Obscuratus Anima

A Story on Vengeance of the Deadly

Leah didn't say a word. She carefully began to analyse Ruth's words and her brother's words. Something didn't feel right. If the Leandro family was as powerful as Ruth said, it didn't make sense that a single crisis could shake the LS enterprise. She wanted to find out more, but with Julien falling asleep on her lap after shedding silent tears, she didn't move. Instead, Leah asked Ruth to get her laptop from her desk to the bed. She began to use online resources to dig up information about the Leandro family and their relationship with the Lamiras. She stayed awake for the majority of the night. The scandal three years ago made no sense, and the marriage between both families made even less sense. Twenty years ago, the heiress of the Leandro family suddenly decided to marry a man. 

Between those twenty years, Leah noticed one factor. While the Lamiras were gaining power, the Leandros lost theirs. She sighed. "Another mystery to take care of, it seems." First, the murder incident in her school, then Kiara's father's family, then Kristine and her schemes. Leah cursed. Her mind needed sleep desperately around 4 a.m. She curled her arms around Julien and slept with her cheek resting on his back. When she had awoken, it was already 10 a.m. Surprisingly, Julien was still sleeping. "I can't be bothered to get up right now." She thought to herself and began to continue her research. Amidst all the recent chaos, she had been delaying her assignments. 

Around 11 a.m., Julien was awoken by the ring on Leah's phone. "It's Sean," Leah whispered and put the phone on speaker. "Hello, Your Royal Majesty!" Sean giggled at the other end. Julien ended up laughing at the accent in which Sean spoke. "And what may I call you, Sir of Knightage." Julien was amused by his joke and burst out laughing again. "Leah, don't tell me you left the phone on speaker again." "Oh well, I had some stuff to catch up on. Oh right! Sean, I almost forgot. Can you ask Liam to investigate the backstory of the Leandros marriage? I must know. This whole thing is like a web of deceit and lies that dates back to our parents' generation."

"Liam ain't in town. Last time when you came over, he had left the country for work. The company promoted him, and he had to go on a business trip to get a deal worth millions. He should be back in two days. I'll let you know when he returns." Sean said and cut the call. Julien climbed down from the bed and headed to the living room. "Hey, Dad!" Julien greeted him. "I could hear you wailing outside your sister's room last night. Little one, Kiara's situation is indeed miserable, but I should let you know that her grandparents are alive and well. I managed to save them both from the fatal car crash. The only sad thing was that her grandmother lost her vision. They've almost recovered now. If we want to expose the other families involved in the schemes years ago, including the deaths of Talia, Rosalina and Laura, the Lamiras have to leave the big scene." Roland said.

Leah, who eavesdropped on their conversation, asked, "Dad, do you mean to say the Lamiras are just a scapegoat for the real mastermind?" "No, I'm saying that all the four families are scapegoats for the real mastermind. Whoever that person is leaves no traces whatsoever, and yes, Leah, this dates back to our generation. It's about time I told you all a story. The story about 'Vengeance of the Deadly'. I'll wait for your other two brothers to wake up." Zac and Riven were called to the living room. 

"When I was very young, my dad told me a story of a boy named Marcus, a formidable, loving and talented boy he was. However, not everything on Earth is based on first impressions. Marcus turned out to be a wolf hiding in sheep's clothing. He killed the family who raised him, leaving only the child in that family. That child swore vengeance on Marcus. So, that child built a broad network using her dead family's connections to lay the foundation for a large empire. When that girl grew into an adult, she used all her connections to find the man Marcus and killed him. However, just like Marcus spared her life, she let Marcus' child live. What do you think that child will do?" Roland ended his story. 

"The child will kill her." That's what all the kids thought. "You're right. She should've been killed, but the child went after her loved ones instead. Unfortunately, he failed and was jailed for a long time." Roland said. "Dad, is this just a story." Leah was worried. "Yes, Leah. Though this story, on the whole, is not realistic, there are some aspects of it which reflect this situation. The Xerxes, Darius and Louis families all lost their loved ones. The one thing precious to them was their child. This makes us question whether anything happened in the past that we don't know. Each of you will take responsibility for finding out something from these families. My instincts suggest there's more to meet the eye. In the business world, every loss has a story behind it. And a sudden profit may have something or nothing behind it."

"So, do we trust Rowana's story or not?" Zac asked. "We should hear another side of the story. We're only listening to the victims. What of the preparators?" Riven suggested. "About that. I  asked Jean, and he managed to recover the CCTV footage of their murders. Also, I have confirmed with the Darius and Louis families if they had any feud with the four great families. All of them had one answer, "No". The only place their answer differed was when I asked them whether the Lamiras had visited them recently. I asked Rowana after leaving her place, and she answered that they came to talk about tutoring for Kristine because her business grades had been low, but as far as I remember, her grades were pretty high."

"What about the Darius and Louis'?" Zac asked. "So, apparently, they came to borrow money from the Darius family and they wanted to sign a business deal with the Louis family. I don't know guys, this whole thing seems messed up." Leah said. "Well you said it yourself, it's like a spider web that dates back to our parent's generation. We'll find out soon enough." Riven cheered on.