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The Doormat Walks Away
The Doormat Walks Away
Auteur: Anonymous

Chapter 1

Auteur: Anonymous
It was the sixth year of our relationship, and Melissa Ferguson still hadn't given me a wedding.

Today, I'd finally made it to the actual banquet, and the hall was packed with people who'd shown up for the spectacle. They whispered, snickered, and threw out jabs, and every word of it reached my ears.

"I can't believe Russell is putting up with this. How many times is this now? Let's guess how long it takes the bride to run off this time."

"I'll bet a hundred thousand dollars she's out the door in under three minutes."

"Wrong. I'd give it five minutes, since making a phone call takes time too. Fine, a hundred thousand it is. Who would've thought his weddings would turn into the hottest ticket in town? A few tries ago, you could've walked right in and found the place half empty."

"Everyone's here for the show, and he's the best part of it. Look at how much money went into this wedding. My guess? Another wasted effort."

"I'll put up half a million. This seat alone cost me a fortune."

The whole hall buzzed with chaos, everyone waiting, calculating exactly when Melissa would walk out. It should have been the most sacred moment of my life, and instead it played out like a death match at a casino. Nobody here had come to wish us well. Not this time, anyway.

"Melissa's coming out, look!"

Someone shouted it, and I turned toward the sound just as Melissa, clutching her wedding dress, jogged toward me, and our eyes met.

The music hadn't started. The handoff ceremony hadn't begun. The officiant hadn't even come out yet. And there she was, hurrying toward me like she couldn't wait another second.

Hope flared in my chest, and color rushed back into my face.

They'd been wrong. Melissa wasn't running. She was rushing to marry me. Wasn't she?

She stopped right in front of me, and while I stood there brimming with hope, she yanked off her veil and kicked away her heels. "Ezra just called. He said someone beat him up, and it's bad. I need to go check on him. This is life or death. It matters more than some ceremony.

"Don't fight me on this. We've been together six years. We've waited this long. What's a little longer?"

With that, she walked out barefoot.

The fury I'd braced myself for never came. I stood there in silence for so long that Melissa's shape blurred out of view, and only then did the world's sound and color come rushing back.

"Told you. Pay up. Three minutes on the dot. You all gave Russell too much credit. Spineless as he is, why would Melissa need five whole minutes? One word from her and it's done."

"Well, that was a letdown. I was hoping for a longer show. Let's go, there's nothing decent to eat here anyway."

"You know, Russell really is a fool. He could've lived the easy life as some rich heir, and instead he's out here hanging himself on a dead tree, practically begging to be rejected. Still, these weddings are a good time. I'll definitely come to the next one."

After the bride left, most of the crowd went home satisfied. Of the ones who stayed, some filmed my humiliation to share with friends, others just didn't want to waste a free meal. Only a handful, out of some sense of decency, offered me a few words of comfort.

No one understood what I was feeling. Only I knew how exhausted I really was.

This was the tenth time Melissa had promised to marry me and then stood me up. She'd been lying to me the whole time, treating me like a stray dog that came running whenever she called. But even a dog eventually gives up on its owner.

I walked to an empty corner and dug out a number I'd carried with me for years. "I want in on this undercover mission," I said. "I'm not afraid to die. You were right. Walking straight into the dark is how you make sure more people get to live in the light."

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  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 10

    "And you think you're a good match for him?" Once it registered, Melissa looked Catherine over with open disgust. "Look at yourself. You're damaged goods. Your face isn't even pretty anymore, and you're missing a hand. How exactly are you supposed to take care of Russell?"Besides, I'm the one Russell actually loves. You don't know anything about our history, about the promises we made to each other. What gives you the right to say I'm not good enough for him?"Catherine lowered her head, a shadow crossing her face. I reached out and took her hand, pulling her close against me. "Melissa, the past is the past. The second I got back, I blocked your number. You should understand what that means. We're both adults. Isn't it a little pathetic to keep dragging this out?"I'm telling you officially, right now, we're done. Please don't come near me or my family again."Whatever Melissa had been about to say caught in her throat. Her eyes went red, fixed on me, her fingers trembling.

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 9

    We looked at each other and smiled. The agency approved our request, and taking our physical condition into account, allowed us both to step back from active duty. Thankfully, during our time undercover, neither of us had used our real names. Which meant Catherine was still Catherine, and I was still myself.The moment my mother's name was finally cleared after all those years of wrongful accusation, tears streamed down my face, thick and fast. That was also when I saw my father again. He'd aged so much. The first thing he did the second he saw me was smack me hard on the head."You punk. Everyone thought Melissa broke your heart and you ran off to hide somewhere alone. Who would've guessed you were out there quietly doing something this huge."Thank you, son. You're the one who cleared your mother's name."The man in front of me had stayed strong through half a lifetime, and now he couldn't stop the tears.I hugged my father back, ready to introduce Catherine. The next moment

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 8

    After I left, every project at the company ground to a halt. The collagen partnership with the overseas firm took the worst hit. The moment their contact heard the point person had changed, he flipped, refusing to work with Melissa even if it meant losing money on the deal.Ezra tried pulling the same old tricks, flying overseas again and again to grovel, buy people dinner, beg forgiveness. But groveling had never been in his nature. One offhand comment from someone and he'd storm off to secretly call and complain, and he even got caught doing it once in a bathroom. The funniest part was that he'd been drinking water the whole time he was supposedly apologizing over drinks, not actual alcohol. He poured every ounce of his cleverness into these little schemes, and it cost them. Several overseas companies flat out swore they'd never work with them again.Melissa tried to salvage things by handing him other projects instead, and he ended up in a shouting match with a client, then tu

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 7

    After two weeks of crash training and adjusting to our new roles, Catherine and I took on our new identities and headed for the mission site. This time, I'd already made peace with the idea that I might not come back.Catherine, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. She glanced at the weeds along the road and gave me a playful wink. "Honestly, neither of us is really scared, right? Because even without us, there'll always be someone else ready to step up and finish the job."Something in me stirred, that faint trace of conviction I still carried, and I nodded, serious. "Catherine, I want us both to make it out alive. But more than that, I want this mission to actually end."…Ten years later, the last drug den finally burned to the ground, thanks to everything Catherine and I had put into this. We held each other up and walked out of the flames, one step at a time.Ten years had changed Catherine completely. She was no longer the beautiful woman she'd once been. Two jagg

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 6

    The car kept driving until it finally stopped. And there, waiting for me, was my mentor. I hadn't seen him in years. This was the secret base hidden deep in the mountains, the place where countless heroes left from every year, and where just as many came back only as bones."Russell, my boy." My mentor took my hand, his own trembling, and made small talk as he introduced me around. Beside him stood a woman with delicate, striking features.I'd heard her name before. She was two years behind me, but a genuine ace when it came to solving cases. In just two years on the job, she'd cracked more cold cases than anyone, and people had started only half-jokingly calling her a real-life bloodhound. I'd read through her case files before. Whether it was sharpness of mind or speed of reaction, she was clearly one of the best. Not like me, who'd walked away right when it mattered most to go help Melissa run her company.A wave of shame washed over me. My mentor patted my shoulder and told ev

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 5

    Ezra shook the cream off himself, looking as pitiful and ridiculous as a clown."Russell, what do you think you're doing?" An angry shout rang out, and just as I turned to answer, a huge glob of cream slammed into me. Not satisfied with that, Melissa scraped up the mess of cream still clinging to Ezra and smeared it straight across my face.A sharp, burning itch spread over my skin instantly. I was allergic to chocolate. Even the slightest contact left me covered in hives, sometimes even swollen."If you have a problem, take it up with me directly. I'm the one who called off the wedding. Ezra has nothing to do with it. Honestly, I don't understand how anyone could be so petty over something this small."She swept off with Ezra, the two of them leaving in a hurry. I rushed into the bathroom to wash off the mess. I'd moved fast enough that only a faint red mark remained on my face.While I stood there, dazed, my mentor called. Someone would come for me first thing tomorrow morning

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