Chapter 2

Cassandra

After battling through a packed subway, I finally made it to work for another day of putting up with the insufferable Renan. He never got tired of ordering me around with tasks that had nothing to do with the company — picking up his dry cleaning, making grocery lists for his apartment, and on and on. But I played along and acted like everything was fine. Getting fired wasn't part of my plan. I needed this job at all costs, even if it meant doing way more than my actual duties.

The workday went by fast. Even though I couldn't stand what I did and was at my limit with Renan's tantrums, I kept going. The thought of being unemployed and having to deal with Elisabeth's meltdowns full-time kept me in line.

I left work after dark, and since I knew I'd catch another beating if I didn't do what my mother told me, I went to see my fiance. A fiance I didn't love and had zero desire to marry. I went straight from the office without stopping at home to avoid any drama. I knew he'd be there — he'd left the company early, claiming he was tired.

My mother had been pressuring me to get married because she figured I'd be more profitable to her with a husband. As if all the money she already took from me every month wasn't enough.

I knew I was being a pushover. I shouldn't have given her a single cent, and I shouldn't have let her hit me or treat me like garbage. But I'd grown up that way — always obeying, always loyal to my parents.

I loved my father with everything I had, and he'd gotten sick and passed away three years ago. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt, especially because my mother had never loved me. She'd always treated me differently from my brother Jhosh. He was her golden child, always spoiled rotten, while she resented me with a fury — all because my father took care of me and protected me. It was like some kind of obsessive jealousy, or something.

My father died at home, holding my hand. His last words were a plea for me to keep taking care of my mother, even though she wasn't an easy person and neither she nor my brother deserved it. He asked me to promise because he didn't want to leave this world with a broken family. To him, family should always protect each other. Even if it meant breaking myself to keep that promise, I gave him my word. Those were the last words he ever heard me say — "I promise, Dad" — and he closed his eyes and left this world.

If things were hard when my father was alive, afterward it turned into a living hell. I was accused of killing him. My mother walked in the moment he closed his eyes, saw me there holding his hand, and it was nothing but screaming, slapping, and hair-pulling. I got beaten at the most painful moment of my life — beaten right beside the body of my protector, the only person on earth who truly loved me. And lying there next to him, all I could do was cry. Not from the beating, but from losing my best friend.

I knew I should've stood up to my mother, but every time I remembered my father's words, I ended up accepting whatever she threw at me. It felt like going against her would mean disappointing him. It might sound stupid, but it was his dying wish, and that tore me apart. I didn't have the strength to go back on what I'd promised. And Elisabeth knew it — she threw it in my face every time I tried to push back.

The fiance my mother arranged for me was also my boss — the same insufferable man who drove me crazy all day. He'd always hit on me, and I'd turned him down again and again, day after day, managing to keep that sleazeball at arm's length. Until he teamed up with my mother, and I ended up accepting him in my life. But honestly, I felt nothing for him. I'd been stringing him along because we'd only had sex once, and I never wanted it to happen again. He didn't last five minutes, finished, rolled over, and fell asleep while I lay there like an idiot trying to process what had just happened. There was no way this could go on. We were living a lie — a pathetic situation for both of us. Being tied to someone you don't love is one of the most absurd things in the world.

I arrived at his apartment. The entire way there, I'd been thinking of a way to end this relationship and come out unscathed. But when I got there, I didn't need to make any effort at all. The second I opened the door — I had a key — I found him on the couch with a woman riding him while he sucked on her breasts.

I slow-clapped at the scene, just to make a little show of it and play the offended fiancee. That way I could walk out of this garbage engagement with my head held high. Because in the end, if he cheated on me, it meant he never really wanted me — and that made me feel a lot less guilty about stringing him along.