Chapter 4
933 Words
In the end, Wayne agreed, his face icy cold. They'd been together for ten years, and he knew better than anyone how stubborn she was.
She might put on a snappish, claw-bared front like a feral stray cat, but deep down she'd always fiercely protected the people she cared about.
Not long after, Anne led her team to the finance department to collect their payouts.
When she watched all her hardworking partners walk away with their well-earned bonuses, a flicker of relief finally settled in her chest.
But just a minute later, the bad news hit. She was being permanently kicked out of the company for professional misconduct.
Staring at the humiliating public announcement, Anne felt like her heart was being stabbed over and over by a sharp knife.
Still, she didn't fly into a rage and storm off to get revenge like she would have in the past. The tumor growing in her brain ticked away like a time bomb, ready to blow at any second. She couldn't afford to let herself spiral into stress.
One by one, her team members drafted resignation letters and sent them to HR. They stood united in fury, shouting, "President Brooks, Mr. Salvador will regret treating you like this!"
"We won't work for a corrupt, scamming company like this! Where you go, we go!"
Touched by their loyalty, Anne promised them she'd start a new company soon, and they'd all keep chasing their dreams together.
She sent the signed divorce agreement to Wayne's email, then headed home to pack her things.
Night had already fallen by the time she turned down a quiet, isolated alley. The foot traffic around her thinned to nothing. Suddenly, a screeching, ear-splitting brake cut through the dark sky!
Anne spun around fast. Blinding headlights flooded her vision, forcing her to squint. A car was barreling straight toward her!
BAM!
Before she could even process what was happening, her body went flying through the air before slamming hard into the pavement. Every bone in her body felt like it had shattered, and her internal organs screamed as if they'd been ripped apart.
As her consciousness started to fade, she heard a car door click open, and a familiar voice drifted toward her.
"There. Did that calm you down?"
Wayne led Sasha by the hand as she stepped down from the passenger seat, and he barely spared a cold, indifferent glance at Anne, lying in a spreading pool of her own blood.
"Hmph. She got a little power and got way too full of herself. Who does she think she is? A little illegitimate brat who dares to humiliate me in public!" Sasha's eyes glinted with cruel triumph, her voice dripping with venom. "She out cold? Go check if she's still breathing."
Anne's vision swam. Through the blurriness, she spotted the huge dent crumpled into the front of the car, and she recognized it instantly. This was the car she'd gifted Wayne when she earned her first big payout.
Back then, Wayne had teared up from how moved he was. He polished that car three times a day, and never even had the heart to drive it.
Now, here he was, behind the wheel of that very same car, running her down.
"Alright, you've had your fun. Let's get her to a hospital," Wayne said, bending to lift Anne up, ready to lay her in the backseat.
But Sasha frowned and stepped straight into his path, blocking him. "Don't you dare put her in the backseat. I hate the smell of blood in the car. Shove her in the trunk!"
The second the words left her mouth, Anne felt the arm holding her tighten just a little. But he only hesitated for a split second before he flipped open the trunk and lowered her inside.
The second the trunk lid clicked shut, endless, suffocating darkness and bone-deep cold wrapped around her.
Her heart? It froze over completely, beyond any repair.
Every sound from the front seats cut sharp and clear into Anne's ears, tangled up with the wet, sloppy smacking of kissing.
Sasha tugged Wayne's tie and purred, "Wayne, I am so, so happy with how you handled things today."
"That's enough," Wayne said, his voice rough and gravelly as he gently pushed her away. "I still need to get Anne to the hospital."
"Wow, you really are my good little boy, aren't you? I tell you to hit her, and you do it. If you don't care about her that much anyway, why don't you just divorce her for good?"
Wayne went quiet for a beat, then fired up the engine anyway.
"I can't. She's still my wife. A divorce would hurt the company."
But the very next second, Sasha pulled open the collar of her top and said, "Look closely, Wayne. I bought this brand-new lingerie set just for today. You still sure you want to rush off to the hospital?"
The words barely left her mouth when the engine cut out dead, sudden and silent. Right after that, lewd, shameless noises echoed through the whole car.
Anne huddled in the icy cold, pitch-black trunk. The whole car rocked back and forth with their movements, but she had no tears left to cry. Her heart had gone completely numb, she couldn’t feel pain at all anymore.
The man who once held her like she was the most precious thing in the world, who swore he'd always protect her… he had truly, completely betrayed her in the end.
A searing, blinding pain exploded behind her eyes, and she slipped into total unconsciousness.
- Writer
