"Bravo Queen!"

Grace looked at her watch, realizing she was almost late for her meeting. She sped up and sighed in frustration when she was met with traffic. It was only now that she realized she had forgotten to get painkillers for her headache. Depriving herself of sleep, a proper meal, and always watching a screen affected her in more ways than she could put into words. Her eyes were also beginning to hurt a lot lately, and she had skipped the last two sessions with her Optometrist. But for now, she had to attend an important business meeting. After the meeting, she was going to sort out all her health issues.

As soon as she parked her car in the parking lot, she checked her reflection for her looks and shrugged. It was nothing special. The irritation caused by the contact lens she wore was making her very uncomfortable, so she considered for a few seconds whether she should take the risk and take it off. She felt it was one of the reasons she was having such a headache. After a while of contemplating, she took it off and wore her dark shades. She didn't bother to wear her recommended glasses because of how uncomfortable they made her eyes feel lately.

She probably looked funny wearing a dark shade, but it would save her eyes from the blinding lights trying to run into it. Also, she didn't care what people said. It was the same reason she was wearing black jeans and a red button-down shirt to an executive meeting where she was expected to wear a suit. It wasn't in the rule books to wear suits, but the kind of stares she got would make people think she was a serial killer whose 'WANTED' poster was everywhere.

Why did society always have to compel people to dress a certain way or behave a certain way?

Picking up her handbag, she left her car and headed into the building. Maybe some people thought she was weird looking like that, but they didn't show it. Of course, they wouldn't dare. Whether they liked it or not, she was one of the reasons that this company was still thriving. Many of her ideas and suggestions had filled the greedy pockets of the board members. So even if they didn't like her, they liked the profit she brought them and did their best to tolerate her.

She checked her wristwatch just before she entered the boardroom. The meeting was supposed to start by 9:00 a.m., and the time was currently 8:55. She was glad she made it on time. Or else, her haters would use this as a yardstick to judge her capability. When she entered the room, almost everyone was already present. There were about 3 people plus the Chairman absent.

She had heard people talking and the sounds of laughter just before she entered, but now it all ceased, with everyone keeping a straight face. Two men also arrived after her.

She ignored everyone and took her seat before she began to go through the document in front of her while waiting for the chairman to arrive.

"WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS?" A man bellowed angrily. "YOU CAME LATE WITHOUT SO MUCH AS AN APOLOGY AND ALSO DRESSED LIKE THAT? IS THIS SOME KIND OF FASHION SHOW?" He was Elias Sandalwood. Yes, Sandalwood. She would like to know the kind of drugs his family had been into when they chose that name. The real gist was that he was a supporter of Vincent Anderson, her younger stepbrother. So she wasn't surprised.

Grace began to massage her temples. Her headache just got 10 times worse. She looked at where her brother was seated and saw the smirk playing on his lips. Beside him was her stepmother. She was looking at Grace with an expression she didn't bother to read.

"And why do I owe you an apology?" Grace asked calmly.

"Don't be rude, big siste… I mean, Director Anderson. You should apologize for coming later than these people. They all had important things to do, but they still showed up." He said it softly and received a few nods of agreement.

Grace scoffed at his pathetic act. "Since when has bullying been an acceptable norm in this company?"

"No one bullied you!" A woman said. She was also Vincent's supporter.

"Yes." Grace nodded in agreement. "Because I won't subject myself to bullying by the likes of you. If you need an apology for being late, maybe you should seek it from the chairman, who is keeping all of us waiting, and not from me, who was here well before time, right?"

"How dare you?" Her stepmother, Carla, screeched angrily before she realized their environment and quickly adjusted.

Grace didn't know why she still bothered to act like they were a loving family. Maybe people were not talking about it, but she could bet that everyone who had stepped foot on the company grounds knew the kind of rough relationship the Andersons had.

With a careless hand wave, Grace blew her off. 

'Hypocrite.' She thought, eyeing the woman. 

The apple didn't fall far from the tree after all, because Vincent was just like her. They acted like saints to make you trust them, and then they stab you in the back. For years, even though this woman hadn't really given her the attention she needed, she had loved her as a mother. But what did she get in return? 

She remembered the day she had overheard Carla talking to her father just before her 18th birthday. Rumours were spreading around that Grace was going to inherit the company since her parents were the founders and her mother's shares were going to be released to her as soon as she turned 18, which was going to make Grace one of the major shareholders of ANC. Carla had suggested her father talk to Grace about transferring part of the shares once she got them to her 'younger brother' and sending Grace to study abroad. When her father refused, the woman became enraged and began ranting about how he preferred Grace over their son and how, whether he liked it or not, Vincent was the man and heir to ANC.

Grace had cried. Her blood boiled. What pained her most was the fact that the woman she considered her mother wanted to send her away. She hadn't even thought about inheriting the company in the first place. Maybe it was because she was still childish; her dream then was to be a wrestler.

The only place she could go to was Michael's place. Michael had allowed her to pour out her frustration on the punching bag. When it was not enough, he agreed to be her opponent and purposely allowed her to hit him a few times before she abruptly stopped and began to cry. 

Michael had casually suggested that she take over the company because it belonged to her parents and her mother had started it with her inheritance. That stuck in her head. And to everyone's surprise, on her 18th birthday, she spoke into the mic;

"I want to thank my family for being wonderful to me and raising me to be this woman that I have become. I am hoping that I will do better in the future and continue to make my family proud. And I promise that I will lead ANC to greater heights when I take over as president from my father." 

The hall had been quiet. Seeing the horrified look on her stepmother's face was totally worth it. Vincent looked confused. Grace guessed his mother must have brainwashed him into believing the company was his. Her father, on the other hand, was stunned since they had never had that conversation before and he always swore to Carla that Grace had no interest in the company.

'SURPRISE BITCHES!' She almost wanted to scream it out, but she left it in her head and smiled innocently at everyone.

"BRAVO QUEEN!" Someone cheered while clapping.

It was Michael. He was the first person to cheer for her, even though she hadn't told him of her plan before that day. And then, some reluctantly joined. She began to see all the people she had thought liked her in their true forms that day. And so she decided to pay them back in their own coin.