It was later that evening and I was still at work because William wasn't done with his business for the day.
It was dark in the sky outside and everyone else had gone home. I was positive that the entire executive floor was void of any person asides William and myself. It was quiet.
While William was busy in a virtual meeting with some clients in London and quite frankly, wouldn't need anything from me. I used that as an excuse to take some time to be on my phone.
I went straight to my messages to see that my sister, Sophie, had texted. I shot her a quick text back and it was only a few seconds later that my phone began to ring.
She wanted to FaceTime.
I quickly accepted it with the broadest smile on my face, "Hiii, Soph."
"Hiii, Maddy!" She said, with even more excitement.
Sophie was on her bed, holding her phone up. She was wearing her cute little pink nightwear set. Her hair looked damp, like she had just taken a shower. Her smile was wide, as wide as it always was whenever we got the chance to FaceTime.
"Oh my God, I'm so happy I caught you at a time where you could pick up." She said. "I feel like I haven't heard your voice in forever."
"I know." I whined dramatically. "I've missed you so much, my baby."
"I've missed you too." She said, whining just like me. "We have so much catching up to do."
"Gosh, I can't wait to hear all the tea-"
"Wait," Sophie cut in, squinting in closer to see my environment, "are you still at work? It's literally almost 9 PM."
"What can I say?" I shrugged lightly. "That's the job. Anyway, enough about that. How've you been? How's school? Have you decided on your major yet?"
Sophie was literally the only family I had left.
Or rather, the only family I had left that I cared about.
Sophie was 18 and she was currently in her freshman year of college. When I left Atlanta to move to New York, I had to leave her with our aunt, Mabel. Mabel wasn't really our blood relative; she was a friend of our mom who took care of us when we literally had no one else who would.
Notwithstanding Aunt Mabel's kindness, she and her husband were barely financially stable enough to fund her own four kids, let alone Sophie and I. I knew this on time, which was why I worked my ass off for a scholarship that got me through college and took up as many jobs as I could remember just to help Aunt Mabel pay the bills and make sure Sophie never felt left out or like she was lacking basic things she needed to feel happy.
Everything I have ever done, I have done with her in mind.
I loved her more than anything.
"No, not yet." Sophie answered my question. "There are so many things I have interest in. I wanna keep my options open for now."
"Alright, no pressure." I nodded. "What about that boy you told me about? What's his name? Jackson?"
"Jason." She corrected. "And he's blocked now. That boy's red flags are redder than any sea Moses ever split."
I laughed at her joke, "Well, then it's a good thing he's blocked, huh."
"Totally." She said, changing her position on her bed. "What about you? How's your pain-in-the-ass boss?"
I laughed again, "Still a pain in the ass."
I felt a sharp pain in my head and instinctively lifted my fingers to massage my temple, wincing in pain.
"What is it, Mads?" Sophie asked, concerned. "Are you okay? A-Are you hurt?"
I smiled softly at the worry in her voice, "I'm fine, Soph. I'm just a little tired, is all."
"You look a bit stressed too." She pointed out. "Can't you just tell your boss that you're tired and that he should please let you go home? It's way past office hours."
That's if he'd let me.
"I'll try that." I told her. "I'm just happy to be free enough to take this call right now."
"I'm happy about that too."
Just before I could say another word, the sound of my telephone ringing echoed through my entire office.
Letting out a sigh, I looked to Sophie on my screen and said, "Alright, Soph, I gotta go."
"Okay, Mads." She said with a small smile. "Make sure you call me when you get home."
"Will do." I told her. "Bye. I love you."
"Love you too."
Then she hung up.
Just as I was about standing to my feet to go see what my boss wanted, the door to his office was pulled open, revealing him standing by the doorframe.
I shot up from my seat immediately.
"I called you and you let it ring out because you were on your own personal call." He said, his voice low and his eyes cold.
"I apologize. I was just rounding up the call, I was already on my wa-"
"Let that repeat itself and see what happens." He said.
Plainly.
Simply.
A threat.
I cleared my throat, "You needed something, sir?"
"I already handled it."
I nodded, "Sorry about that, sir."
He didn't say anything-- he simply stood there, staring at me.
I felt that sharp pain in my head again. It was a long shot. But I was terribly exhausted.
"Um, sir?" I started, but my words got kind of stuck when his gaze thickened.
"Yes, Ms. Clarke, what is it?"
"Um, if there aren't any other things that need my assistance, I wanted to ask if it'd be okay if I could go home now." I asked him. "I have this terrible headache and I-"
"You don't close from the office except I do." He cut me off abruptly. "Those are the rules, Ms. Clarke."
I knew it was a long shot.
But given the time and how clearly stressed I looked, I honestly thought he would reconsider.
I guess I was wrong to think that this man was capable of any form of human empathy.
I nodded, "Of course, sir."
William was about heading back into his office when all of a sudden, he looked to me and said:
"Actually, there is something that requires your assistance." He said. "I need you to retrieve some files from the storage room."
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
There was no use arguing with him, so I simply said, "Which, sir?"
"There's a set of Altair contracts in archives. Top shelf, right side. Don't take all day."
"On it, sir." I said flatly as I walked out of the door, leaving him standing in my office.
The executive archives were two doors down from our office. A quiet, cold room lined with heavy shelves, rarely used except for when William needed old contracts or financial records pulled on demand.
I let out several curses under my breath as I made my way there, wondering what I ever did to be unfortunate enough to work for such a person.
The storage room was colder than I expected, lit only by a single flickering bulb overhead.
I scanned the shelves carefully. Of course, it had to be one of the heavy archive files buried on the top rack. There was a ladder set in place to make it possible to reach such files because, obviously, there was no way everyone would be tall enough to do so.
My hand tightened around the metal ladder as I climbed, feeling the weight of William's command still ringing in my ear.
Top shelf, right side. Don't take all day.
No please. No thank you. Just sharp, impatient orders like I wasn't human.
Rage coursed through me as his words continued to replay. Those, and every other nasty, rude and disrespectful comment he'd ever made to me since the very moment I started working here.
My fingers brushed the edge of the box, wobbling slightly. Too high. Too heavy. But, I wasn't about to walk back to his office and admit that.
He wanted his stupid files? He'd get his stupid files.
I stretched higher.
And that was when the shelf shuddered.
A sharp creak.
A sickening lurch.
I felt my pulse jump as I grabbed at the metal for balance, but it was too late--- the box tipped, crashing toward me.
The corner slammed into my wrist. Sharp metal edge, cold and unforgiving.
I let out a gasp as pain lit through my hand, stumbling back. My heel caught the ladder, sending me to the floor with a loud thud.
Silence followed. Except for my breathing--- shallow, too fast.
I cradled my right hand instinctively as my fingers trembled. Blood. Bright red already pooling from my palm.
Fuck.
My throat felt tight as I sat there, watching my blood roll to the sides of my hand, trying to manage the pain. My eyes burned. Not just from the pain—but from everything.
The files. The endless work. The way he spoke to me. The way he looked at me like I was disposable.
I'd had enough.
I heard footsteps. Fast, heavy.
William.
He appeared in the doorway, eyes sharp and then--- stopping.
"Madelyn."
I didn't say a word. I simply pulled myself up against the shelf and stood to my feet.
"Shit." His voice dropped as he crossed the room in two strides, reaching out to hold my bleeding palm.
"Don't," I said tightly, "I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
"It's nothing."
"Madelyn." His tone changed then--- lower, rougher. Real. "Let me see it."
When he reached for my hand again, I jerked away.
"Don't you fucking touch me!" I exploded, all the rage and anger that I had been trying best to bury gushing through me. "Why do you care what happens to me? You're the one who sent me here after I practically pleaded with you to let me go home."
He didn't say anything.
He just stared at me, silent.
Shit.
I promised myself I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me lose it.
"I'm sorry." I shook my head, reaching down to steady the box of archives in my good hand and arm and extending it to him. "These are the files. Now, if you'd excuse me."
"No." His tone was firm. "It seemed like you had much more to add just a minute ago. So, please Ms. Clarke, don't let me stop you."
"I don't have anything to say to you sir." I said, trying to move away from him. "Please, just take this so I can leave."
He blocked my path, "Say what you wish to, Madelyn."
Furious, I shoved the box to his chest so he was the one holding it.
"You know what? I am so sick and tired of you." I huffed out. "You are rude, arrogant, disrespectful and entirely inconsiderate. You never say please, you never say thank you. I mean, would it kill you to try to act like a decent human being?"
I didn't stop there, "You overwork me all the time. I mean, fine, you did state clearly how tasking this job was going to be but you don't have to contribute in making my life entirely miserable. I am here first thing in the morning and I leave very late at night. Hell, I don't even know what my apartment looks like anymore because every night when I get home, I immediately collapse on my bed only to get up early the next day and repeat the same fucking cycle."
"You speak to me however you please and expect optimum respect in return because, of course, no one speaks to you like that." I went on, fuming. "That comment you made to me about Timmy today, how dare you? How dare you say something so insulting to my face?"
"You have judged me from the minute you laid eyes on me in this office and I see it. I see it every time you burden me with a task, expecting me not to be quick or smart enough to get it done, because what? I'm the type of girl who has one night stands with strangers from a club? So bloody what? I didn't do anything you didn't do that night. You also had a one night stand with a stranger from a club but you don't see me questioning your ability to run a fucking company."
He didn't utter a word, he just watched me silently as I went on and on.
"You don't get to treat me like nothing just because you're the one in charge!" I exclaimed. "You think just because you don't raise your hand, it doesn't hurt people?"
And all of a sudden, the cold, stoic expression which was permanently etched on William Torres's face wavered into something else.
I saw it.
An entire new look on him.
Guilt?
"You know what? These past weeks I have tried with everything in me to prove to you, and maybe even me, that I have what it takes to push through and show you that I am so much more capable than what you think of me. But I am exhausted, I am sleep deprived, my head hurts and there's blood gushing out of my palm." I huffed out yet another angry breath. "I am done trying to prove myself to someone who's clearly made their mind up about me."
"And if there's really no way that I can have Mrs. Thornsmith assign me to someone else, then you win." I let out a defeated sigh. "I quit."
That was the last thing I said before I shoved past him and walked out of the storage room.