(NFTMB)Chapter 13
Victoria.
(What happened to you?)
I slumped down on my little bed as I breathed out a well needed sigh. Freedom at last. I needed to feel free.
I grabbed my phone and decided to call Grace. She picked on the third ring.
“Babe?”. Her sleepiness came through the phone.
“Yeah it’s me”. I was kinda nervous now. She might flip considering that she was the one who got me this job and saved me from my self pity.
“What’s wrong babe?”. She asked cautiously like she was expecting some bad news or something. I didn’t blame her though, I was a trouble magnet. I can’t hold a job down. I’ve been fired more times than I can count.
“Babe, I quit my job”. I said bracing myself for her high pitched yelling.
“You what!?”.
“How could you do that?”.
I removed the phone from my ear to save whatever little eardrum I could. Grace would make me deaf one day.
“Can you calm down Grace?. Stop yelling so much”.
“How do you expect me to calm down? You just lost another job Victoria. What the hell is wrong with you”. She scolded.
“I’m sorry but it’s complicated”.
“You had better start talking young lady. This is becoming alarming and serious”. She said as I imagined her wagging her finger at me like an old lady. The thought made me laugh.
“I can’t say it over the phone. Can you come over?”.
I heard shuffling over the line as she tried to get up from her bed.
“Okay Victoria. I’ll be there soon. Your excuse had better be worth it”.
“Just don’t judge me please”.
“Alright. This girl will be the death of me”. She mumbled before hanging up.
I fell back on the bed and thought about the past events. It was impulsive of me to just stumble into his office and disrespect him.
One puzzling thing was Amara and the position she was in, she was kneeling and looked like she was begging while Mr Rossi seemed relaxed as ever.
That man must be a very wicked man. Amara was a nice girl, she didn’t do anything to wrong him.
My tummy growled and I suspected it was hunger. I got up and rummaged through my rundown little apartment for any sign of food.
I was craving pasta which was weird. I wasn’t a pasta person. This whole Mr Rossi thing had turned my life upside down now including my food choices.
I huffed and groaned and mumbled as I searched around before I found a pack of pasta. I prepared it with the little ingredients I could find.
I wolfed down the entire food and sighed in happiness as I sat back and patted my now big tummy.
I heard a knock on the door and I immediately knew who it was. Grace.
I opened the door to find her there with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.
“What’s going on?”. She asked immediately as she walked into the room.
“Hello to you too Grace”. I nonchalantly responded.
“Why did you quit your new job Victoria?”
“I did something very stupid”. I said face palming.
“What did you do Victoria? Did you drop his baby?”.
“Oh God no, I wouldn’t ever dream of dropping sweet matteo”. I couldn’t even imagine that happening, ever. Matteo was one sweet baby and it hurt my heart to leave him.
“Then what?!”. She shouted.
“I slept with his father and now he wouldn’t let me be! Geez grace can you please stop yelling”. I yelled back at her.
She was stunned as she stood silent there. I had to double check to see if she was actually breathing.
“Are you just gonna stand there frozen? Hello, let it go?. I attempted to lighten the atmosphere by cracking a joke.
She didn’t smile and just stood there for a long time before she finally came back to her senses.
“What the hell Victoria! What were you thinking?”.
“I’m sorry”. I said slowly
“Oh my God. This is bad, this is bad. We’re fucked”. She was repeating the same words while pacing up and down from one corner of the room to the other.
“Can you calm down?”. She was giving me a lot of concern now with the way she was reacting.
“No Victoria, YOU don’t understand. You’re meant to care for his baby, not let him have sex with you! What were you thinking, you stupid girl?! Simon is going to flip if he hears this. Simon was right”.
Most times Grace was a little too much to handle.
She often overreacted and acted like an old lady.
Simon was just an asshole.
“Can you calm down for a while, otherwise you’re going to give me a heart attack. You’re over analyzing the whole thing and making a mountain out of a little issue”.
“A little issue you say? No, this is huge Victoria. This is bigger than you and me. Do you know now who that man is? Do you know what he is capable of?”.
What was her problem?
“He’s a billionaire, I know, he’s a CEO, I know, he’s a single dad, I know that too. It’s not like I’m pregnant for the man or anything. Why are you acting this way?”.
My statement seemed to catch her attention immediately.
She came to sit close to me on the bed as she took my hand in hers.
“Babe listen to me. That man is dangerous. He might seem like a normal CEO but then I’ve heard of his tyranny in the business world. I thought you would just do your job and stay out of his way. Please tell me he at least used protection?”.
Her eyes held the desire to be reassured that he did. My mind went back to that night and I remembered that he did not use protection. I had seen my period 2 days after that night so I believe I had nothing to worry about.
I felt okay.
“No, he didn’t but I’ve seen my period after then so I’m safe. Babe, please listen to me, it’s not something for you to get all worked up over. The man in question is too controlling. I spent the past week explaining to him that just because I slept with him doesn’t mean I belong to him. He’s a mean and controlling man”.
I concluded, desperately hoping she’ll believe me.
After a while she just huffed out before continuing.
“Well if you say so. But I just hope for your sake that you’re really right. What about Flynn, how’s he holding up?”.
I have always kept my best friends updated about my daily life except on the issue with Mr. Rossi. I thought I could handle it then.
Turns out I was wrong. It was bigger than me. He was bigger than me.
“Flynn’s trying to keep his head up and doesn’t want to let it pull him down but then it’s still difficult. I feel so bad. This is all my fault”.
Grace watched me with sorrowful eyes. Her eyes held so much pity.
“So what’s the plan now?”. She asked me.
“Tomorrow I’ll start job hunting. Again. I hate that process but I don’t have a choice now”.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get through this. Again”. Grace said, mimicking my previous words.
We both burst out laughing. Most times speaking with Grace was therapeutic.
“What are you gonna do about your bills?”. Grace asked.
“I have a little money saved up from working for Mr Rossi. I’m just thankful, I paid off the previous rent”.
“Ughh, that’s kind of a relief, at least that extra weight won’t be on your shoulder for now”.
“Yeah”.
“Come here, we’ll get through this together. You’ll be fine. Whatever happens I’ll be there for you, always”. Grace spoke reassuringly to me as she hugged me like a mother would.
I don’t know why or when but I felt tear drops falling freely from my eyes.
Why was I crying?
“It’s okay darling, cry it out. It’s alright”. She whispered to me rubbing my arms while my tears flowed uncontrollably.
“What about Simon? Does he hate me too? Doesn’t he love me anymore? Why isn’t he here to comfort me?”. I asked as I looked up at Grace from my previous position of laying on her laps.
“Oh no sweetie, he loves you so much. Simon is held up at work, that’s all. He has a lot of work to complete so he’s working overtime. He’ll be here when he can”
“Okay. If you say so”. I whispered softly while sniffling.
“Yes sweetcheeks, Simon loves you so much, much more than he should. He’ll always be there for you”.
“He seemed mad at me the last time he saw me”.
“No darling. He just didn’t like the idea of you working for Mr Rossi. That’s all. He’d never be mad at you Victoria”.
“Alright if you say so”. I tried to believe her words.
A phone call startled me and discontinued our conversation.
“Hello?”. I meekly spoke to the person on the other side.
“What happened to you Victoria?”. Grace internally wondered.