Victoria vomited blood as she held her stomach in pain. She glared daggers at her father, who was smirking down at her, a triumphant smile on his lips, his eyes glinted with mischief and pride.
Hatred bubbled in Victoria's heart, and her blood boiled with rage as she thought about her latest discovery, about how the evil couple, her father and her stepmother, who had been her nanny when her mother was alive, had poisoned her just so they could take over her mother's wealth.
Her father sneered mockingly, "So what if your mother left everything to you? So what if you know that we schemed and killed your mother to take her wealth? What can you do about it? You are still too powerless to do anything; even your death would mean nothing, just like your mother's!" He boasted hauntingly, which further boosted Victoria's rage.
"Why? What did my mother do to you?" She choked out, blood spilling out of her mouth with every word.
Kate, her stepmother, sneered with hatred, "She took my husband! How dare she come after my husband to seduce him?"
"Seduce him?" Victoria chuckled darkly, her eyes filled with mockery. "Was my mother the one who did the seducing, or your cunning husband, who wasn't satisfied with a hag like you? My mother didn't seduce your husband, and you greedy people don't deserve to slander her name!" She bit back at them, making all their faces ugly. Kate snickered and slapped the dying Victoria across the face angrily.
One of the things that Kate hated hearing about was her incompetence at keeping her husband satisfied in the house; even after Victoria's mother's death, Henry, her husband, had gone out to look for other mistresses to keep by his side, disregarding her existence.
Victoria gritted her teeth as she tried to get up, only to be knocked down again by William, her stepbrother. He had always taken credit for her work, stealing her projects and claiming them as his own. No one except her team knew the truth - that he was a hoax, pretending to be a genius. She could already imagine what it would be like if the empire her mother painstakingly built was handed over to the frivolous young master before her.
"You are defeated; it's good you stay down," he mocked as he raised a transparent USB Drive with smugness.
Victoria's eyes went wide, and her hatred simmered over as she saw the drive in his hand. It was the one that contained her latest technological project; she had taken over the project from her mother and improved it, and the software was in the last phase and almost ready to be used.
Blinded by rage and the desire to destroy the software with her, she gathered the little bit of strength and rationality she had left and rushed up to tackle William to the ground.
He fell and hit his head on the glass table behind him. The glass table broke and pieces of glass entered William's skull.
Victoria felt a little bit of relief as she saw the thick blood oozing out of his head. She already lost all of her strength, and she couldn't struggle for the drive any longer, so she lay down feeling comforted that she was able to deal some damage and at least leave a scar on him.
'Hopefully, he would be brain dead' she thought in her mind as she felt her stomach knot together in pain.
In her hazy state, Victoria saw the rest of the family running to William, sadness overwhelming her heart at the thought of dying all alone, with no loved one around her.
'I'm sorry, mother; I am unable to protect everything you left behind,' she thought to herself.
As her consciousness began to fade, she heard a mechanical voice ask, {Would you like to get revenge on your enemies?}
Victoria didn't know where the voice came from, but the water of revenge kept boiling in her heart, and she couldn't let go of her hatred towards the Hamilton family.
She quickly agreed to the voice, "Yes! I want them to experience despair beyond human understanding; I want them to live a desolate life; I want their bones to rot on the street without anybody picking them up."
{Your wish shall be granted, and you shall watch it happen with your own eyes and execute your revenge with your own hands} the mechanical voice replied, and Victoria scoffed.
"I am dying like this, and you are still giving me false hope. It's enough for me to know there is someone who would avenge me; I don't need to witness it with my eyes. However, I will be happy to watch it from the afterlife," Victoria explained.
{Do you accept to bond with the luck system?} The mechanical voice asked. Victoria hesitated for a bit as the name of the system sounded familiar. She brushed the feeling to the back of her mind; this time all she felt was numbness; the pain from the poisoning had long been forgotten.
"Will the lucky system help me take my revenge?" she asked skeptically.
{Yes, as long as you meet the requirements to use the lucky system, the system will fulfill all your wishes. Do you accept to bond with the lucky system?}
"Yes, I accept!" Victoria answered as the last thread of her consciousness snapped.
"Lily! Lily!" A distant voice called amidst several beeping sounds.
Victoria felt someone shaking her awake, and she could hear hurried footsteps around her as the voice kept calling.
"Lily! Are you alright? Are you awake? Stay with me," the voice drew closer.
Victoria was about to complain about the noise when she felt a sharp, numbing pain in her chest and head and a weakness she had never experienced all over her body.
{Soul transfer complete}
{Lucky system successfully bonds with Victoria Hamilton, now known as Lily Turner}
{Lucky system level 0, welcomes the host to a new life and wishes the host uses the second chance wisely as there may be no other after this} the mechanical voice announced as Victoria awakened in Lily's body and she realised she was in a hospital connected to several machines.
She looked around cautiously and muttered hoarsely, "What is happening?"
"It's a miracle that you were able to make it; for a minute, your heart stopped, and we thought we lost you; you scared me." A middle-aged woman sobbed as Lily stared at her blankly, not knowing who she was or how to answer her. "How are you feeling? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? Do you need me to get you anything?" She continued to ask, but Lily remained quiet, trying her best to make sense of what was happening."What is going on? Who are you?" she asked, which shocked both the doctor and the middle-aged woman. "It's me, your mother; did you forget?" The middle-aged woman asked, looking from her daughter, whose body had been occupied by Victoria, to the doctor."My mother?" Victoria replied calmly.The middle-aged woman turned to the doctor with fresh tears and said, "Doctor, you have to check properly; why does my daughter not recognise me?"The doctors soothed her while making preparations to conduct tests on Lily's brain to check for any signs of amnesia. "It's common fo
Victoria soon got used to her newly acquired identity as Lily Turner. Under the intense care of her mother and younger brother, she got better and was finally discharged after a month of being in the hospital. During this time, her roommate, Merissa, had come to apologise for her clumsiness, and to show her sincerity, her family offered to pay the hospital bill. Victoria had nothing against them paying, but she was determined to take revenge on her on behalf of the previous owner of the body. Once the doctors were done giving their instructions about what to do and what not to do, Victoria was finally discharged to go home. Her eyes watered upon stepping out of the hospital and she breathed in the fresh air.She appreciated the second chance that life gave her and promised to cherish it, which is why she hadn't bothered herself about learning about the situation in Hamilton's family and company and only focused on recovering and getting to know her new family. As they walked towa
A young man dressed in an expensive black suit sat at the reception of a hospital, waiting for the doctor's report. His brows furrowed in deep concentration, and his shoes tapped the floor in continuous succession as he became impatient after waiting for so long.His subordinate, who was sitting not too far away, felt distressed as he noticed his boss was about to lose his temper. Shortly after a male doctor with long black hair walked out just in time, and the young man glared at him in dissatisfaction while the doctor smiled innocently."Must you always keep me waiting anytime I come to your hospital for a checkup? Can't you be a professional and attend to your patients on time?" The young man asked as he walked behind the doctor to his office."You don't expect me to give you special treatment because you are family, do you? Besides, young master Mark, you didn't make an appointment before barging into the hospital," Dr. Nathan, Mark's cousin, reprimanded him with an eye roll as h
"Any news from the hacker that took the job?" Mark asked as he walked into his office the following day, and his assistant, Ted, sighed heavily. He had stayed up all night trying to get in touch with the hacker named "sinful" whenever they came online, but all through the night, he never heard the notification that the other person was online, which left him disappointed. "They haven't revisited the firewall; I'm starting to think that they gave up or something; maybe we should find someone else to do it," Ted suggests.Mark glared at him as he hung his jacket on the rack. "If it were easy to solve, wouldn't it have been solved a while ago? What nonsense are you spouting?" Mark asked comically."I'm thinking we should source help from the foreign hackers; it might be something they are familiar with since they broke it in the first place," Ted explained.Mark stared blankly at Ted, wondering how he had chosen someone as dumb as Ted to be his assistant. "We will wait for them to co
Lily stretched as she stood up from the bed, it's been three days since she broke through the firewall of Alpha's company. She had done nothing except read the books provided by the system and eat and sleep all those days. Her family had been so considerate of her condition that they never allowed her to leave her room except to walk around the house and stretch her body. The three days that followed were a whirlwind of new information for Lily. She learned techniques and approaches to programming and hacking that were beyond anything she'd ever seen on Earth. The concepts were strange, otherworldly, and seemingly from the future. Her brain was buzzing with new knowledge and possibilities. On the fourth day, she emerged from her room to find the house empty. A note from her mother on the kitchen counter informed her that she was back at work, and there was money for dinner. Opening the fridge, Lily found a breakfast and lunch prepared for her.Victoria hummed in reply and warmed up
"I need a new computer and a stable network connection if I'm going to study the hacking and coding textbooks you are providing me with, they are too advanced for my shabby ones," Lily noted. {You have enough money to get those things now, but you have to create some time to attend the national fashion competition.}"Do I still have to attend that?" Lily asked with a raised brow. {Of course, you have to! It's Lily's wish to win the competition and start up her fashion business after it,} the system reminded her. "It's already too late to join the school team now, isn't it? My spot on the team would have been given to someone else after my accident" Lily argued. {You can join as a private individual but you need to have a registered company and at least two workers in your company before you can register to join the competition,} the system explained."How do you expect me to join and win the competition now? We don't have a company at hand. Wait, when is the competition, I know no
'Crash' Frederick, Mark's cousin and rival, smashed his wine cup on the wall as he read the reports provided by his spies under Mark. He glared at the beautiful lady who had come to deliver the report to him."Why are you just telling me this?" He gritted out. "Why didn't you include the information of the person who sold him the programme? Didn't you think it would be important to get me such crucial data?" He added feeling his fury burn through his blood. He had once again been bested by his younger cousin."Young master Frederick, we had no way of knowing about the arrangement as it was not discussed with the board of directors. We were only informed about their team's plan of making the chips and we sent it to you as soon as we heard about it," Tina, the beautiful petite lady explained."What do you mean that it was not discussed with the board of directors? How was he able to fund the project without the financial approval of the financial department?" Frederick questioned. "Th
"Mum! Dad! I'm home!" Lily announced upon getting home. She carried the grocery bags into the kitchen where her mother was busy making dinner. "Where did you go? Why didn't you call and have someone escort you when you were going out? What if something had happened on the way? You aren't strong enough to walk about on your own!" Her mother reprimands her worriedly.She moved away from the stove and checked Lily all over, Lily blushed and reassured her that she was fine."See, I'm fine and fit to go out now. I didn't even get scratched while I was outside!" Her mother glared at her playfully and went back to cooking.She turned her attention to the heavy grocery bags Lily had brought in and raised a questioning brow, "What are those and where did you get the money?""I went out to get groceries, I worked for a company online and I got paid," Lily replied, half-telling lies and half-truths. "Online? I hope it's not some shady business. I heard some youths are going to jail lately afte
"What brings you here?" Frederick asked as Mark casually walked into his office. "What do you think?" Mark replied with a smirk. "I don't believe we are close enough for me to just stop by for a greeting, are we?" He added and took a seat opposite Frederick. Frederick glared at Mark, hating how the latter was talking to him so casually. Swallowing his anger, he relaxed into his seat and raised a brow. "I don't remember having an appointment with you. So it will save us both some time if you go straight to the point; we are both busy men after all." Mark hummed and brought out a flash drive from his inner pocket. "We did have an appointment, but I guess your subordinates are incompetent; they couldn't even inform you about such things. Anyways, I'm here to talk about the collaboration for the government project." He announced."As much as I would like to handle both the construction and security system installation, I do not have the time to do it now that I have another branch to
"Marry me, and we can use your family's influence to pressure him out," he offered. "In the end, you'll get what you want while I also get mine." Roseline paused, her eyes narrowing the longer she heard Frederick talk. By the end of his speech, she burst out laughing uncontrollably, making Frederick's eye twitch in annoyance. "What's so funny?" He gritted out as she forced herself to sober up from her hysterical laughter."Oh, it's not funny," she replied coldly. "I'm just laughing at the absurdity of the proposal you just made. "I may not want to get married to those old fools, but I'm not desperate enough to settle for you, Frederick." She announced.Frederick balled his hands against the table, his eyes twitching uncontrollably while his lips curled into a sneer at the insult thrown his way. "You are saying I'm comparable to those men with one leg in the grave; how remarkable, Miss Anderson," he snarled, and Roseline shrugged."You are free to interpret my words anyhow you want,
"What's wrong with you?" Frederick asked with a frown as Roseline stormed into his office with a flushed face, slamming the door behind her without a care.Roseline, not saying a thing in reply to his question, dropped her bag and walked towards his wine shelf to serve herself a drink. "I'm glad you are comfortable enough to waltz around here like you own the place," Frederick hissed, his tone full of sarcasm and annoyance."They spent last night together," Roseline gritted out after downing the whole glass of wine. Reaching to serve herself another glass, she decided against it and took the whole bottle with her as she sat on the couch opposite Frederick's working area."You are talking about Mark and Lily, right?" Frederick asked with raised brows as he relaxed into his chair, and Roseline nodded in reply before taking a big gulp of wine. She scowled as the pictures she had received resurfaced in her mind. "Mark hasn't slept outside his home, not even at his parent's since he move
"Hey," Lily waved shyly as Mark's car came to a stop in front of her studio. Mark smiled and got down from the car, dressed in a casual black dress shirt and pants.He reached into the back seat of his car and brought out a bouquet and a box of sweets. Mark approached Lily with a bright smile, his eyes warm and inviting as he took in the sight of her."Hey there," he greeted her, his voice smooth and comforting. "You look lovely tonight."Lily blushed, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink as she accepted the bouquet and the box of sweets. "Thank you," she replied, her voice tinged with a hint of nervousness as she took a sniff of the flower. "These are beautiful." She compliments."Not as beautiful as you," Mark replied, his tone sincere. "I thought we could start the evening with a little sweetness."Lily smiled, her eyes bright with excitement as she opened the box of sweets, the tantalising aroma wafting between them. "This is perfect," she murmured, selecting a delicate choco
Lily let out a groan as she read the reminder from Dark Star about his last work. Somehow, she had pushed the work out of her mind almost immediately after she had gotten it.However, having been reminded of it, she read through their chat again to refresh her memories of the job description."Investigate a hacker… ok?" She muttered to herself as she continued to read. "I still don't understand why I'm the one who wants to do such a simple job but anything for the money... and the opportunity to screw them over, I guess?"Without wasting time, she logs into the Hamilton's company security system, navigating through the angles and corners, trying to find the traces of the hacker and what they had done or undone."It's pretty easy to break in though," she commented with a frown. "How long ago have they updated the security system around their database?"Lily's fingers danced across the keyboard as she delved deeper into Hamilton's security system. The ease with which she navigated the n
"It's been a while since I've been here, and the atmosphere looks even more busy than the last time," Lily noted as she walked into Mr. Wallace's office.Her brow shot up in surprise as she took in the huge stack of files on his table and how overworked he appeared to be with his tired eyes and hug under-eye bags. "Please tell me you get a few days off in a week," she voiced worriedly and took her seat in front of him."Well, I'm supposed to, but I've not been able to do so these few weeks," Mr. Wallace replied. "On the brighter side, I've learnt to stay hydrated with water instead of other sugary drinks." He added, making Lily worry even more."Okay! Okay! You can pack up and leave now. You'll resume three days later," she encouraged hastily. "I will not have my employees overwork to this extent. You look like a homeless madman despite the expensive suit you are wearing!""I'm fine, I promise," Mr. Wallace sighed. "Let's discuss why I've called you here today, and then maybe I can t
"What was that stupid stunt you pulled the other night?" Frederick demanded, his tone cold and filled with anger as he walked into the private booth to see Roseline already waiting for him.Roseline frowned as she adjusted her jacket while crossing her legs over the other. "I don't understand what you are talking about," she huffed, and Frederick glared at her impatiently."Why would you go confront Lily like that?! You didn't just trash her studio; you even had the boldness to meet up and try to frame her?!" Frederick exclaimed. "How could you do something like that?!"Roseline's eyes narrowed as she met Frederick's furious gaze. Her voice remained calm yet held an edge of defiance as she responded, "Are you on her side?" She asked."I'm on your side!" Frederick grunted out. "You went behind me to do all those things. You think she's just some nobody you can bully around?""She's just a start-up fashion designer; what's there to be upset about?" Roseline huffed in annoyance, hating
"Hey," Mark greeted as Lily pulled open her door the following morning to see him standing with a basket of what seemed to be like breakfast and a bouquet of white and pink roses with other mixtures of flowers in it.A small smile appeared on her lips, reflecting how warm she was feeling on the inside as she realised the effort he had put into making such a romantic gesture."Good morning, Mark," she greeted, stepping aside to allow him entry into her apartment. "This is quite the surprise."Mark returned her smile, a hint of nervousness in his expression as he stepped into the apartment. He looked at the place, liking how simple but cosy it felt. "I just wanted to apologise for last night." He started "Mr. Roux was right; if I had dealt with the situation earlier, you wouldn't have had such an encounter with Roseline. I'm sorry," he apologised.Lily let out a small chuckle as she led him to the dining area. She gestured for him to sit while she brought out plates for breakfast. "Th
Lily waved the two good night, knowing full well tonight's scene would be all over the media by the time she woke up the following day.Letting out a sigh, she closed the door behind her and groaned, "I've appeared in the media this year more than I did all through my life as Victoria.""Of course, there is always a reference when you've already reached the top and when you are just coming up," Bryan replied and started the car. "I got your message.""I thought you said you were out of the country; how come you are here tonight?" They said at the same time, followed by a moment of silence to allow each other to talk before continuing."Father called me home," Bryan provided. "It wasn't something much so I didn't have to stay longer than necessary. So what's that about your message?" He urged impatiently."Well, I have built that lock system you sent in a virtual space. Most things went smoothly, but something is still missing, and I might need to see the real thing for myself to know