plane that flew her out of the Republic of Gilead without delay.... She didn't even bother to send a note or letter to her family, not even an address for them to know where she was if they wanted to see her.
In the penthouse, what was left in it was scattered wine and liquor bottles drank by Liam and a trail of air and a ghost of the perfume of Charlotte.
Months moved on and Headlines found new prey.
Share prices rose and fell for other reasons with the city forgetting about the exact date the DY sign came down.
As for Erica, she stopped thinking and forgot about DY Group because to her, it was already a dead wood.
Her mind had only one person in it: Rachel.
For months, she had been staying with Rachel, ignoring the piling work that needed her attention as she decided work could wait and nothing was more important than her staying with Rachel.
Every day, she slept in short hours and woke up to the same thought on her mind—Rachel must live.... God please make her wake up from her coma.
The day Erica told herself to stop holding DY's corpse in her memory, she felt a little lighter.
She even told herself that it was not healthy to keep rot close to the heart.
Meanwhile, all the Boardrooms across the Republic of Gilead and other countries all used DY Group's name as a warning and then moved on.
But far away from the gossip, behind thick doors and quiet guards, the VVIP Ward 001 of Shen Hospital held Rachel lying in a still form under bright, clean light.
The ward smelled of alcohol swabs and a faint trace of flowers someone had brought and then taken away.
The machines breathed soft songs inside the ward, an oxygen mask fogged with each slow exhale of Rachel, the tape held a gauze wrap around her temple, an IV dripped to a rhythm only it knew, the ECG lines rose and fell, green on black and the steady beep shaped the room's time.
Doctor Tim stood at the side of the bed with six interns in a stiff half circle while Erica and Susan watched from the foot of the bed.
The two women did not speak a word as they studied the rise and fall of Rachel's chest like sailors studying the sea.
Then the sea went flat for them.
The ECG monitor screamed then a straight line burned across the screen of the ECG monitor.
"Oh my God!! She's suffering from a Cardiac arrest! Someone get me a Defibrillator...Hurry!!" Doctor Tim's voice cut through the air.
A young intern ran out and came back then with quick hands, he slid the cart into place.
The Paddles came free, the Gel smeared on its metal and after a while, the machine were charged.
The rest of the interns held their breath as their colleague handed the Defibrillator to Doctor Tim but Erica did not move and Susan, feeling nervous and terrified, pressed her lips together and prayed without words.
Without delay, Doctor Tim sprang into action.
"One, two, three—clear!"
Rachel's body jumped but the line still held flat.
"Again! One, two, three—clear!"
Another jolt landed on Rachel but there was no change on the monitor screen.
To Doctor Tim who was terrified out of his wits, the ward started to turn smaller as if the walls were creeping closer and in that moment, the line went flat on the screen of the ECG monitor.
With fear and terror laced in his voice, Doctor Tim sprang into action again as he shouted, saying, "Third time... One, two, three—clear!"
The shock ran through Rachel again like fire then her chest lifted and fell then a dot blinked on the screen, then another.
After some seconds, the line on the screen of the ECG monitor rose, fell then rose again, though it was slow and small but at least it was there.
Then the sound that felt like music to Doctor Tim's ear returned to the ward with a soft, steady beep.
Every shoulder in the ward dropped at once in relief.
Erica's fingers trembled where as she gripped the rail while Susan let out a breath she had been holding since the line on the screen of the ECG monitor went flat.
Minutes stretched like hours then after a while, Rachel's eyelids fluttered.
She blinked against the light, against the blur of faces then her eyes landed on one face she knew deeper than thought.
"…Grandmother?" Her voice was soft under the mask, it was thin but it was. there.
Erica reached Rachel in one step ansd her hands that were always firm shook as soon as she touched Rachel's shoulder, saying: "I'm here, darling, I will always be here."
The words were like a whisper but it was a promise.
Tears welled up in Rachel's eyes and flowed down towards the mask.
"I'm sorry," she breathed.
Then she burst into bitter tears as she started to sob, saying,: "I should have listened to you back then.... I let you down, Grandma... I really let you down... I'm so sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Erica said, wiping the tears of Rachel away with her handkerchief.
Inhaling deeply, she continued and said,: "You're alive, Rachel... That is the only thing that matters to me."
Rachel's gaze swept around the ward and fell on Susan then she smiled and called softly, saying: "Aunt Susan."
Susan's smile broke and mended at once and with surprise and joy laced in her voice, she said, "You remember me, Young Miss."
A small curve formed on Rachel's mouth then after some seconds passed, she smiled at her and said, "Of course I do...When my parents were away on a business trip and Grandma wasn't around, You were the one who was always there for me when I was a little girl and you always put up with my pranks and tantrums and no matter how difficult my wish or request were, you always tried your best to fulfill them no matter what... So how can I not remember you because I haven't seen you for some few years.
As Rachel tried to sit up to try and hug Susan, she felt a sharp pain on her head and the vision of her eyes blurred.
She fell back on the bed and as soon as her back landed on the bed, the world or—— her world rather—split open.
It was like a dam breaking in the center of her mind as not one life but many lives, eighteen in total flooded her mind.
The eighteen lives did not line up in order in her mind, instead, they came as flashes, as fragments, as tastes, as touches, as echoes of love, as echoes of fear, as victory and as pain.
She felt a steering wheel vibrate under her fingers, heard an engine scream, saw a finish line jump toward her then she saw the face of a young woman who turned out to be—Aliya Modric, a racing genius and queen of the track.
Then she saw a bright room, then the face of a young woman with with a cold metal and felt the weight of a scalpel and saw the full view of a woman who turned out to be—Biya Biryani, the surgeon whose hands never shook.
She saw Ivory keys under light hands with sound pouring like water—and saw the young face of a woman who turned out to be—Ciya Svart, the pianist who could make a hall cry.
Then she saw Notes on paper, felt music born from silence — and saw the young face of a woman who turned out to be— Miya Hall, the composer and songwriter whose scores still live on numerous lips.
She saw Charts, candles and numbers moving like tides obeying a will and saw the face and grin of a young blonde man who turned out to be—Ronald Lional, the trader who read markets like weather.
Then she saw Sketches turning into stunning gowns, she saw fabrics that moved like wind and saw the face of a young dark haired woman who turned out to be— Eriya Kurt, the mind behind RIYA, a house that ruled runways.
She saw Code, circuits with screens glowing at midnight and saw the face of a young man with a nose bridge glass, a man who turned out to be— Seth Rollins, the tech giant who built worlds in silicon.
Then she saw a Dark room lit by the screens of numerous computers and saw ten fingers from a pair of a slender hand tapping fast on the keys of numerous keyboards, she saw doors opening where none should and saw the face and smirk of a young man dressed in well tailored suit, a man who turned out to be— Fetrixcon, the hacker every agency hunted, heir to the Trix Mafia Family.
She saw Ink-stained fingers, a desk crowded with pages and saw the face a young woman who turned out to be—Hermonie Granger, the novelist and script writer whose words filled theaters and shelves.
Then she saw a factory floor, a boardroom, a warehouse at dawn, and saw the young face lined by long days of a woman who turned out to be— Gina Xumetra, the self-made one, the youngest billionaire who was stripped of her wealth and killed by a man she loved.
This memory cut the sharpest in Rachel's heart and she even felt the sharp pain as the wound of her heart bled.
Then she saw a rooftop at night, a blade glinting, footsteps silent and saw the cold face of a dark short haired woman dressed in a leather trouser and a hooded leather jacket holding a sniper and a rifle and getting into a sleek sports car, a woman who turned out to be—Hiyita, the assassin who led HITA, a top assassin Organization.
After some seconds, she saw a set with lights like suns, cameras rolling, a voice that held a crowd and saw the face of a middle-age woman who turned out to be—Aurora LaRoux, a top movie star and empress of the film industry.
Then she saw a stage under a storm of screams, a mic warm in her hand and heard a voice singing with high notes reaching where air grows thin in the lungs and saw the smiling face of a young woman who turned out to be—Scarlett Gallop, the legendary queen of pop who turned her own name into a genre.
Just when Rachel thought she could finally breathe, a fragmented image flashed again inside her mind – a map spread across a war table, a voice giving orders, and then a figure emerged: a young woman dressed in a sleek black formal uniform, adorned with gold bullion five-star rank insignia on the shoulders, numerous military rank insignias and a five-star rank insignia, miniature medals, and meticulously arranged service ribbons with military badges gleaming on the left side of her chest that were precisely placed 1/4 inch above the breast pocket.
As numerous moments played in her mind, the young woman's face and identity gradually became clear to Rachel, and she realized that she was none other than the legendary Five-Star Supreme Grand General Kaida Reyes of the Lazurian Army and as the details of General Kaida Reyes' uniform became more vivid – her name tag shone on the right side of her chest, it was centered on the pocket flap along with five gold stripes that ran down the outside of each leg of her trousers along with her cap that bore the same gold bullion five-star insignia on her shoulders with a piercing gaze that exuded nothing but confidence and authority.
Then she saw a battlefield long ago, a crown without a king, a bow that could fire twenty arrows in one breath and the face of a young ancient woman who turned out to be—Princess and General Liana of The Kingdom of Norpond, the first queen in Norpond's history to rule alone without a male consort.
After some seconds, a fragment flashed again inside her mind and she saw Hooves thundering with wind cutting the cheeks of a young woman who turned out to be—Lily Astridex, a star equestrian that was known for her speed and grace.
After some seconds, she saw salt on the tongue of a young woman, a board under her feet, a sea that lifted and dropped with a rhythm she owned and the young woman turned out to be—Scarlett Dakotan, a pro surfer and swimmer with a chest adorned with numerous medals.
Then she saw a lab bright as morning, saw formulas like poems, a robot's hand curling to life and saw the face of a middle-aged woman who turned out to be—Dr. Lena Orion, founder of Orion Laboratories and CyberCorp.
The images and memories lingered in Rachel's mind for a while, leaving behind a sense of reverence, awe, sadness, anger, hatred, resentment and heartbreak as if she had glimpsed into a piece of history with Eighteen flames or rather Eighteen lives, all of them which were all hers.
She felt the eighteen past lives ending and beginning again inside her new body as Rachel that lay under the light of the luxurious VVIP Ward 001.
Rachel's fists curled under the blanket, as she began to breath fast.
The interns who saw her like tha stepped back and glanced at Doctor Tim who raised his right hand, saying: Wait... Let it pass.... Let her mind come through.
In those past lives of Rachel, love had shone like the sun and burned like it, too.
Lovers had smiled and reached for her hand, then stabbed her at the softest parts of her heart with their actions and betrayal.
Though the faces of the lovers blurred for Rachel, the painful feelings did not and among them, Gina's end burned the most and tugged at her heartstrings—the empty apartment, the bank accounts stripped, the note in a trash bin that said he never loved her and the kind of silence that kills from the inside out.
In Rachel's chest now, something old and soft went still.
It was not hate... It was not ice... It was a vow, a vow declaring, "Never to trust men blindly, never to fall for the smiles of men interested in her and never to let her heart beat again for a man in this her new life as Rachel."
A vow that made her kill the thing living inside her that made her trust men blindly, fall for their smiles and fake kindness which leads her into falling in love with them eventually.
As finished making the vow and killed the thing living inside her heart, she shut the door of her heart and locked it properly.
Then she lifted her head a little from the pillow.
With sweat cooling on her hairline, she looked at the faces around her and gave them a small smile that did not ask to be believed.
"I'm fine now," she said softly.
Doctor Tim wasn't the type to believe a patient's words just by looking at their faces.
With a need to confirm if Rachel was telling the truth, he checked her pupils, checked her reflexes and watched the line on the monitor hold steady before exhaling deeply and sighing heavily in relief as he turned to Erica and Susan, nodded his head and said,: "She is stable,"
Then his face turned serious as he said:"But she will need rehab... At least thirty days... Maybe longer... Possibly up to a year.... Depending on her... Anyway we won't force her on anything and go step by step."
Erica who was feeling so many emotions after she heard what Doctor Tim said, pressed Rachel's hand between both of her hands then she swallowed hard, and with pride flicking across her face like a light, she smiled at Rachel and said: "Step by step, Rachel... We will always be here for you anytime you need us."
Rachel nodded her head at Erica's words and turned her head toward the window.
She saw the night sky was thinning into morning as the first lines of dawn drew themselves across River City.
The glass skyscrapers in River City looked less like skyscrapers and more like pillars in a temple.
The night sky touched the rivers in River City and made a kind of silver path, as if someone could walk out on it and not sink.
The Rachel who had be run over with a car that made her fall into a coma was not the one who opened her eyes this time because Inside her, eighteen voices had found one throat, eighteen skills had found one set of hands and eighteen failures had burned down to a base of clean ash.
In that ash, a spark glowed.
She closed her eyes and felt it grow within her.
She was no longer only the girl who had loved once and been left bleeding on a street, nor the heiress who forgot to protect her heart.
She was a sum and more than a sum. She was a wheel taking grip after a skid. She was a bow string pulled back and held, quiet and deadly.
She was not a sunrise, she was the edge of the sun itself.
Rachel breathed in softly and turned her gaze away from the window while the beeps of the machines kept sounding with the wall-clock ticking every second.
Somewhere far away, River and Ocean City kept moving, calling names, making noise but here in the luxurious VVIP Ward 001 of Shen Hospital, there was only the sound of life coming back.
She opened her eyes and turned her gaze to Erica.
"Grandmother," she called with a voice that was steadier this time.
Erica bent close to her and said, "Yes, My Princess, Do you want or need anything?"
Rachel's gaze did not waver as she smiled at Erica and said, "What Liam did to me only broke my heart... It didn't break my resolve or will...
"Did you think Liam had left me broken?" she asked Erica softly with a raised eyebrow.
"No! Of course not!! Whose daughter and granddaughter are you? You can't be broken!! Not as a 'SHEN" Erica answered Rachel firmly.
Rachel chuckled softly and looked at Erica with amusement glistening in her blue eyes.
After some seconds passed, she leaned towards Erica and whispered into her ears, saying: "We will not be broken easily.
"No, we will not." Erica said as she hugged Rachel tightly.
Outside Shen Hospital and River City, lights climbed higher.
The night of DY's rule was over and the morning of Cross Entertainment had begun but those were small things, dust in wind.
What mattered was the woman sitting on the luxurious hospital bed inside the luxurious VVIP Ward 001, she had with her now, a mind and memories that had crossed centuries to stand up again.
She had fallen once but she have risen
once more.
Under the soft roof of the VIP Ward 001, Rachel felt a phoenix flying into her body accompanied with the memories of eighteen lifetimes and after it got into her body, it died after a short while then with its eyes opening again, the phoenix within her burst into flames within her as it had found a new body.
She was no longer the past naive Rachel because the past Rachel had died thanks to Liam.
Rachel looked at the window one last time, then she let her head rest back on the pillow and closed her eyes with a quiet surety that had nothing to do with sleep.
She was awake and she was now a new Rachel that had been reborn like a Phoenix reborn.