Her Fallen Crown

HFC | Chapter XX

Chapter XX | Her Risen Crown

"Ms. Bennet, the new buyers of the study are waiting for you." Her partner and announcer says while gently pulling her away from the crowd.

"Okay, let me just finish this interview." She smiles and politely removes her arm from his grip. The bidding was a success with not only one but two bids on the table. The two wouldn't back down from their offer so Felicia chose both. She was hoping she could get them to agree on merging to bring the funds to one million dollars. The money would help her study tremendously. After the interview, Felicia follows her partner to the conference room. He opens the door and she enters with a wide smile, furrowing her eyebrows to the empty room.

"They were just in here." Her partner informs confused.

"They left." A woman's voice says from the other room. She walks through the threshold and meets with the announcer and a shocked Felicia. Her heartbeat sped as her happy partner went to shake hands with Phaedra.

"Well at least you're still here. Please, have a seat." Felicia's partner grins while pulling out a chair. Phaedra chuckles and shakes her head no while holding her glare with Felicia.

"No need. I won't be here long. You won't either." She says as Saddiq enters with his crew surrounding him. The door slamming shut causes Felicia to jump and move to a far corner so she can survey the room.

"Let's go." One of Saddiq's guards says while grasping the bicep of Felicia's partner. He frowns confused yelling at Felicia to not mess up the deal. The door closes and the room sinks into an eerie silence.

"Felicia Bennet. Surprised to see me huh?" Phaedra questions and arches an eyebrow.

"Wha-what are you doing here? What happened to other people that wanted to raise money for the study?" Felicia questions. Phaedra and Saddiq laugh bitterly as they glance at one another.

"You really think somebody was going invest in your bullshit ass study? After your experiment failed miserably! Bitch I should end you." Saddiq questions as his smile slowly fades into a glare. Felicia frowns and stares at Phaedra confused.

"Wait you aren't..."

"Your fail of a clone, no. I'm the real person you tried to recreate because my greedy ass father paid you to."

"That's fair. I didn't approach him in all fairness. He asked about me through a mutual friend." Felicia explains. Phaedra rolls her eyes and shifts her weight to the right of her.

"I don't give a fuck who approached who. I've spent five years in your lab being tortured for some shit I had no say in. Somebody owes me." She says and Felicia exhales a shaky breath.

"I can get on that. I just want to say that I didn't know you weren't the clone. I only ordered my team to bring the clone back to the lab because she escaped." Felicia explains and Phae scoffs.

"So you didn't put anything different on the clone so you can tell us apart? Amateur move." She shades. Felicia nods in agreement not wanting to make the situation worse. She just wanted to leave in one piece.

"I couldn't agree with you more. In all honesty, I'm sorry for how things turned out. I can't take it back but I can offer you money. I'll get my assistant to write..." Phaedra's laughter interrupts Felicia's reasoning.

"You really think I'm just gone waltz up out of here with a check in my hand and leave quiet. You're done sweetheart." She says and Felicia frowns.

"Done?" She questions for more clarification.

"Done! The other partners that bid against us, already know about your bullshit ass. We told them what went down and they immediately pulled their bet and also vowed to let the streets know. You're Dr. Felicia Bennet, no more." Saddiq grits through his teeth while holding his glare. Felicia felt her heartbeat speed as she scans the room. She was out numbered and unmatched.