Author's Note: Thank you to hyukkiechan1 for my first review. I'm glad you like my story :)
I hope this chapter is up to everyone's standards. Let me know of your opinions for this story so far :)

Disclaimer: I'm only borrowing some of Jane Austen's amazing characters from Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 1 – Five Years Later (Now)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the Class of 2012!"

Cheers erupted all around the room as she made the closing statement of the valedictory speech. She was overjoyed at finally graduating from University, but she could not help but feel a pang of sadness that her father was not there to witness one of the most important days of her life. Even though her sister, Jane, was the only one of her remaining family who had come to witness her graduation, she did not feel any loss at their no-show. In fact, she was glad that they were not there. Her mother and twin younger sisters, Kate and Lisa, had chosen not to show up. However her father could not come. No, he had not chosen to abandon her. He had been taken from this world in the cruellest of misfortunes four years ago.

ooOoo

Four years ago

The roads were slippery with rain that day. They should not have been out in that storm. The wind was howling. The relentless curtain of rain lashed at the windows, reducing the visibility on the road to barely a meter.

Henry Wilson had wanted treat his daughter to a nice dinner to celebrate her gaining a scholarship to one of the most prestigious Universities in the country. Not that she needed a scholarship, with all the money that he made from his very successful business. However, Becky refused to rely on her parent's money to get her places. She wanted to be known to the world for her own achievements, and not for being Henry Wilson, Real-estate tycoon's daughter. Luckily, her genius rivalled her stubbornness, so her dream of being independent was not unachievable. To reward her for her achievement, he insisted on taking her to one of the most obscenely overpriced restaurants in the city.

Unfortunately for Mr Wilson, he had been caught by surprise by the sudden outbreak of the storm that was supposed to have been setting in early the next morning. However, it was too late to go back home, as they were already more than half way there. Another ten minutes' drive would take them to the warmth and elegance of the restaurant, Zest. However, the father and daughter never reached their destination.

It happened so quickly. The light had just turned green and after a couple of seconds, Mr Wilson started accelerating into the intersection. Just as they were nearing the middle and about to cross to the other side there was the loud sound of a horn being pressed over and over again. A bright light lit the interior of their little Porsche 911. Both pairs of eyes turned to the left. There it was, a big black SUV. It was racing full pelt towards them, with no signs of stopping. Closer and closer it came. Mr Wilson put his foot down on the accelerator pedal fully, trying to avoid the collision, but nothing could have been able to stop the inevitable. There was a huge bang. The windshield shattered. The little sports car rolled over and over and over again. And then there was nothing.

When Becky finally came to, she was met with the over-powering smell of disinfectant. Her head hurt. It felt like someone had bashed her over the head with a rock. She was moving. The bed she was lying on vibrated with motion. There was something covering half of her face. Something was wrapped around her neck. She felt dizzy. Things were a little fuzzy around the edges. She could hear some vague noises in the background. Something was digging into her arm. There was a rushing inside her head that had now drowned out the noises. Her vision blurred. And then there was darkness once more.

ooOoo

Now - 2012

Becky hurriedly blinked back tears as she remembered him. Her father had died that day. They said that he died instantly. They said that she should be glad that he did not suffer. Judging by his injuries, even if he had survived, he would have wished he had died. But how could she be glad that her dad had been taken away from her? The one person in her life who was the constant, the person who she loved most in the world, whom she trusted. But even he had to be taken away from her. At 16, she was left all alone in the world.

Enough of this, she thought to herself. Dad would want you to be happy on this day. She took a deep, cleansing breath, subtly brushed the tears from her eyes, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Make him proud, Becky. Now that she had completed her double degree in Law and Business, she was finally able to fully take the reins of her father's company Wilson and Co.

In his Will, Mr Henry Wilson had left Becky, being his favourite daughter and the one who was going to follow his footsteps into the business world, his entire company, along with all of his holdings, assets and most of his savings. He left his wife a fortune 10 million dollars and each of his other three daughters, Jane, Kate and Lisa, 15 million dollars in trust to be used for academic and living expenses only until they reached the age of 25. Needless to say, this division of his property was bound to cause friction within his (only partly) grieving family.

At the time, Mrs Wilson, who had never really understood her second daughter, was flabbergasted, then furious that her second daughter had inherited billions, whereas she had only such a small share of the prize. And to think that Mr Wilson had the audacity to leave more money to her other daughters than herself! In a nutshell, Mrs Wilson was an unfeeling mercenary who was now jealous of her own daughters. Jane, being the angel that she was, completely understood her father's reasons for leaving the majority of his fortune to his second daughter. He had planned to give Becky the company after he retired anyway, so this just sped up the process a little. Though poor Becky would have a heck of a burden to carry on her young shoulders. Kate and Lisa were happy that they had such a fortune, but their high spirits were immediately dampened when they found out that they could not touch a cent of the 15 million until they were over 25 years old. If they even had two brain cells to rub together, they would have realised that only the 15 million could not be touched, so they could have free reign of the substantial interest generated from the original deposit. But sadly, they only had half a useful brain cell between them, so this detail was lost upon them. And Becky? Well, the grieving girl was shell shocked and numb from losing her beloved father, so she didn't even care that she was now the heiress to a massive fortune and the head of a huge international company.

Becky shook her head slightly to rid her mind of any unpleasant memories that had best stay buried. She smiled as she looked down at all of her classmates, she looked at Jane, who met her eyes across the room and nodded in acknowledgement. Today was the day that she was finally able to close her books forever and never have to go to school again. She had enjoyed her four years at University, but she couldn't say that she was sad to leave behind the endless hours of study, the essays and not to mention the many exams. She had half a week of relaxation to look forward to before she had to travel to the headquarters of Wilson and Co. to meet with the executives and officially take over as the President of the company.

When the ceremony was over, she led the procession off the stage and into the noisy crowd of graduates at the bottom of the stairs.
"Can you believe it? We made it! And we're still alive!" an energetic blonde practically squealed as she grabbed Becky's shoulders and jumped up and down in her delight.
"Charlotte! I thought you liked Uni!" Becky teased her best friend Charlotte.
"Yeah, well, you know. I'll be glad to finally put the days of pulling all-nighters and drinking crappy watery coffee behind me."
"Hmm… I've got to agree with you there. Can't say I enjoyed those either. Wow! We're finally free!" she laughed, catching some of Charlotte's joy.
"We have to go out and celebrate! My treat!" Charlotte declared, dragging her through the sea of students.
"Wait, I have to find Jane first. Then we can go. Where are we going, by the way?"
"There's this new restaurant down town called The Phoenix that I've been dying to try out. Then we can go to our usual club and part-ay!"
"Okay, sounds great." Becky replied, just as she spotted Jane being chatted up by Charlotte's older brother Steve.

"Hey Steve, keep your mitts off my sister. She's out of your league," she quipped as she came to stand next to Jane.
"Aw shucks! I should have known there was some connection between you two! Of course, it only makes sense that two beautiful specimens like you come from the same gene pool." He mock groaned. "Congratulations on making it through hell alive! Nice speech up there by the way – Oh, hi sis," he added belatedly when he finally noticed that Becky was not alone.
"Great, I'm your sister, and you notice me, when? After about five minutes of standing here." Charlotte rolled her eyes and winked at her brother. "See, Becks? This," she pointed at Steve "is what I had to live with for half my life."
Steve just shrugged in response and tried to look bored, only succeeding in something that looked like a grimace. Charlotte snorted in response.
"So what have you decided to do to celebrate?" Jane asked.
"Let's walk out now, and we'll fill you in when we're in the car, alright? I don't want to be stuck in the traffic getting out of here." Becky replied.

Author's Note: Just to clarify her age, Becky is 20, going on 21 right now. She started Uni early because she was a smart kid and skipped a couple of grades at school :) So if she was a January Baby, she would have started Uni right after her 16th birthday (going by the Australian school year) gone through five years to graduate in December before her 21st birthday.
Will Darcy was 19 when he left, he is currently 25 years old (his birthday being a little earlier in September, so for the majority of the time, he's four years older, if that makes sense...)

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