by KT Strange
"Vince doesn't want to be here anyway. He's got his little criminal enterprise to run. And Kai, well, he's got a Rockstar life. He's got enough money even if I get the record label to dump him." He laughs. "The only one who wins here really is this cat."
He jerks his arms forward and tosses Toby. I cry out, falling to my knees, but Toby twists. And I realize that the arc of Everett's throw was only intending to throw Toby forward onto the balcony, not sideways off of it. Toby lands on the ground, paws extended, and bolts inside past me. Everett stares at me and scoffs.
"I don't hurt helpless creatures," he says.
Tears are streaming down my face, "Then why are you always hurting me?"
He blinks like he's honestly surprised at what I've just said. He frowns. "Do you not see it in yourself?" he asks me.
I'm shaking too hard to get to my feet. I just kneel there, my fingers wrapped around myself, the cold air outside chilling me right to my core.
He taps the side of his head, "I guess you really don't see that invisible crown you're wearing." His eyes darken in the shadow as he bends down, and I jerk away.
"Don't help me!" I say, getting to my feet.
I'm spitting mad and half tempted to deck him.
"I fucking hate you," I say.
He tilts his chin upwards, lifting his nose, looking so superior. "Good," he says, "you should. I'm a monster. You were sent here to slay me, and I know that. But I'm not going to let you. So don't think for a minute that you're going to have control in this situation, all right? I'll have the paperwork arranged to present the new bylaws. And by the end of the next week, we should be voting on them. And you will be voting in favor of me being able to buy out the other two partners if I own that extra 1%."
I swallow, "Why couldn't you just do what you wanted if you have 34% of the company?"
He sneers, "Because in order to sell, in order to complete this merger, I need 100%. We all have to agree 100% and I want this too badly. Kai and Vincent hate me enough that they're never going to say yes. They're going to keep me in this Limbo, stuck in this stupid building."
He looks around him.
"I don't understand you," I say, "You're surrounded by the most amount of wealth that I could even never imagine the opulence here, and still, it's not enough for you."
He gives me a humorless look, "It will never be enough for me," he says. "Don't you recognize that some of us are hungry enough that we could eat the entire world and it would never be enough? We would never be satisfied?"
That makes me a bit ill. "You need help," I say.
He steps towards me and shakes his head, "No," he says, "I need you."
He grabs me by the shoulders. I jerk backwards and slap him across the face.
"Don't you fucking dare!" I say. "Don't you fucking dare kiss me as if what you just did was not some kind of torture and blackmail! That's wrong. I'm not okay with it!"
He looks shocked. He stands there, his cheek bright red. Then he looks furious and reaches for me again. I stick my finger in his face.
"No!" I say, "Back the fuck off!"
Just for good measure, I give him a shove with my hands and step backwards myself to give myself some more room.
"You need to start understanding," I say. "You've had everything handed to you in life, and you think you could just be an asshole to me and get away with it just because you have money? Money can buy property, but it can't buy my dignity. And you are going to start treating me with respect!"
He curls his upper lip.
"You're a lot braver when you don't have something to lose," he says.
Staring at him, I realize he's only here because he has to be... because he thinks that I have something that he wants. There's something in me that's so powerful and he recognizes it. Otherwise, he'd just be taking what he wanted right now. That's how he does everything else in life.
It all clicks into place. I look at him with pity and he growls.
"Don't give me that look," he says.
I shake my head.
"What look?" I ask.
"Like you... Fuck, like you... I said, don't look at me like that!" he snaps, his voice breaking. "Don't fucking look at me like that!"
Something in him is unraveling and I'm watching it before my very eyes.
He's like, "Your life is nothing. I could have you killed for $2,000, less than it cost Kai to sleep with you."
His words are so dark that I don't even know how to respond.
He laughs, "Did that shock you? You know who'd do it for me? Vincent. He'd put a bullet right through your head, between your eyes. All I have to do is give him what he wants, money, connections to certain politicians, and police officers would help him with his little project he's got going on."
I don't know what he's talking about with Vincent and a project. And I wonder if it has anything to do with a girl that's in his apartment. I do know that Everett is seriously disturbed. And even right now, I'm sorry for him.
"I feel bad for you," I say, and he looks furious. "I feel bad that you think that you have to threaten me with losing my life in order to control me. All you have to do is ask people nicely. A lot of the time, they'll just do what you want them to do because they want to make you happy."
I exhale.
"You could have come to me at any time and said that you want this venture and given me good reasons why Vice and Kai didn't deserve a say. It would have been enough if you told me that they didn't work for it, that they didn't know the running of the business like you did. And that financially they'd be better off if they listened to you, but they wouldn't. If you'd had proof of that, you know what? I probably would have just given you my 1%."
I'm not sure, thinking about it, that what I'm saying is true. Would I really give up all the chance of that money? You know what? Probably. What is money anyway? Obviously, not something I want in my life given how it's completely warped these three men and their idea of relationships with other human beings.
Everett is quiet for a long minute. And then I decide that's it
"You need to go away," I say. "I need some time to think.”
He makes a growling sound under his breath. "You're signing over that 1%," he says.
"You know what? We can talk about this later," I point out, "I'm exhausted and you just scared the shit out of me. And I want you out of my apartment," and point at the door. "Now, get going or I'll make you!"
He laughs. The sound is icy, just like the air rushing in from outside. "You really are something," he says. "Just remember, you keep your deal or I'll keep mine."
I know what he's implying, that he'll have me killed or something stupid like that, but I don't think for a minute that he will. I'm done being afraid of him.
"Out!" I say.
He walks towards the door.
It's only after he's gone and the door is shut that I breathe a sigh of relief and then bend over shaking.
Poor Toby. I need to give him some shrimp or something; some kind of reward for the trauma he just experienced. And I need to get him out of the tower. It's not safe for him here. It's in this moment that I realize if it's not even safe for a little helpless cat, it's not safe for me either. But I can't leave, and Toby can.
I reach for my phone. There's gotta be someone who can help me.
Eighteen
Olivia
The girl in the mirror is pale and thin. And she looks lost. And to me, scared and alone. I spent the night hugging Toby tight, curled under the covers with him. I had almost lost him yesterday.
I don't think Everett, really, would have done it, but it sure felt like it. If he had squirmed the wrong way out of Everett's arms, he could have fallen. I nearly lost him. And now I was going to give him up on purpose.
There's an animal sanctuary that takes pets with a $2,000 donation. It's a lifetime of living in a cat sanctuary with volunteers petting him, and good food, and lots of space, and an enclosure outside that he can play in. My eyes are wet when I think
about giving him up, but I can't keep anything here in the tower that's precious to me.
It's not safe.
What does that say about my own sense of self-worth? I don't know. But my cat is more important than my own safety.
This is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. And I've done a lot of hard things. Saying goodbye to my mom, realizing that I was all alone in this world, coming here and finding out I had a father who cared enough to put me into this situation.
I'm not mad at him. I don't think he could have foreseen the true evil that lurks in these halls. It's like something is poisoning everyone who is in connection with this building, this business. I don't understand it. It's just one of those things, I guess.
Once Toby is safe, and the girl from the shelter should be here pretty soon to pick him up, then I'm going to go write to Everett and tell him I'm not signing anything over to him. I'm not going to vote with him and I'm not going to let him fuck over Vince and Kai.
I need to make sure that they're protected, too, from his evil, as much as Vince is always judging me and Kai seems to treat me like I'm a weird sex with benefits friend. None of that matters. I can't let Everett get what he wants.
My cell phone buzzes and it's the front desk downstairs. My heart skips a beat in my chest. They must be here from the charity.
"All right, Toby," I say to him, picking him up gently, giving him one final kiss on this fuzzy little head. My eyes are wet with tears as I tack him inside his little crate.
"You're going to go on a big adventure," I promise him, "far away, where nothing can hurt you."
As I take the elevator down, my chest is growing tighter and it feels like a part of me is dying. But I have to do this. It's the only thing that makes sense; the only solution
The lobby is large and cavernous, bigger than I remember it being despite the years I've worked here. But I see her standing there by the security desk, waiting for me.
"Hi," I say. "Avril?" I ask.
She nods, "You must be Olivia. And this is Toby?" She bends down to look into his cat carrier and smiles. "Oh, he's sweet."
"I made the donation last night," I say.
"Yeah, I noticed. I have a credit card receipt for you."
I shake my head, "I don't need it. Thank you."
She smiles, "All right. Well, do you want to say goodbye?"
My breath catches in my throat.
"I already have," I say. I hand her the crate.
She nods.
"Well, thanks so much,” she says. “We'll send you updates."
I choke up and nod, not able to say anything else. I stand there until she disappears out the front door, Toby's plaintive crying meows disappearing with her.
"Here," says the security guard and passes me a tissue. I wipe away the tears that have been silently dripping down my face.
"Allergies?" he asks.
I shake my head.
He nods in understanding, "I see."
"It just makes sense with my new lifestyle," I say, although my words are hollow, and I don't think he believes me.
It doesn't matter though. Nothing matters except trying to do the right thing. This place has shown me that I always have to try and do the right thing and be the best version of myself. I'm not going to allow it to change me. I'm not going to let money change me and poison who I am.
I may not be much, but I'm a good person. And I'm always putting other people first. And creatures.
"Olivia! There you are!" Everett's voice cuts through the general noise in the lobby of high heels over marble and people talking as they make their way to meetings and the elevator bank. He's dressed in a sharp suit. And he frowns when he sees my swollen eyes and the tissue in my hand.
"What is wrong?" he asks.
"Nothing," I say. "What do you want?"
He raises an eyebrow, "So frosty!"
I glare at him.
"Are you surprised?" I ask. "Do you normally do what you do and then have people greet you with kindness?"
He shrugs, "Usually."
"Huh," I say, "must be the money."
"What is it? Do you want to go for a coffee?" he asks.
"No, thanks," I say, and turn and walk away.
He jogs to catch up with me, "I'm getting the paperwork ready. It's pretty much done."
I pause halfway through my step. "You know about that?" I turn to look up at him, "No."
He blinks slow. "What?" he asks.
"I said, no, I'm not doing it. I'm not selling you my portion. I'm not siding with you. I'm not changing the bylaws so that you can buy them out and force them out of something that they may not want, not until I talk to them at least."
He glares, "If you talk to them, that'll be beside the point. They're not going to see it coming this way."
I raise an eyebrow at him, "Really? You think that you can just introduce a new bylaw into the company protocol saying that you can buy out, that anyone can buy out the other shareholders as long as they have a majority share? You think they're not going to see that coming? You think they're not going to see how transparent that is? I thought you were supposed to be some hotshot businessman. That's pathetic."
I turn and walk away. "Now, leave me alone."
"The board meeting is in an hour!" he growls under his breath. "You can't just abandon this now."
I turn a glare at him, "Oh, I think I just did."
He grabs me by the wrist, painfully tight fingers wrapping around my arm.
"You're going to come upstairs with me right now and we are going to discuss this," he says.
He yanks me and I have to move or I'll topple forward.
"Smile," he says.
And I glare at him. His fingers grind down on my arm cruelly, thumb digging between my tendons. I cry out under my breath and then force a smile to my face.
"You brought this on yourself," he says.
He drags me into the elevator and I'm twisting my wrist, trying to be free of him.
"Let me go!" I say.
"So you can run? I'm not fucking stupid."
My breathing shutters in my lungs. And he drags me down the hallway as soon as the doors open and then into his kitchen, his open living area.
"So tell me again, you're not going to sign the bylaw and vote to agree with me?" he says.
Now that we're alone, it's harder to face him down and be brave, but I have to be. I'm thinking about poor little Toby caught in his hands, a horrible, deathly fall inches away. Toby was brave. And he was just a sweet little cat.
I lift my chin, determined.
"I'm not signing it," I say. "I don't know if Kai and Vince want to run this company with you or want to do this merger, but at least I should ask them."
Everett thinks for a moment, watching me carefully.
"So you're doing this for them?" he says.
"Of course. Why else would I be doing this?" I ask.
He looks smug.
"I think you should reevaluate what a good person you are," he says.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask.
"I think you should remember that you're probably not doing it for them but for yourself. You want that stipend, more than 2 million. I'm sure you figured it out. Don't you have a calculator on your phone? You can't tell me you haven't questioned how much money in back dividends you're owed. But that takes time. That's not going to come all at once. You're going to have to wait for that payout. $2 million is fast. I don't know why you're making that trade, really. And I don't know why you're pretending that you're doing it for them."
He steps closer to me and I have to catch my breath.
"We're all selfish," he says, "and we all want things for ourselves that we shouldn't have. You've done nothing to earn that money, but I was happy to pay you $2 million and let you walk. That'd been more than enough for you living the kind of life you do. But you want more?" he asks. His expression darkens. "I'll give you more."
**insert sex scene here**
Nineteen
Olivia
Kai’s text message on my phone is out of the blue, and a welcome reprieve from everything that’s happened.
"Will you come with me to a thing?" he asks. "I'd really appreciate it. Sorry I haven't been in touch in the last few days. I've just had some business to take care of."
He had been awfully quiet. But I'd read on his social media that he was working on a new album, and I figured that was that. It's not like I own him. I've just come to really enjoy his company.
"All right," I say, "What is it?"
He's like, "Oh, you can wear jeans, that's fine. It's not anything formal. I'm just doing this live interview and I kind of want a friend with me. It's not easy to do these things, you know."
I figure he's probably right. I don't know what it's like to have to do interview after interview. He seems pretty casual about it like he's got it all under control, but what do I know about that kind of thing?
I'm whisked away to the studio in a limo because he's already there in hair and makeup, getting done up. It kind of makes me laugh and I text him asking him if his face is itching. He sends me an angry emoji as a response.
How much my world has been turned upside down by this guy’s is hard to put together in words. But here I am in a limo arriving onto a studio lot of a TV station. There's a guy opening the door for me and I step out in my thrifted jeans and new t-Shirt at least. The jeans are plenty good enough, the t-shirt elevates it, I guess, something from Rodeo Drive that Kai had made me purchase.
"All right, I'm here," I text him and he sends me a smiley emoji.
I check in at security and give them my ID, and they print me off a badge, with my face on it. The security guard points me through the doors.
"Go ahead," he says. "Your escort will be there in a minute, but you can wait inside past that checkpoint."
A cool hipster guy with a hat collects me and whisks me off to hair and makeup where Kai is finishing off. He waves to me from the chair, and I look around the room. Bright lights around every mirror and three makeup girls are rushing around the room, trying to get everything done in time on the time that they've got.