Ariana's schemes
Ariana had been observing Mahira and Elena's growing bond, fueling her jealousy. That night Ariana waited for Mahira to drop Elena as usual in order to orchestrate her plan.
ARIANA'S POV
I am sick and tired of trying to impress this fucked up family. I only married Thane for his wealth. It took me three years to make my plan work. I'm not going to let Mahira and Elena ruin that for me.
Mother in law already likes me , Thane has no problem with me, in fact his whole family loves me. I need to get rid of Mahira but first I must kill that old hag, Alf. The only way Thane is going to get his inheritance is if she dies and if she keeps on living then only God knows how long I have to wait till I get my hands on that 30 billion dollars .
Once Alf dies, all the wealth will be passed on legally to Thane then I will simply manipulate or even poison Thane. He's a fool either way he won't see it coming.
End of Ariana's POV
Mahira brought Elena back home as usual. Elena couldn't stop gazing at the diamond around her neck. Her eyes suddenly grew wide at the realization of something and she smiled at Mahira.
Elena, "dad is back and I forgot. Mom said he'd come today I'm sure he's here."
Mahira, "ooh god Eli, you should have told me I'd have skipped today's hang out."
Elena's face drops and she stares at Mahira. Then she mimics Mahira's words sarcastically before she rolls her eyes and ignores the statement taking Mahira's hand.
"Fairy, please come with me, I want dad to see you. Of all the hyenas in my family dad is the friendliest."
Mahira tried refusing but Elena convinced her to accompany her. The whole family was sitting in the dining room. Thane's cousins, relative's, uncle's everyone was there. They were all gracefully dressed in luxury clothes just for dinner.
Elena immediately let go of Mahira's hand and ran to hug her father. Mahira looked at herself and felt completely embarrassed and out of place with her yellow saree. She turned around prepared to leave quietly but Elena wasn't going to let her go away so easily.
"Fairy… where do you think you are going? I haven't introduced you yet. Only Sofia mommy, brother Thane and witch Ariana know you, I am yet to introduce you to grandma and the rest of the family."
Mahira didn't want to meddle in their family affairs so she tried making a reasonable excuse.
" Elena…uhm actually….. I can't stay. It's a family occasion, I wouldn't want to meddle or interfere with your…."
Mahira's sentence was cut off by Thane's grandmother.
" I've heard a lot about you young lady. Join us, my granddaughter seems to like you so much. Come on."
Mahira bowed her head as she walked to the dinner table. The only empty sit was the one next to Thane so she had no choice but to sit there.
Alf " tell me dear, what do you do for a living?"
Mahira nearly choked on the food that was in her mouth.
Alf, " Ooh please, I'm sorry. Feel free to speak to me dear, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable ."
One of Thane's cousins speak up
Rose, " Grandma why would you want to treat this obsessive stalker like family hmm. You know she made your grandson's life miserable. She doesn't even deserve to…..AAAH!"
Elena threw an orange at Rose which hit Rose's head.
" Cousin ,the last time I checked grandmother was talking to fairy ,not to you. I suggest you keep quiet."
Mahira stood up and took her bag.
" Grandmother, I don't think I should be here, like I said, this is a family occasion and I shouldn't be here. Your family is…."
Alf cut her sentence short.
" Young lady, I'm the one who suggested you stay. I'm the eldest in this house, my orders are always followed."
The old lady looked at her seriously which sent shivers down her spine. Mahira sat down quietly.
Alf " Young lady what's your name? Feel free to answer all my questions.' Honestly '."
The old woman's voice was stern but her expression was soft so Mahira decided to answer whatever questions she was asked honestly.
Mahira " Grandma actually my name is Mahira Riley."
Alf " Tell me about yourself, everything."
All eyes where on Mahira which made her feel uncomfortable but she answered regardless.
"I don't have a lot of hobbies but I enjoy reading and writing. My weaknesses are my loved ones. I want to work in the film industry as a film director and scriptwriter. A hypernate for both in short. "
Alf " Do you have anyone you would like to be your life partner?"
Mahira slowly looked at Thane and looked down as her plate.
Rose " Grandmother, you know that this woman is a slut. She is obviously after Ariana's husband. She is such a…"
Elena " Mind your language cousin! This conversation doesn't even concern you in the slightest besides that's my fairy you are talking about. I don't like it."
Ariana " Elena sweetie. A woman who has eyes for a married man is called a home wrecker. This woman right here tried to seduce my husband and make his life miserable which means she's a bitch."
Rose "I agree sister in law. "
Sofia " Mother, inviting this woman was a mistake. Now look ,the family is not comfortable with her."
Ariana "Grandmother she is trying to use Elena to steal the wealth of this family."
Mahira had enough and stood up angrily hitting her hand's against the table.
" Enough Ariana! I'm not that kind of woman. I love Elena just like my own child and I'd never use her for my own benefit. I'm not like that. You are the one who wants to destroy Thane's whole life. What do you…."
Alf " Shut up! Keep quiet. Listen here Mahira ,go to the kitchen and make some dessert please. Elena told me that you have good cooking skills for indian cuisine."
Mahira looked at Ariana with pure spite and disgust. She didn't want to disobey the old woman so she did as she was told.
Mahira " Okay grandmother".
It took 5 minutes of Mahira taking three wrong turns before she got into the kitchen. The kitchen was huge and there was no servant in the kitchen which meant she had to figure out herself where the ingredients were kept.
The only thing she knew of all the ingredients was the condensed milk, and rice so she decided to make kheer and gajar ka halwa.
She gathered the ingredients she'd need and tied the length of her saree over her waist so it wouldn't disturb her as she made the dessert. She had a bright smile on her face as she imagined the taste of the halwa and kheer in her mouth.
She momentarily took in the design of the kitchen, it had a marble floor, the windows were covered with curtain designs she'd never seen in her whole life, the cupboards were made of spotless glass and some of the storage shelves were made of blue marble with fish decorations inside which made it look like the ocean.
The table was made with the same design and blue marble that made it look delicate enough to break just by touching it.
After taking in the interior design of the kitchen, Mahira made kheer and gajar ka halwa . She dished it up in small bowl's for everyone. When she was done she needed to use the restroom so she quickly left.
It took her much time to find her way around the house looking for the bathroom and only after getting assistance from the maid did she find the restroom.
Taking advantage of Mahira's absence, Ariana went into the kitchen and put poison in one of the desserts. Her plan was to blame Mahira for Alf's death and if anything went wrong the blame would still go to Mahira.
Mahira came back from the bathroom and found Ariana in the kitchen next to the plates. Her brows were furrowed as she was confused by Ariana's sudden presence in the kitchen.
Ariana " Ooh, I thought you had left. Let me help you with serving everyone."
Mahira didn't think much about Ariana's sudden kindness. She smiled awkwardly at Ariana as she let her help. Ariana served Alf the desert that had poison.
Despite not liking Mahira everyone enjoyed the dessert and complimented her cooking skills. Mahira kept smiling awkwardly when they complimented her skills, she never really enjoyed hearing her names praises or getting a compliment.
After finishing the dessert, Alf started gasping for breath. The poison had already started it's effect. Sofia immediately called the family doctor. Alf was taken to her room when the doctor arrived.
Their doctor examines Alf and states that Alf was poisoned and if she had taken in any liquid she could've died. Her health was stabilized. Ariana was disappointed that Alf was still alive.
Thane turned to look at Mahira and it made sense to him because only after Alf ate Mahira's dessert did she start showing effects of food poisoning.
" It's you isn't it."
He strides to where Mahira was standing and slaps her.
" It's you who tried to kill my grandmother. How could you stoop so low huh? Is that why you gladly made dessert? You tried to poison my grandmother."
Mahira, " no I didn't I…"
She was silenced by another slap on her cheek by Ariana.
"How could you stoop so low Mahira? Don't you know that Thane can't live without his grandmother? How could you try to murder her?"
Mahira sobs, " I didn't. I made kheer and gajar ka halwa for everyone, I didn't even…."
She was slapped again by Ariana.
"Shut up you witch. I should've known. It was you. It's all your fault. I can't believe it. I knew you were evil but I didn't think that you would do this to grandmother."
Mahira, " I didn't poison anyone…. I….."
She was slapped again with greater impact. Mahira's cheeks were on fire. She bowed her head in tear's then looked up again to try and defend herself.
Ariana, " I need you to leave this house and never come back."
Thane, " No! She won't be punished that way. The law will punish her for attempted murder. I'll make sure she ends up in jail because a murderer shouldn't be left roaming around freely."
Ariana volunteered to call the police
( Wow! This turned out better. Although that old hag didn't die, I'm going to get rid of this Mahira once and for all.)
Ariana thought to herself as she called the police. Mahira kneeled down in front of Elena holding Elena's shoulders.
" Elena please, please….tell them. Tell them that I didn't poison grandmother….tell them that it wasn't…."
Once again she was silenced but this time by Elena's slap. More than the pain of the slap, Mahira felt her heart being squeezed. As she looked into Elena's eye's she only saw anger.
" How could you Mahira…huh… how could you? "
Elena's hand's were trembling and her eyes filled with tears.
"Mahira I trusted you…. I… I con…. Considered you my mom and you… you just come home and decide to poison my grandmother."
The police officers arrive.
Police "Mahira Riley," Mahira looked in the direction where she heard her name being called, "you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Alf Carson. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do or say will be used against you in court."
Mahira looked at Elena in disbelief. Her face was swollen and her eyes too due to crying. As the police handcuffed her and drag her out she felt her heart break.
Of all people Elena had misunderstood her and it hurt more than being misunderstood by the whole Carson family . Elena was heartbroken by the scene. She fell on her knees and cried bitterly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,"
Her elder brother Jordan, and her cousin Zack hugged her and comforted her. Mahira was heartbroken. She had not expected for something like that to happen to her.
She hadn't expected that everyone would turn against her. What hurt her the most was the way Elena accused her of poisoning Alf Carson. She spent three nights in prison. A woman officer visited the police station for inspection on the third day.
Police woman, " Hey, what was she accused of? Poor girl. She looks so innocent."
Policeman, " She was arrested under charge's of attempted murder. Don't be fooled by her innocent looking face. She tried to poison the elder or the Carson family. She's greedy", he accused as he munched down his hamburger.
The policewoman turned to look at Mahira. She felt pity for the girl because she looked way too innocent to murder someone but then she questioned Mahira.
" Hey girl, Why would you do something like that hmm? You have your whole life ahead of you but now you will spend it in prison. Don't you think that's kind of stupid."
Mahira looked at the officer, her eyes swollen and heavy. She wanted to prove her innocence so badly but no one would believe someone like her. She stood up and walked to the woman.
"I didn't try to kill anyone. But why would you believe a middle class person like me over billionaires like them. I made dessert that night but I didn't try to murder anyone. I was wrongfully accused."
Policewoman" every criminal claim's to be innocent".
Mahira" I'm not a criminal, I was misunderstood."
Mahira went back to her cell bed and curled herself in a corner. She didn't want to feel but that's all she could do, feel the pain and drown in it.
ELENA'S POV
It's been three days since grandma was poisoned. I haven't heard from Fairy. My brothers have been taking care of Alf. I didn't dare to go see her because I didn't want to.
When those police officers took fairy away, I was completely shattered. I really didn't mean to judge and misunderstand her. I was angry. But I regret it now.
Fairy will be sent to life imprisonment or even 20 year's for attempted murder. If she is proven guilty I am going to loose her. I don't know what to do but….
" Elena, grandmother wants to see you. It's been three days since she regained consciousness but you didn't even visit her."
Thane informed me. Why was he like this? He could have just let fairy go but he had to punish her. Are we even sure that Mahira did it. She's as good as harmless. I took deep breath and walked to grandmother's bedroom.
End of Elena's POV