Lucy. Lucy? No. There must be some sort of mistake, maybe he got so nervous and said the wrong name. These were the thoughts in Michelle's head as she sat at the table, all energy drained from her, she turned to her brothers and saw they were also standing clapping enthusiastically, she turned back to the stage and saw Lucy as she walked towards John smiling brightly. Her mind was reeling as she saw Lucy and John embrace each other and share a passionate kiss. Lucy looked as though she was a bride wearing that damned dress from earlier. Chocking back a sob, she got up and tried exiting the hall as quietly as she could but it seemed everyone wanted to say their congratulations to the Harts.
Five excruciating minutes later, she finally found a quiet spot to hide in. Away from prying eyes, she burst into tears. How could John have betray her like this, her sister? HER SISTER? The bratty Lucy who whined whenever things didn't go her way, who appeared so sweet that she never once could be suspected of such a thing? That's who John went for?
Also, why did her brothers applaud? Yes, today was the official engagement but her family knew about the relationship between her and John. She needed to find her parents and get an explanation. Having made a decision she touched herself up and walked determinedly back into the hall. Spotting her parents immediately at the center of the hall surrounded by well-wishers, she charged towards them ignoring the attempts at conversation the guests made.
"As though sensing her presence, just as she was about to reach them, Leo grabbed her and whispered furiously in her ear;
"Don't you dare make a scene, come with me." He led her to the empty dressing room. "Just wait here, I'll go get them."
"Do you know what's going on? Why would John do something like that? Are mom and dad aware of this?" She asked frantically and close to tears.
"I said wait!" He responded with rage and left the room. Michelle was left stunned by his response, Leo had never to her like that before. Why was her world unraveling on a day that was meant to be a special day?
The door opened and her family walked in and trailing behind them was John with Lily attached to his arm. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself.
"Someone please explain to me what on earth just happened out there?" she turned to face each of them, "Mom? Dad? Leo? Logan? Someone please say something!"
"Don't shout." Her mom replied harshly.
"Don't shout? My fiancé calls out my sister's name instead of mine. Is that not enough cause to shout? Heck shouting is tame if you ask me. John? What's going on? Talk to me please." She turned to John still attached to Lily.
"You're being dramatic. John did call out his fiancée's name on stage. So I don't see what you're complaining about."
"What? What are you talking about?" Michelle asked confusion evident in her voice as she watched them all exchange looks, "Somebody say something and stop making me feel like I'm the butt of a badly written joke."
"Honestly Michelle, I thought you were a smart woman." John said sighing deeply as though annoyed by her confusion. "Even with all your accomplishments you still can't figure out something as obvious as this? Fine, I'll spell it out for you. Lucy and I have been together way before you and I ever met, we also got engaged before you and I did."
Michelle stepped back in shock, "if that was the case, why did you even involve yourself with me in the first place?"
"It was fun chasing after you, plus Lucy felt pity for you." He replied.
"That's right sis." Lucy chimed in, " I found John and he was so perfect then I looked at you and saw how sad and alone you were, so I asked him to be your comfort. I decided to share my joy with you." Her voice was grating against Michelle's ears, the tone of it as though she was the most magnanimous person in the world and Michelle was meant to bow down in appreciation.
"Why on earth would you let me be with him? Cause it's pretty obvious you guys know about this." She turned to her parents and her brothers, "What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"
"Oh shut up with that 'woe is me' act" Logan said snapping, "We didn't care and we don't care about you. We did however enjoy how you always seemed to bend over backwards to please us. A simple sob story and you'd come running."
"Then there's the company" Her dad joined, " Honestly I was so happy to see you working all those late nights for the family, your love for us knows no bounds." He chuckled darkly.
Michelle stared at the people before her and yet she still couldn't understand it, this 180 they seemed to have taken. She remembered how much she'd toiled to help Logan's startup, how often she'd smooth over Leo's eccentrics with HR, the trips she planned for Lucy and her parents, the life she wanted to build with John. Everything kept spinning in her mind and it all seemed impossible. There's no way her family would cheat and betray her like this, it was all just some terrible nightmare that she'd wake up from soon enough.
"Why would you guys do this to me? I've done nothing but love and support all of you. Why?"
"Don't you get it sis," Lucy began her voice bored. "Does a lion need a reason to kill a lamb?"
"What?"
"Enough of all this." Their mom said clapping her hands, I have security waiting to escort you out of here, so be a good girl and follow them ok?"
"Escort me out? This is an event I planned and fretted over for months, with no help whatsoever from any of you, yet you're telling me I have to leave? No I don't want to."
"Honestly child, I thought you'd understood already, we don't care what you want, we simply cannot have you ruin today for the lovebirds. Now either you leave the hall willingly with security or we have them drag you out."
"What are you going to tell your guests? How will you explain my absence?" Michelle asked, a final last ditch effort.
"We have plenty of excuses. Now," pointing to the door, Mrs. Hart steeled her voice, "Leave."
Dejected and alone, Michelle left the vent just shy of 5pm barely two hours since the event started. Her world felt like it was over, so her family, people she'd done nothing but love and support could do this to her? She started sobbing as soon as she entered her car, heart wrenching sobs that she couldn't contain anymore. The security men stood outside her car and one of them made a gesture signaling her to leave the premises. She slowly pulled out of the lot and drove to her place.
***
7pm; Michelle was back at home curled up on the sofa in front of the TV, where she sobbed into tissues as she watch the news replay clips of the engagement announcement. In her absence, they looked like the happiest family in the world, it as though she was a blemish which they got rid of. She saw Lucy and John kiss and again more tears escaped her eyes. One would think that she'd have no.more tears left but that wasn't the case. She felt utterly and completely alone, her friends from years ago were gone thanks to her parents nitpicking. If she knew this is how her life would be, she might have insisted on keeping her friends, now she was forced to go through a devastating situation on her own and was forced to watch the event on repeat as it seemed to be the only thing the networks seemed to want to show.
"Ughhh!" she flung the remote away in frustration, stood up and waled with unsteady feet to the fridge where she grabbed another tub of ice cream, the previous one from before had already melted away. She soon passed out from a sugar crash and woke up about 7 hours later. it was around 2am. She stretched lazily, grabbed her laptop and started working, halfway through she saw that her access to the company website was revoked. She tried again thinking it was merely a glitch but the results were still the same with the large letter : ACCESS DENIED staring back at her from her laptop screen.
Furious she grabbed her phone and called the IT department
"This is Michelle Hart, I logged in, started working and all of a sudden it said access denied. Can you please explain to me what's going on?"
"Miss. Hart? I thought you already knew?" The voice on the line was confused.
"Knew? Knew what?"
"Mr Hart asked us to revoke your access to the company site. He said you didn't plan on working here anymore and that you asked him to relay that information to us."
"Did no one think to confirm this with me first? I'm vice-chairman of this company. Why was such a decision made without my knowing."
"Miss. Hart, this is your father we're talking about. You said so yourself about a year ago, your father's authorits is akin to your own."
How could she forget, she couldn't believe she actually said such a thing.
"Is there anything that can be done about it? Because I have no intention of leaving the company."
"Really? I knew it wasn't true. But why would your father say such a thing?"
"I don't know, now what can you do?"
"Usually, it would take a month to grant you the same level of access you once had, but I chose to save your information so it should only take about a week or so."
"A week? Is there really nowhere way for the process to be sped up?"
"I've offered you the special up version Miss. Hart. It's up to you."
"Alright fine, go ahead. Just contact me again using this number."
"Yes ma'am. I'll get started on it."
"What's your name by the way?"
"It's Caleb Miss, Caleb Leroy."
"Thank you Caleb." Beeeeep the call ended. She slumped back on the sofa at a loss for what to do now. How was she supposed to continue with herself when she didn't even know what she could do next.
During the week as she waited for Caleb's call, she hovered around the house like a bad ghost. She seemed to be a hollow version of her former self not living just existing. Her days blended into each other- wake up, cry, shower, cry, eat, sit and stare at nothing before finally falling asleep.
The familiar message beep of her phone woke her up, she picked it up and saw it was a message from Caleb. He'd gotten her new access codes with the same level of clearance she had as Vice-Chairman. Shooting him a quick thank you, she logged back into the site and sent a company wide email;
Good day everyone,
It has come to my notice that there have been some rumors about me leaving Hart Industries, I am here to tell you that those rumors are false. I have no intention of ever leaving this company, I have worked too hard and come too far to do so. In addition, nothing any member of my family says comes from me, I am revoking the authority I gave to them.
That is all I need to address. Thank you.
Yours Sincerely,
Vice-Chairman
Michelle Hart.
She sent the email at 10:54am on a Wednesday morning and at 11, she was already receiving texts and calls from her family.
Mom sent: What sort of rubbish are you sending to the company, you have no place there anymore.
Dad: Revoking my authority? How dare you?
Lucy: Sis no need to be so bitter about everything.
Even John sent a message: You need to get over me Michelle. We're through.
The twins sent a voice note that mocked her and called her stupid, saying she had no right and no stake in the company anymore. It all seemed so funny to her, how quickly they turned against her. Rather than engage them, she chose to ignore them instead. Since John chose Lucy, she had come to understand that it wasn't her fault and she should leave them be, everyone should go their separate ways.
Returning to work the following day was exhilarating, she hadn't been outside in so long and was tired of sitting around withering away. She threw herself into her work and ignored all the rumors about how it seemed the Hart family was tearing apart.
Despite everything going on in her life, she had a company to run and was intent on doing just that. The rest of the week was uneventful but when the new week rolled around it seemed the previous events had finally caught up to her family and like dominoes falling one by one, they each found one reason or the other to come see her.
First up was Leo, he had made another crude comment about his colleague and came to her expecting her to handle it.
"No." She replied calmly.
"What do you mean no? Are you still bitter that I supported Lucy and John? Don't be. She's a far better match for him than you could ever dream of being. So why don't you just get over it and fix this for me like you usually do."
"I am over it, but I have no intention of helping you. You're a grown man, face the consequences of your actions. Now leave."
Mouth agape, Leo left her office stunned. Michelle had reached a conclusion- they support Lucy and John's betrayal, that was no longer her concern. She was simply done being a doormat that they used to wipe their filthy shoes.
Lunch time came around and she received unexpected guests in the form of her parents. They'd come to collect everyone to head to the main house.
Seated in her office mom started, "As you know Grandpa Hart died two years ago."
"Yes, I suppose that time has come. I'll meet you guys at the main house." she replied, her voice softly as she remembered her grandfather and how today was the day his will was to be read.
"Ensure you don't delay, the will won't be read until everyone arrives." Together the Hart couple left the room not sparing their daughter a backward glance as they went to where one could only assume Leo was.
Alone in her office, Michelle took a deep breath, steadying herself against what was to come. She was ready for anything now. Resolutely she gathered her things and left the company, driving her car through the rain to her grandfather's house.