Second Chance: An Heiress Reborn

After dropping the hurt shop assistant off at the hospital, waiting for the results of the tests, and settling the bill, Alessia finally made her way home. It was already evening when she reached the front gates of the manor. When Alessia came through the front door, she fell upon a beautiful play. In the living room, sat her entire family awaiting her arrival. Her grandfather sat in an armchair, his eyebrows furrowed. To his right, sat her mother and father, looking both worried and angry and to his right sat her uncle and aunt, along with Caterina who was weeping loudly.

"Good evening, everyone. Cousin, what's wrong?"

After greeting her family, she turned to her cousin with her eyebrow raised. Caterina looked at her wrongfully, before bowing her head and sobbing even louder.

"So, you cause problems for my daughter, embarrassing her in front of others, and then you have the nerve to ask what is wrong?!" Victoria's voice was full of tears and righteous anger.

Alessia was confused, that is until, she laid eyes on Caterina's tear stricken face. Of course.

Maybe Caterina wasn't as dumb as she seemed.

Caterina looked on at the scene with concealed glee. Let's see Alessia get out of this. After the humiliation she suffered at the mall, she took a cab home, and cried to her mother, embellishing a few details here and there, making Alessia out to be the bad guy. Now she was about to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

With little bravado, Alessia immediately walked to the middle of the room, and kneeled in front of her grandfather. She stared down at her l.a.p, looking small and pitiful. Grandpa Leo was very surprised, but even more disappointed . It seemed that what Caterina had said was true. Now he would have no choice but to punish her. Alessia's parents were upset but could do nothing but wait to hear her side of the story, while Caterina and her mother were ecstatic. This was the Alessia they knew; small and pathetic. Unfortunately for them, Alessia was quick on her feet.

" Grandfather, I know I should have reprimanded Cousin in the shop, but the havoc she was wreaking on our Cargona name made me so upset! After she physically injured a shop assistant, and threatening a member of the elder generation, I just couldn't hold my tongue! Please forgive me, Grandpa. Please forgive me, Cousin."

With her words, Alessia had managed to paint a picture of what had transpired within the store. Grandfather's eyes widened in surprise, before narrowing. Someone was lying, and trying to make a fool out of him. That would be tolerated.

Sensing the change in his demeanor, Caterina paled, her tears forgotten, as she stood up hurriedly.

"No, she is lying Grandpa, you can't believe what she says! She yelled at me in the store,in front of all those people, humiliating me! She is the one who disgraced the family name, not me!"

" Are you calling my daughter a liar? If she said it happened that way, then that's the way it happened!"

Victoria also leaped up, defending her daughter, while her husband sat silently by her side, uninterested by the conversation. Amara stood up walking towards her daughter, pulling her up off the ground.

"If your daughter isn't the liar then who is? Ha, like mother, like daughter." She retorted coldly walking her daughter to the couch where she sat.

"That's enough! I will give the liar a chance to confess. If you confess now, I will let this incident go. If not, you will be punished." Grandpa Leo's voice boomed through the room, interrupting the argument. He waited for someone to speak up, but when no one did, his face darkened and he huffed.

" Fine then! We wait."

With that, he sat silently, his aura oppressing all those in the living room. No one dared to move from their seats silently waiting for whatever Grandpa Leo had planned. Alessia sat calmly, while Caterina got paler and paler by the second.

After 20 minutes passed, a bodyguard along with Noah and a man and woman.The bodyguard bowed to grandfather before presenting the man and woman to him.

"We found these two by the gate. They asked to come in and speak to Ms. Alessia."

The whole family, including Alessia, was confused, having never seen these people before. The stranger stood in front of Alessia. The woman grasped Alessia's hand s in her own, and spoke.

" We wanted to come and thank you for what you did for our daughter. We are not a well off family, so would not have been able to pay her medical expenses. Thank you so much!"

Alessia smiled bashfully, before responding.

" Ah so you are the parents of the shop assistant that my cousin foolishly injured! No need to thank me! It was the least I could do, since the situation was caused by my cousin."

Caterina paled, and Grandpa Leo's eyes darkened. So, Caterina was the liar! She had gone into the shop, wreaked havoc, and then came home to blame her cousin.

Victoria pointed an accusatory finger at Alessia.

"You hired these actors didn't you?! What they say can't count as proof! My daughter is definitely innocent!"

She had complete faith in Caterina, not knowing that she had come home and lied to her face. Grandfather was conflicted, wondering whether or not to trust the tearful couple. Caterina felt relief for a moment when Noah began to speak up.

"If Grandfather doesn't know if he can trust these people, he can certainly trust in this."

With that, Noah brought a laptop to Grandfather's l.a.p, playing a video. The rest of the family crowded around to see what was being shown. There, on the screen, was security footage showing Caterina harassing, threatening, and pushing around people in the store. Noah played video after video, showing her atrocious behavior over the years. The final video showed Alessia stopping Caterina's reign of terror.

Alessia was impressed. So, that's what her brother was off doing, huh? She glanced at him, then smiled sweetly while raising her hand for a high five. Stone faced, as usual, he raised his hand to hers. Meanwhile, Victoria's face turned white and Caterina began to stutter.

"N-no th-this is-"

"Shut up, you insolent child! Kneel. Now!"

Grandpa was so angry, that heat radiated from where he sat. Caterina had no choice but to kneel. Her mother tried to plead for her, but Grandfather was in no mood to hear it.

"Is this how your parents raised you? You thought that it was acceptable to use our family name to act out? Not only that, but you decide to come home and try and frame your cousin. What do you have to say for yourself?!!"

Caterina, sat there trembling, unable to say a single word. How did it turn into this? It was supposed to be Alessia kneeling, not her.

"Caterina, you need to apologize to the family of that girl you hurt, as well as your cousin!"

Caterina's eyes widened in disbelief, she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

"Apologize? To these lowly people? To Alessia? Absolutely not! Never! Lower myself for sc.u.m, I could ne-"

The words had barely left her mouth, when a hand came down across Caterina's face. She fell from her knees, sprawling across the floor. She held her face in disbelief, looking up at the man who stuck her.

Her father!