Chapter 25.

Gabrielle.
Something fishy was happening with my mom and I could sense it.
Normally, I tried as much as I could to avoid getting involved in mom's business and although I know just how callous she is, I most of the time pretend not to understand her and I play dumb whenever I overhear any of her confidential conversations.
After the issue with Martin, mom had assured me that she would most definitely find all means to solve it and I could already imagine how she planned on doing so but as usual, I pretended to be clueless about it.
A few days back, I had called Gabriella in order to find out if Martin had told her anything and she actually avoided talking about him but after a lot of persuasion from me, she eventually let the cat out of the bag and told me that he was involved in an accident that almost cost him his life and now, he's in a coma.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't relieved to hear that. Lord knows, I'm not ready to lose any of what I own to Ella and if Martin has to stay the way he is forever for my secret to remain my secret, then so be it.
To think that idiot actually had the audacity to cancel the transfer of ownership papers that I had gotten from Ella and now, I'm back to thinking of other ways to get the company away from Ella and it seems I have to do it before Martin wakes up but that is if he ever wakes up.
"Miss?" Tania, the house mistress, called out.
"What do you want Tania?" I ask impatiently.
"I apologize for bothering you, but the madam asked me to call for you immediately. She says it's important." She informed me and I sigh. What does mom want now?
"Okay then, tell her I'll be there in a minute." I said to her and she bowed slightly before walking out of the room.
Whatever it is mom had to say had better be important cause right now the only thing that's important to me is getting Elite under my name and getting Gabriella out of my way for good.
****
"What's up mom! You called for me," I said as soon as I walked into her room.
"Yes, I did sweetie and I'm about to be very serious with you." She said, and I frowned.
"Okay…," I drawl.
"What I have to tell you is something I've never told anyone before and the only reason I'm telling you is because I'm trying to groom you on how this part of the world works, Elle. You have to know that in this industry, give and take is never really the option. You need to learn how to take without ever having to give and in order to do that, you may have to get your hands dirty," she said with a cold expression that scared me.
"Mom, you don't have to be so serious. You're actually scaring me." I said to her, wondering why she was trying so hard to sound serious.
"I don't mean to scare you my dear. I'd rather you just heard it from me before things get much worse." She replied, I frowned.
"What exactly are you talking about mom? Did you do something crazy? How crazy is it this time?" I asked curiously.
"Well, I've been doing crazy things since I married your father my dear and I doubt I'll stop anytime soon." She responded and I chuckled.
"Okay mom, whatever. Just give me the gist and stop trying to be extra dramatic about it." I blurted out tiredly and she smiled before walking towards me and engulfing me in an unexpected hug.
"This is why you're my favorite daughter Elle. You are a smart one unlike your sister and your smart nature will take you very far, I can assure you," she complimented me and her compliments never fail to make me feel on top of the world.
Whenever she reminds me that I'm her favorite child, a weird feeling of acceptance overwhelms me and absolutely nothing else in the world could beat that feeling.
"So, enough with my nonsense and let's get to the reason I called you here but first, I'd advise you to sit down," she says and I do exactly as she instructed and sit comfortably on her bed.
"Your father and I met when I was still a young model in my prime. Back then, everyone wanted to be around the beautiful Rebecca Grayson and well, I felt so on top of the world. As you already know, Anita and I used to be best of friends. We did everything together and I have to admit that I envied her very much."
"She was an epitome of beauty, the standard definition beauty in the world of modeling and she had the world at feet. We were both the 'it' thing back then and our careers were going so well till one day, we both met her husband, the late Micheal Helton and he fell hopelessly in love with Annie and his presence in her life put my career in a very rocky patch," she's saying and judging by how irritated she looked, I could tell this story did not end well for her.
"I suddenly became Rebecca Grayson, the shadow of Anita Rodriguez and I must admit that at that point in my life, I hated Annie very much. She had everything I wanted, the love, the respect, the money, absolutely everything! Micheal made sure she was put on every fashion magazine, fashion show, runway shows and TV programs and that skyrocketed her career like crazy."
"Of course, I felt jealous of her cause she always tried to bring me everywhere with her out of pity that my career wasn't doing as well as hers and that was when I earned the nickname of being her sidekick. While I was with Anita, I learnt a lot about the real world of fashion. Anita is the greediest and most deceitful human I have ever had the displeasure of laying my eyes on and there was absolutely nothing she wasn't capable of…," She's saying and I quickly chime in.
"Mom, I'm sorry for cutting you off but I need to ask, are you going to tell me the story of your life or are we ever going to get straight to the point of this conversation?" I asked, she frowned.
"Don't be such a rude brat Gabrielle! I have my reasons for bringing all this up." She snaps back at me harshly and I decide against arguing with her any further.
"Okay mom, I'm sorry, carry on." I apologized calmly.
"Well as I was saying, Annie opened my eyes to how things really work and I finally decided to spread my own wings. I was sick and tired of being in her shadow and I wanted the world to recognise me for me so I did what any beautiful woman would do." She said and I squinted my eyes out of curiosity.
"What exactly was that?" I drawl.
"I did what I taught you to do with Sandler and that was how I slowly started to make a better name for myself before your father came around and I was like an idiot, I fell in love with him and I got pregnant," she hisses and I'm a little hurt by the tone she used in talking about getting pregnant.
"Do you regret getting pregnant or what?" I asked warily and she smiled.
"If I'm being honest, back then, I did regret getting pregnant. I even almost got an abortion but then your father begged me not to and he even proposed to marry me and because I was so in love with him, I agreed to keep the pregnancy." She replied and I guess I should be grateful to my dad that I'm actually alive, although I still hate him very much.
"So, what exactly made you and Anita sworn enemies? If you married dad, you were bound to be successful since dad already came from a rich home and he was already making waves as a fashion designer. What exactly caused this crazy hatred between you two?" I asked and she sighed.
"Well, that is exactly where I was getting at. The world of fame wasn't as rosy as it looked and it came with a price that I had to pay. As you know, Elite is nowhere as prestigious as Annie's touch is even though it's a few good years older and do you know why that is? It's because of the corruption that went on behind the scenes and if I hadn't done the things I had to do, we would not be where we are today,"
"Your father, just like your sister, believed that his talent and his goodwill will take him to places and that is why Elite still hasn't reached its peak yet. While I was busy doing all the dirty work, he was busy whiling away his time and he even had the audacity to cheat on me," she hissed furiously and I deadpanned.
Dad cheated on mom? Really? That goody two shoes actually had it in him to cheat on mom? Well, isn't that just surprising?
"Wait, who the hell did dad cheat with?" I ask.
"It was Anita, Elle. Your father audaciously cheated on me with my best friend and that was when the real rivalry between us began," she replied and I'm even more shocked than I was earlier.
Derek Johansson, the man with the reputation of being an honorable human being had the effrontery to cheat on my own mother with her best friend? How disgusting was he?
"So what mom? What did you do when you found out?" I questioned.
"At first, I pretended not to be aware of anything but it hurt me more than anything in the world to see your father everyday and remember that he actually cheated on me with someone he knew I had a lot of respect for and the worst part is, when I finally confronted him, he didn't regret it. He told me to my face that he no longer cared about me and that the only reason he still stayed with me was because of his children."
"I was heartbroken, Gabrielle. I felt betrayed and furious and in a fit of anger and rage, I did the unthinkable." She's explaining but suddenly stopped and I could see the tears slowly stream down her face and that immediately made me furious.
"You don't have to cry mom. That useless old man isn't worth your tears. He's already where he belongs anyways." I reminded her as a means to calm her down, whilst patting her back slowly and wiping off her tears with my hands.
"I was the one who put him in there Elle." She said suddenly and my stomach dropped.
"W...wait, you're the one that put him where exactly?" I asked and she sighed.
"I killed your father Elle and I did it myself." She confessed and I did not realize when I fell back to the bed.
I knew my mom has definitely done a lot of things and part of those things were having people who get in her way killed but never in a million years did I imagine that she was in any way responsible for my father's death.
I'll admit that now that I think about it, dad's death was strange. He had suddenly died from one day to the next and he wasn't even ill.
"Listen to me Elle, I know that right now you might be shocked and angry but believe me, getting rid of your father was for the best. He was ready to give it all to just Ella and kick us both out of his life. For some weird reason, he always took Ella's side and he was willing to abandon everything he'd worked for just to protect her,"
"Your father was a terrible human being Elle and I could not watch him ruin my life's work by giving everything to that useless sister of yours. I could not allow that to happen to Elle and I don't regret what I did to him one bit." She blurted with all the confidence in the world and my blood boiled.
"Shut your trap hole mother!" I snapped back at her and by the look on her face, she wasn't expecting that.
"Now I know exactly why you chose me over stupid Gabriella. You knew just how much I wanted to be on top and you knew I would be much easier to manipulate than my sister. Sometimes, I used to wonder why anyone with a sane mind would throw away a raw talent like Ella for a forced talent like me but now, it all makes sense to me,"
"You didn't do it because you supposedly loved me more than you love my sister, you did because you wanted to use me to satisfy your craving for success and since you know Ella would never sell herself cheap for any reason whatsoever, you decided that I would be your tool but boy oh boy are you wrong about me,"
"I'm not mad at you for killing dad cause I could care less about that old piece of shit. I'm furious with you for underestimating me so much and I swear mom, I swear that I'll prove to you and to everyone else in the world that I might not be as talented as my sister but if there's one thing I am, it's that I am very ambitious and dangerous and just like you, I will kill anything and anyone that gets in my way and trust me mom, you are no exception." I threatened and immediately I walked out of her room.
The fact that are thought she could manipulate me with those fake tears really irked me to no end but just like I promised her, I won't rest until everything finally becomes mine and if she ever dares to get in my way to satisfy her stupid greed, I'll kill her without even thinking twice about it.