32

Serayah slammed her laptop shut, the sound like a gunshot in the small living room. "My cards. All of them. Declined. I finally made up my mind and called the bank and they told me there’s an 'administrative hold' on my accounts pending an audit. An audit, Giselle!"

"It’s not just you," Lawrose said, his voice trembling as he paced by the window. He was staring at his phone as if it had turned into a snake. "My lead sponsor for the Spring Collection just pulled out. No explanation. Just a one-sentence email saying they’ve decided to move in a 'different direction.' That direction being anywhere that doesn't piss off Richard Hemingway."

Giselle sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands tucked between her knees. "This is a lot to taken."

"Such an insufferable!" Lawrose shrieked, spinning around. "He’s starving us out, Gigi. He’s coming for our livelihoods. I am livid at this point"

Serayah walked over to Giselle " My lifestyle is crumbling in real-time. I can't buy groceries. I can't pay the light bill."

"I'm sorry," Giselle whispered. "I'll leave. I'll go to a hotel."

"With what money?" Lawrose snapped. "I ask again, with what money dea. You step outside, and you’re back in that cage within a few minutes. But that’s what you want, isn't it? You want him to 'save' you and he is doing all that."

"But I already apologised, That’s not fair!" Giselle cooed.

"Isn't it?" Serayah leaned down, getting into Giselle’s space. Her voice was a low, dangerous hiss. "How much do you love us, Giselle? Truly? Because your father-in-law is burning our lives down just to get to you. He’s scorched the earth around us. He’s making it so that being your friend is a financial suicide mission."

"I never asked him to do this," Giselle cried, tears blurring her vision.

"But you’re the one who lit the match!" Lawrose countered.

"I’ll call him," Giselle said, reaching for the dead phone in the safe. "I’ll tell him to stop."

"And say what?" Serayah asked mockingly. "'Please stop ruining my friends' lives, I’ll come home and be your good little girl'? That’s exactly what he wants. He’s playing us like chess pieces, and you’re the Queen he’s decided to take."

"I can't stay here and watch you lose everything," Giselle sobbed.

"Then make a choice!" Lawrose yelled. "Either you find a way to end this that doesn't involve us ending up on the street, or you walk out that door right now and tell him to let you be. But don't sit here and mope while my life’s work vanishes because you have a 'forbidden attraction' to a man who treats the world like his personal vending machine!"

The tension in the room was a physical weight. Giselle looked at her friends—the people who had been her only family—and saw the resentment beginning to eclipse the love. she understands Richard meant well but he was going about it the wrong way. 

"Oh goodness, this is a lot," Giselle whispered.

"He's a monster like his son," Serayah corrected, walking back to her dark kitchen.

Just as the silence threatened to swallow them, the apartment's landline began to ring. It was a shrill, jarring sound that made all three of them freeze.

Lawrose looked at the wall unit. "Don't answer it."

"It's probably the landlord," Serayah said, though she didn't move.

The ringing continued.

Giselle stood up. She walked to the wall as if in a trance. She picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"The Heights is lovely this time of year," Richard’s voice came through, deep and terrifyingly calm. It sounded as if he were standing right behind her. "Though I imagine it’s getting a bit cold in that apartment without the luxury you’re accustomed to."

Giselle’s grip tightened on the phone. "Stop it, Richard. Stop hurting my friends."

"I’m not hurting anyone, Giselle. I’m simply withdrawing my endorsement of their surroundings. you cant keep hiding away from me."

"They are my friends!"

"And I am your family," Richard countered, his voice dropping to that dark, intimate growl. "I saw the file, Giselle. I know what Chase did on your wedding morning. I know every humiliation he put you through. YAnd I want to promise you from the bottom of my heart, that we will work this out, Come home."

"What if I dont want to?" she choked out.

"Chase wont bother you anymore," Richard said, and the finality in his voice sent a shiver down her spine.  

Giselle gasped, her heart hammering against her ribs. "I just need some time to myself."

"I'm tired of waiting," Richard said. "I’ll like us to talk, I am waiting in the car downstairs. You have five minutesDon't make me come up there. You know I don't like to be kept waiting."

The line went dead.

Giselle turned to Lawrose and Serayah. They were watching her, their faces etched with no facial expression, she could see the sheer tiredness in their eyes.

"The car is downstairs," Giselle said, her voice trembling. "I should go see him."

"Then go," Lawrose said, his voice cracking. "Go, before he does something crazy again. I don't know who is more crazy between that man and his crazy son."

Giselle looked at them one last time. She didn't say another word. She grabbed her coat and walked toward the door.

As she stepped into the hallway, she didn't feel like a victim, something had snapped inside her. She felt a strong resolve engulfing her as she walked  toward the fire she had started herself.