LOGINFINAL PAYOUTI didn’t want to come to the office today.Every step toward the elevator felt heavier than the last, like gravity itself was conspiring to stop me.My heels clicked against the polished marble, each sound echoing in my chest like a countdown.This is it. The final chapter.The envelope was on the receptionist’s desk, waiting for me like a silent accusation.My name written in crisp, black ink. The logo of the company above it looked almost mocking, pristine and untouchable, just like him.I took a deep breath, trying to steady the tremor in my hands.You’re just paper. Numbers. Nothing more. You can’t hurt me.But I knew better.---The HR manager led me to a small conference room. No one else was there.Just me, the envelope, and the weight of what it represented.“Ms. Hayes,” she said politely, like a stranger, “this is the final payout as per your termination agreement. Once you sign, everything will be processed. All compensation, benefits, and settlements.”I nodded
The second Sabrina’s cab disappeared into the blur of traffic, I felt something inside me rupture.Not crack.Not bend.Not strain.But break—clean, violent, final.Like a bone snapping through skin.My hand remained suspended mid-air as if her silhouette were still there. As if I could still pull her back. As if time would suddenly feel mercy and rewind.But the street swallowed her cab whole.And the city kept moving like nothing ended.I didn’t.I stood there, frozen in front of the window, the glass fogging with my unsteady breath. My reflection stared back at me like a ghost—pale, empty, soulless. A man who had just buried himself alive.“You did this,” I whispered at the glass, jaw trembling so violently I tasted metal. “You f**king did this to her.”My fist flew forward before I could stop it.The impact shook the entire pane.A crack split across the corner like lightning—thin, sharp, fatal. For a second, I imagined it shattering fully, slicing through me. Maybe I wanted it to
The moment Sabrina stepped out of my office, something inside me shut down.Not slowly.Not quietly.It felt like someone reached into my chest and twisted the beating heart out of it.The door clicked shut with the softest sound—barely there, barely audible—but that tiny sound ripped through me like a gunshot. I stood there, staring at the spot where she had been, unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to do anything except drown in the echo of her voice still hanging in the air.Still cutting me open.“If you’re ending this… look me in the eye and tell me you feel nothing.”I had looked her in the eye.And I had lied to her face.With a calmness I didn’t feel, with a coldness I didn’t possess.I lied so well that for a moment I almost believed myself.Almost.But the truth was still there—violent, loud, screaming inside my chest.I loved her.I loved her to the point of destruction.And because of that love, I was the one who had to break her.My hands were still pressed against
The elevator doors opened with a soft, almost cruel chime. Too gentle. Too quiet. It mocked me. As if the world itself knew how violently my life had just shattered and was mocking me for feeling it so completely. I staggered out, clutching my bag like a lifeline, though it offered no protection. My palms were slick, trembling, betraying me, shaking as if my body knew something my mind refused to grasp.People looked at me. Some glanced quickly and turned away. Others pretended I didn’t exist. A few… just a few, noticed. Not all of them, but some. They noticed the way I leaned forward slightly, unsteady, carrying a weight too heavy for anyone to bear. They noticed the streaks of wetness down my cheeks, glistening faintly under the harsh fluorescent lights. And some noticed nothing, which somehow hurt even more. I wanted to vanish. To sink into the floor, to disappear into the tiles beneath my feet, swallowed by the lobby itself.The lobby—I had always liked it. Its sleek marble floors
Sabrina didn’t remember how her legs carried her out of Drake’s office.All she knew was that the moment the door closed behind her, her lungs… gave up.The hallway blurred. Her heels clicked unevenly against the marble floor, each step shaky, like her legs were forgetting how to function.“Ma’am, are you okay—?”A passing employee asked as she staggered.Sabrina didn’t answer. She couldn’t.Her throat burned. Her chest felt stabbed from the inside.She reached the empty corner near the emergency stairs—her usual hiding place when anxiety hit—and finally—Her body collapsed against the wall.“God… D-Drake…”Her voice cracked, barely a whisper.“He really… ended it?”Her hands were trembling so violently she pressed them against her lips to stop herself from sobbing out loud.But the silence didn’t last.A strangled gasp tore out of her chest.Then another.Until she couldn’t control it anymore.Her knees buckled.She slid down to the floor.And she cried the way a heart breaks—messy,
The silence in the private meeting room felt like it had weight—like it could crush me if I moved the wrong way. Thick. Heavy. Suffocating.Drake stood across from me like he had been carved from stone. Every inch of him radiated control, power, and unyielding perfection—but behind that, I could sense something else. Something raw. Fragile. Broken.The contract sat on the table between us. My name at the top, his signature line at the bottom. That thin sheet of paper had the power to end everything—my career, my trust, the fragile connection we had been trying to hold together through storms we couldn’t name.I swallowed, a dry, trembling sound in my throat. “So… this is really happening.”Drake didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even glance at the paper. His silence was deliberate, lethal.“Yes,” he said finally. Quiet. Final. Sharp. Every word a knife wrapped in ice.“Why?” My voice broke, a whisper clawing its way out. “Tell me the truth.”He didn’t answer.Something inside me snapp







