Target
Everything spun around Queenie like she was stuck in some crazy nightmare. Nothing felt real anymore. The evidence was gone from her room - just disappeared - and now there was this bottle of poison sitting with her stuff like it had always been there.
How the hell is that possible? But before she could figure anything out, Georgina's hand smacked across her face hard enough to snap her back to reality.
"How could you do this to me? To my daughter?" Georgina's voice was pure ice, every word full of hate.
The slap hurt, but not as much as the pain crushing her chest. "After all these years I fed you, gave you clothes, kept you under my roof - and this is how you pay me back? By trying to kill my Catalina?"
Tears poured down Queenie's face like a waterfall. She could see it now - how someone had planned this whole thing out. Every little detail pointing right at her. Nobody would believe she didn't do it. Nobody would even ask questions.
"Auntie, please, you gotta..." she started, but another slap shut her up.
"Don't call me that!" Georgina's eyes were on fire with rage. "You lost that right when you decided to be a killer in my house!"
Allison stepped up, her face white but trying to stay strong. "Mother, calm down. Maybe there's been some mistake here. What if someone set this up just to frame Queenie? Think about it - why would she be dumb enough to leave evidence around?"
Mrs. Chen nodded fast, twisting her hands together. "Yes, Ma'am, please look at everything really carefully. Queenie would never do something like this. In all my years working here, she never hurt anybody."
Georgina let out this cold laugh that made Queenie's skin crawl. "I knew you'd all say that. That's why one of the maids was smart enough to record everything."
She pulled out her phone with this smug smile, hitting play on a video that made Queenie's blood freeze. There she was on the screen, clear as anything, holding the poison bottle. The video was kinda fuzzy but you could definitely see it was her - her face, her clothes, everything.
"No... that's not me. That can't be me." Queenie's voice came out barely a whisper, her heart pounding so loud she could hardly hear anything else.
She stared at the screen in horror, watching this impossible version of herself do something she'd never even think about. "Auntie, please, you gotta believe me. I would never..."
"Well, I'll show the police everything, and you can explain it all to them," Georgina said, her voice final like a door slamming shut.
"No, Mother, please don't call the cops," Allison begged, grabbing Georgina's arm. "There's gotta be another way to work this out. Some kind of deal."
"Please, Ma'am, don't bring the police into this, please," Mrs. Chen begged, her voice shaking.
Georgina shook them both off like they were bugs. "I already spent fifty thousand dollars just to get Catalina treated at the hospital. You're gonna pay back every penny of those medical bills."
She turned to stare right at Queenie, her face colder than ice. "I'm giving you five days. Five days to get the money, or you'll get arrested and spend the rest of your life rotting in prison. And you're getting out of my house right now."
Queenie felt like the ground just disappeared under her feet. Fifty thousand dollars? She barely had fifty bucks to her name.
"And if Allison or Mrs. Chen tries to help you," Georgina kept going, "I'll call the police right away and get you arrested for helping a criminal. You understand?"
"No, Auntie, please, I don't have that kind of money. Please, I'm begging you," Queenie dropped to her knees, but Georgina was already walking away, her back straight and cold.
More tears fell from Queenie's eyes as she watched the only mom she'd ever known disappear around the corner without looking back. The house that had been her home for so many years suddenly felt like a jail, and now she was getting kicked out of even that.
"I'm sorry, Queenie," Allison whispered, kneeling down to hold her shaking body. "I'm so sorry this is happening."
"I didn't do it," Queenie said through her tears. "I would never try to hurt anyone, especially not Catalina. You gotta believe me."
"I believe you," Allison said, pulling her into a tight hug. "I know you, and I know you could never do something like this."
But even while Allison held her, Queenie could see the doubt in her eyes. The video was too clear, too real. How could she argue with proof like that?
---
Miles away, in this shiny office that looked out over the whole city, Jamal Devereaux sat behind his huge wooden desk like some kind of king. Everything about him screamed money and power - from his expensive suit to the way he carried himself like he owned the world. The office was like a temple to success, with these massive windows and art that probably cost more than most people's houses.
"Boss, the rumors are getting stronger every day. What are we gonna do about it?" Eris, his manager, stood nervously by the desk with his tablet.
Jamal didn't even look up from the papers he was signing. "What's the latest?"
Eris cleared his throat and started reading from his tablet. "President Jamal Devereaux, CEO of the Devereaux Empire, is secretly gay. No wonder he's never been seen with any woman before. The evidence is getting harder to..."
"Stop." Jamal's voice was quiet but had enough power to make Eris shut up immediately.
"Forget about this garbage. I'll handle it myself." Jamal finally looked up, his dark eyes impossible to read. "What about the other thing I asked you to check on?"
Eris quickly pulled out this thick file and put a photo on the desk along with a bunch of detailed papers. The photo showed a young woman with sad eyes and a soft smile.
"If I wanted to read about her myself, I wouldn't have asked you to tell me," Jamal snapped, clearly getting annoyed as he stared at Eris.
"Sorry, Boss," Eris mumbled, but Jamal just rolled his eyes.
"Queenie Vale, twenty-four years old, daughter of the late Edward Vale. The rightful heir to the Vale Enterprise fortune," Eris started, his voice getting stronger as he talked. "But she's been treated like garbage since her father died by her stepmother, Georgina Vale."
Jamal nodded slowly, his fingers tapping against the desk in a steady beat.
"Right now, Queenie is out on the street, homeless, after getting framed for trying to murder her stepsister. The whole thing was set up by her stepbrother and stepsister - a perfect plan to get rid of her for good."
Eris paused, watching Jamal's face carefully. "She's now stuck with an impossible choice: pay fifty thousand dollars in five days, or spend the rest of her life in prison."
"She's the perfect person for your revenge plan," Eris kept going. "Because she'd have the same goal as you. After everything the Vale family did to her, she'd definitely want revenge against them."
Jamal picked up the photo of Queenie, studying her face real close. There was something about her eyes - a mix of innocence and hidden strength that caught his attention.
"Queenie Vale, daughter of Edward Vale," he said quietly, and for just a second, anger flashed through his dark eyes like lightning.
For years, he'd been planning and scheming, looking for the perfect chance to start his revenge against the Vale family. Edward Vale's sins had haunted him for so long, driving him to build his empire with one goal - totally destroying everything the Vale name stood for.
But now, the opportunity was right here in front of him, wrapped up and delivered. The daughter of his enemy, thrown out and desperate, with nowhere else to go.
"Set up a meeting with her," Jamal said, a knowing smile spreading across his face like a predator who just spotted his prey.
"What day works best?" Eris asked, already pulling out his phone.
"Tonight," Jamal said without hesitation.
"What are you gonna say to her?" Eris asked, curiosity clear in his voice.
"You'll find out when I meet her," Jamal replied, his smile getting wider and more dangerous.
Now it was decided. Queenie Vale had finally gotten the attention of the devil in fancy clothes - the man who'd sworn to destroy everyone connected to the Vale family because of her father's unforgivable sins. She had no idea that her desperate situation was about to become the key to someone else's carefully planned revenge.
The game was about to start, and Queenie was the perfect piece to play.