The assistant who had made another round to the office found the master writing. The tea was half finished. Oh, did he get the inspiration so fast?
He didn't notice Lucas Sinclair 's ears turning red. In fact, even Luke didn't notice the change. He had paused just to reply stop to the noob warrior and wash away all the incriminating evidence before he continued the model. The PhD student would cry in buckets. His months of experiment was wasted.
Even Luke didn't know why he saved her voice messages. In fact he didn't know why he wasted next few days to make new answering program with that voice as base. When asked why, he later would reply with "pleasant voice".
Sophia was intrigued by the mathematical model. This was entirely new world for her. So she started reading about them. If you know the way, you can get soft copy of any sort of book out there. Thankfully, she didn't have to try her hacking skills. The basic textbooks were free. Before she could enjoy it, the ancestral hall was opened. She was now to free to move around. Ha, just kidding. They took her to guestroom. The privacy was for few minutes. Before long, she was out in one of the maid garments and was just pulled along for the ride.
Sophia was hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday morning and she was left in a cold room for nearly a day. The rumblings.of her stomach filled the car. Neither her parents or her grandparents looked at her. The driver was poker faced.
To save the Hart family face, the Heinz family were waiting for them in one of their secondary homes. Never mind the fact that Tanya practiced her skills in that manor. Not relavant at all.
Sophia was already gagged and tied. So a bunch of servants came in from the manor to pull her roughly to the greetings chamber.
The manor was a marvel in architecture. Maybe it was one of the homes of a prince or someone similar centuries before. Probably he had a sadistic streak which he indulged here. The interiors screamed of torture and pain. And the solution called greetings hall was supposed to be intimidating. It worked, even centuries later.
Even Sophia who had suffered a lot got goosebumps standing there like a guilty person.
Obviously, the villains talked. A lot. Blah blah blah, face of the family, blah blah blah, dearest heart of the family and some more. Sophia had to give marks to her grandparents. They were so old yet they were standing straight and were talking for nearly half an hour without feeling fatigued. Anyways, all this was grand posturing. The decision maker was yet to descend and grace the occasion.
What Sophia didn't realise was that Tanya was already watching this spectacle via cctv footage. She wanted to know which ticked Sophia the most so that she could custom make torture plan. This stupid chit didn't cry, feel devasted even when her grandparents and parents were selling her to get piece of mind. She felt extra happy when her preys realised that it was one of their own who had pushed them to abyss. Now it looks like she would be able savour that flavour in this case.
She got bored soon enough. Did she really skip her school, her time of being domineering boss for this? Just get over it!
Tanya Heinz entered the greeting hall with a full ceremony. She wanted the Harts to quake in their boots. Though still a teen, she dominated the space. She soon sat next to her grandparents. "Let's get this over with. You can start." she said aggressively.
The ball was in Hart court. Sophia's grandparents turned into mutes. They had talked as equals with older Heinz couple till now. Should they stopped to the level of youngsters? Impossible. Thankfully, Nathan and Chloe were also present and both were interested in solving this problem as early as possible.
Chloe started with standard greeting and few nice words praising Tanya. No change in Heinz family face. Even Tanya was poker faced. So much for preambles.
"Ms Tanya, I understand my daughter has caused you some problems. It is wrong on her part and we are partly responsible as we haven't taught her properly at home. We have already punished her for her transgressions. Furthermore, we are stopping her music classes. She won't be performing any longer."
Nathan hoped this much was enough. Sophia not able to give concerts had crippled him, losing one venue to make connections.
Tanya frowned when Nathan Hart didn't talk further. "That's it?" She asked frowning. "Is this your apology? Am I supposed to be satisfied with it? Should my family be satisfied with facsimile of the apology?" She demanded.
Chloe replied, "Miss Heinz, we are truly sorry for the mishaps. We have already brought out daughter to beg your pardon. However, if you want more, do let us know."
Bunch of spineless mongrels, Tanya scoffed at the subservient attitude of Harts. But their behaviour allowed Tanya to flex her muscles. She signaled the servants and they removed the restraints and the gags from Sophia.
"Okay, we will start with the apology. Make her kneel and beg forgiveness."
At this juncture, there were only few possibilities. Sophia would cry and blabber begging forgiveness. She would refuse and her family would forcefully make her kneel and beg for forgiveness. The last option of both her and her family refusing would not happen here. If these people had more backbone, they would not be here at all.
Author note - I really want to know what sort of punishment Tanya would give, according to you. Because this step will pretty much narrow the paths Sophia can take. Please do let me know. If any of the ideas you provide are better than what I have written already, I am willing to scrape off the work and start again. Promise.