Chapter 10
Nearly everyone I passed gave me a wide berth. It made getting to the library a lot easier. I entered with a soft sight, breathing in the scent of book and the faint sterile scent in the air. The school had installed a bunch of UV air filters to keep the books in peak condition.
The library was quiet, the kind of silence that felt almost oppressive as I sat at one of the computers, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling in my gut. I didn’t have a lot of time to plot a way to get my things, at least the laptop I used for school. Philip’s grip on my life had always been a bit suffocating, but now It felt like he had his hands around my throat.
Part of me had always known I’d end up in a position like this one day. It was part of why I pursued a career in Finance, specifically a Master’s in Accounting and a CPA license. The field was wide open in terms of opportunity because everyone needed someone to keep track of their money and keep them out of trouble with the government.
If I could just get hired before the end of the semester, make enough money to pay down the loan I had just taken out and somehow scratch and crawl my way to my 25th birthday, I wouldn’t have to use my last resort and I’d be free of Philip completely. It was months away but more had been done with less time.
My lips twitched as I looked across the room to the portrait hanging there. It was of my great grandfather. My mother’s family had donated the money for this library a few generations back and established an endowment with the school to pay for its upkeep in honor of my great grandfather who had attended the university for Library and Information Science. My mother said he was a great scholar with a quiet, thoughtful demeanor who all but worshipped the ground my great grandmother walked on.
They’d been in love until the day they died, and though my great grandmother lived a full life after his death, she had never taken another lover. I remember thinking that… there was a chance that Tyler and I could have had a similar story.
They thought felt insulting now, and I turned away from it.
I logged in and opened my email, hoping that I’d heard back about a few more interviews. And I saw the senders I expected to see, but none of the messages brought me hope,
We’re sorry to inform you that you have not been selected.
My stomach dropped.
We’ve decided to go with another candidate. Your place in the next round of interviews of employment has been rescinded.
I scrolled through, taking note of each company. One by one, I counted all the offers I’d worked so hard to secure as rescinded and all my applications rejected. It was… incomprehensible, really. I was a great student. I interviewed well, and I had a bit of experience that would push me ahead of the interviewee pool.
Then, I clicked on the last email, knowing for certain that if my skill couldn’t get me through nepotism certainly would. I had only applied as a safety net to the Finance department at my mother’s company. It was in stewardship with Philip until I turned twenty–five, yet as I opened it, I realized that even my safe bet was worthless.
It was a formal email, on the company letterhead signed off by one of the managers that worked in the company, something cold and condescending about the tone.
In place of a letter, there was only one line.
Are you prepared to be a decent daughter?
I snarled at the screen, glaring at the line before closing the message. Fury rolled through me, helplessness, the sense of knowing I was in a trap and slowly watching it close around me.
I could almost feel my head slamming into the railing all over again, hear the wind and waves that would drag me to my death.
I slammed my hand against the desk, hissing a breath between my teeth. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
I’d put in applications for places all over the city that I knew I could get to reliably with a chauffer, now that I had no car, I was limited to wherever
the bus would take me.
Mom, I could really use some guidance.
My lips twitched. I hadn’t let myself have a thought like that in a long time. As I had grown older and learned more about her and my family’s legacy, it just hurt too much to want her guidance, know I wouldn’t have it, and deal with the sense of letting down the family’s legacy by not being industrious enough to figure things out on my own.
And I could figure things out on my own… I just needed a little time.
Philip had ensured that every easily opened door was slammed in my face. Then, I needed to look for other doors he couldn’t influence, or were just too obscure for him to think about.
Hlooked at the screen for a long time, turning over options. The school job board was on the list, the license’s job board too, local listings, and social
1/2
5:04 PM
Chapter 10
media if I had to. I scooted forward, and started looking.
0
+15
I was there for at least a few hours before the hunger headache started. I rubbed my temples, scrolling through another list of job postings, but the numbers weren’t as big as I thought. I put in application after application, even with companies I knew Philip had some sort of tie to through and associate or otherwise.
None of them would work, but he’d be expecting it. He’d probably get pleased thinking I was scrambling around. It would make it easier later if I had to carry out my last resort.
Philip, like most, was more prone to get cocky he thought he was winning.
The real problem was that he actually seemed to be winning to a degree. I clicked to the next page of listings, most of them I had already applied for in my earlier round of applications.
Except one. I sat forward, hope hitting me as I opened the job posting.
I didn’t recognize the company, but based on the information about it in the posting, it was small. It had likely come up in my initial round of applications, but I had passed it up. This small company was actually a subsidiary of a much larger corporation I’d been planning to apply to as soon as a job opening but that company very rarely posted openings.
I might have seen it as a foot in the door, something I could work with to ensure my upward movement. Right now, it was my best and only option because this company, like its parent company, only did blind applications through a third–party process run through the Judicial Panel’s office. It was the highest standard of hiring practice, but very few people adhered to it.
I had always thought that was a change I would make to my mother’s company as soon as I took over. I quickly downloaded the application form, and started to fill it out. As soon as I was done, I stood, grabbed my bag, and logged out. The sense of urgency gnawed at me. It was nearing the afternoon. I had aleady lost too much time deal with nonsense.
I needed access to my own money, and given Philip’s disposition, there was only one reasonable way I was going to get it.
I had to go over his head and put pressure on him.
I had to talk with Dominic. Even on just a moral basis, Dominic would at least get my debit card unblocked. I didn’t allow myself to hope or expect anything else from him for now.
As I stood up and turned toward the exit, my heart leaped into my throat. From down the corridor, I could hear Tyler’s voice–loud, unmistakable. He was talking to someone, his voice full of frustration, and I caught the words “looking for her,” followed by a frustrated sigh.
There was only one her he could be talking about: me.
Quickly, I ducked into the nearest hallway, praying I wouldn’t be seen. I moved as quietly as possible, away from the area, and I hoped that he didn’t catch my scent before I was too far away to chase. My pulse raced in my ears, and I kept my head low, and changed directions when I caught sight of one of his friends, making my way to the nearest exit as fast as I could without drawing attention.
I caught sight of Vivian in the window and ducked around a corner, waiting until enough time had passed that I wouldn’t run into her when I left. It wasn’t until I was outside and heading toward the bus stop that I finally allowed myself to breathe again.
Today really wasn’t my day.
