CHAPTER THREE
1055 Words
RINA'S POV
The email I stared at on my phone broke me beyond words.
There it was.
I had been sacked.
I didn't cry or laugh or do anything for a moment. I just stood there. Still. My brain needed a few extra seconds before it was willing to process what my eyes were already seeing.
Then the panting started.
Hard and fast. I forgot how to breathe. Air had suddenly become something I had to fight for.
And then I screamed.
I screamed so hard my throat burned. I screamed the way you scream when there's nobody left to be strong for. When the last thing you were holding onto finally slips and there's nothing left to grab.
Reggie jerked up from the couch.
He looked at me. Not with concern. Not with worry. Just that face he made when I inconvenienced him. Annoyed. Disgusted. My pain was interrupting something important.
He reached over to the messed up table and picked up my car keys. Didn't say a word about the slap. Didn't say a word about the phone call. Just picked up my keys the way he picked up everything in this house. Without asking. Without caring.
And headed for the door.
"Make me some pork chops for dinner." He paused at the door without turning around. "Spicy and hot. Unlike you." He glanced back just once. "And don't f*ck it up like your career.
The door shut behind him.
I stood there in the silence he left behind.
I had dreams once. Real ones. Big ones. I wanted the corporate world.... the sharp clothes, the swivel chair, the feeling of having built something that was completely mine.
I worked in human resources. I became the human resource manager. That wasn't small. I knew it wasn't small even when everything else in my life was falling apart.
This promotion was the only thing keeping me going. The one thing I could point to and say... see, it's not all falling apart. See, something is still working.
Now that was gone too.
And the worst part wasn't even losing the job.
The worst part was that I understood why.
Three queries in one month. Falling asleep at my desk. Missing deadlines. I knew what I was doing and I knew why I was doing it and I still couldn't stop it.
You can't explain to a company that you're drowning at home. You can't hand in a note that says — sorry for the poor performance, my husband is an addict who hits me and I haven't slept properly in months.
They don't care.
I looked around the room, the mess he made. The empty bottles. The dried vomit still on the floor that I never got around to cleaning. The pizza box still sitting on the table.
God, I dont know why I can't f*****g hate him. i should.
He was the one thing that took everything from me. And I handed it to him willingly every single time.
I picked up my phone.
There was only one person I could call right now.
Kayla.
She picked up on the first ring.
"Hey b*tch."
I went silent.
"Rina? Are you there?"
Still nothing from me. Just the sound of me trying to hold myself together and failing completely.
"Rina are you alright?"
I don't know when the tears started. They just came. Quietly at first. Then all at once.
"What's wrong? Take a deep breath and talk to me." Her voice shifted into that serious tone she only used when she was actually scared for me.
But I couldn't talk. Just sniffing. Muffled sounds. Crying the way you cry when you've been holding it in for too long and your body finally gives up on pretending.
"Wait." Her voice dropped. "Did Reggie hit you? Did that bastard touch you again? I swear to God I'm going to kill him. I'm going to cut off his d**k and feed it to—"
"I lost my job." I cut her off.
Silence.
"What?"
"I have no promotion. No job." I cried harder. "Nothing."
"Why would they do that to you? You gave them everything. I'm coming down there right now and I'm going to cuss out every single person in that building—"
"Kayla no." I wiped my face with the back of my hand. "I deserved it. I was terrible. Three queries this month alone."
"I don't want to hear it." Her voice went firm. "It was unfair and you know it. You don't have to defend people who treat you badly Rina. You never have to do that."
I said nothing.
"I called because I just needed to hear your voice." My voice came out small. Smaller than I wanted it to. "I don't want to talk about it right now. It'll only make it worse. I just need to sleep and figure it out tomorrow."
"Okay." She went quiet. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
"Thank you."
I sank down onto the cold dirty tiles and rested my head against the leg of the chair. The floor was uncomfortable. The tiles were freezing through my clothes. I didn't move anyway.
"You know I know some guys who could handle your boss though." Kayla's voice came through quietly. "Just saying."
I laughed. Small and tired but real.
I closed my eyes and let the sleep take me.
I jerked awake.
A sound from outside. I sat up slowly. My neck hurt from the tiles. The apartment was dark now.
Reggie sometimes came back at unholy hours. I assumed it was him.
Then my door came off its hinges.
Kicked open. Hard. Whoever was on the other side wasn't interested in knocking.
A tall man stepped into the light. Dark. Built. Holding a gun in one hand and Reggie's collar in the other.
My whole body went cold.
I raised my hands immediately. "Please. Take anything you want. Just don't shoot."
He shoved Reggie through the door. Reggie stumbled forward. I had never seen that look on his face before. Pure fear. The same fear he specialized in putting on mine.
The man pressed the gun to Reggie's forehead.
"Your husband f****d with the wrong person." His voice was deep, hoarse and scary
"And I'm going to make sure he knows it."
- Writer
