Chapter 3

CALLIE

I’m a crying mess when the door slams open. Landon—no hair, puffy face with a venomous tongue—pushes his way in, guiding a six foot tall man into my apartment.

The supposed Mr. Hale looks at me, then at the messed up apartment. “I thought the entire society agreed that women take care of houses better, why in the world does this space look like a dumpster?”

Panic floods my system. I ignore the rude man and face Landon instead. If he can give me a few days to figure this out, I’ll pay up his rent. He doesn’t have to humiliate me by bringing someone else in.

I part my lips, but Landon shuts me up with the murderous gaze in his eyes.

“You want to beg like always?” He asks with a light chuckle that humiliates me to the core. “That’s not going to work today, Callie. I’ll give you ten minutes to pick up your ID and a few important items, others will be thrown out.”

Adrenaline shoots through my system. “I just need a few days.”

“A few days?” Landon barks, spitting in my face. “Where’s that sick, lazy bastard you call a boyfriend, huh? He’s the reason you’ve been turning me down, right? Why isn’t he here to save you now?”

Tears prickle the corner of my eyes. It feels like I’m choking on something. I can’t even breathe. “He…he—”

“Save it.” Mr. Hale man cuts me off with a frown. “I don’t care about your disgusting relationship with Landon. Pack your filthy things out, I need to move in with my fiancée today.”

“But I’m still a tenant!” I bark, frustrated to the core. “You can’t just come in here and act like you own the whole place.”

“But I do,” he steps forward. “I paid double.”

“And the fact that you paid double means you can walk over women?”

“You’re delusional to think you still have a point here.” Landon yanks my door open for a few men to walk in. “Pack all her things and throw them outside.”

“Yes, sir!” They echo, and my stomach twists.

“No!” I scream, rushing toward them when they lift up my antique vase, the last gift from my mom before she died. “It’s fragile, I’ll carry that myself.”

“Then get to work!” Landon grits out. “Pack out your things immediately. I’m giving you half an hour to wipe this place clean.”

He then checks his watch, “actually, five minutes. You’re already wasting my time.”

My hands shake as I snatch the vase from their hands, clutching it to my chest. I can’t get kicked out. I can’t sleep on the streets and prove my twin right. I need to think of a way to fix this.

Another man grabs a framed photo from the shelf. “Who’s this?” He laughs, “she’s freaking curvy.”

“Put that down!” I cry, and the frame slips from his hand. It shatters on the ground like my pathetic life.

“Oops,” he stares down at the broken frame. “Apologies.”

I rush toward Landon, burying my pride like it was never there. “Please,” I grab his legs, rushing over my words. “Please, don’t do this to me. I’ll sleep on the floor, I’ll clean the hallway, I’ll do any freaking thing.”

A small smile curves his lips. “You know what I want, Callie.”

I freeze.

My body, he wants my body.

I shake my head frantically, tears spilling down my cheeks. “Not that, Landon. Please, I’m begging you. I’ll do anything with the exception of that. I have nowhere else to go.”

“Drag her out!” Landon snaps. “And toss everything she owns in the trash, that’s where she belongs anyway.”

Rough hands clamp around my wrist.

“No, wait!” I scramble, the vase slipping from my grasp. It crashes to the floor, breaking into a million tiny pieces, and I don’t even flinch. I’m already empty.

The men haul me upright, my feet barely touching the floor as I'm dragged toward the door.

“Please,” I sob, my voice cracking. “I’ll go quietly…don’t…just don’t do this.”

My door swings open anyway, and harsh gazes poke my skin. Mrs. Adler from across the hall freezes mid-step, her grocery bag nearly slipping from her fingers.

Her teenage boys lean against the railing upstairs, grinning like they’re watching some teenage show, and she yells at them to get back in.

“Look at her,” one of the old men that welcomed me into the neighborhood sneers. “She’s crying like she didn’t see that coming. I can’t believe she can’t afford her own rent.”

My knees give out, but they don’t let me fall. They keep dragging me out, while the other men pack all my boxes and toss them outside. Someone laughs when my underwear tumbles out.

“She has no shame, what a slut.”

“She’s pretty disgusting too. I heard she’s actually a stripper, her server job is plainly a cover up.”

That must be my sister.

They finally push me outside and I fall to my knees as Landon yells behind me. “Don’t let me see you here ever again, slut.”

I crumble, everything I’ve been bottling in pouring out like spilled milk. My phone burns in my pocket, and for a long moment, I can’t even move.

I had promised myself I’d never call my sister again. She’s had enough of my messes. What if she yells? What if she refuses to help? What if she rubs her stripper job all over my face and calls me pathetic?

My fingers tremble as I pull the phone out. I stare at it silently until the first sob escapes my throat. I have no choice. Slowly, I dial the number I swore I’d never touch again.

“Callie?” Her voice pierces through me. “Oh my God…is that really you?”

I can barely breathe through my sobs.

“Where are you?”

“Outside my apartment,” I choke out, wiping tears from my cheeks.

“You’re crying?”

I sob again. “I… I got kicked out.”

“What?!” Her voice rises. “I told you working as a server wouldn’t cover your bills!”

“It’s been sorting my bills until Trent stole from me.”

“If you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have—”

“Don’t start with the stripper thing,” I’m quick to say. “Scarlett, I need a quick job, one that doesn’t involve me dancing on a pole.”

“Do you even have a place to stay?” She asks with a light chuckle, “still proud at your lowest state?”

My cheeks burn. “I—“

“I’ll come pick you up,” she says with a sigh. “Just stay there, I’ll be there in a few minutes. And there’s…there’s an option that doesn’t involve you dancing on a pole.”

“What’s that?”

She hesitates for a second. “There’s someone who needs a woman for one night. It could cover all your bills.”