Chapter 8
473words
My phone rang before I could even turn the ignition—Dad.
"The minute you left, Mitchell bolted too."
"Blackwood chased him half a block in those ridiculous heels. They were having a tug-of-war at the corner when Mitchell shoved her so hard she nearly face-planted into the bushes. Cold-blooded bastard."
"Mitchell's a heartless son of a bitch. Thank God you got out when you did."
I watched neon signs blur past my window.
"Dad, how long before Mitchell's company crashes and burns?"
Dad went quiet for a beat.
"Six months tops. Maybe as little as four weeks."
"He's got talent, but he's blind when it comes to people."
"Forget Sophia—every suit in his boardroom is there to suck him dry."
"Sophia wanted the ring and the title. The rest just want his cash."
He wasn't wrong.
Thinking about his executive team…
Brownnosing upward, crushing downward, two-faced vultures, all of them.
They'd drag him straight to bankruptcy.
A week later, I was browsing through Nordstrom.
I never expected to bump into Olivia.
She'd dropped weight, her once-confident eyes now darting nervously.
Clearly, Mitchell's company wasn't treating her well.
She spotted me, nodding hesitantly from across the aisle. I looked right through her.
She gathered her courage and approached, voice thick with emotion.
"I'm sorry. What I did was unforgivable."
I froze mid-step.
"Apology accepted, but we can't go back. Some bridges, once burned, leave permanent scars."
Her eyes welled up, but she nodded anyway.
After a moment's hesitation, she spilled the latest Mitchell Corp drama.
"Mitchell's company… it's circling the drain."
"His partners skipped town with the final deposit, dumping all the debt in his lap."
"And Sophia…"
She dropped her voice to a whisper: "Her flings with supplier execs got exposed. One guy's wife stormed the office with her entire family in tow."
My eyebrows shot up. Now this was getting interesting.
Seeing she had my attention, Olivia continued.
"Sophia got dragged through the mud, publicly."
"Then she tried forcing Mitchell to marry her—desperate to save face."
"Mitchell not only refused, he mass-texted photos of her sneaking into hotels with different men to the entire company chat."
"Sophia lost it completely, screaming that everything she'd done was for him."
"Mitchell just laughed in her face."
"She started smashing everything in sight."
"Then Mitchell snapped. He… he hit her. She was limping when security dragged her out."
"That's all I know. I got laid off the next day."
"No severance, nothing. Now I'm desperate for work."
I fished a business card from my purse and handed it over.
"Call this number. Drop my name. They'll find something for you."
Olivia clutched the card like a lifeline, thanking me over and over.
I watched her hurry away, feeling oddly hollow.
I never expected it all to unravel so fast.
