Chapter 5

Cassandra

"I'll get straight to the point, Cassandra," Renan said.

"Your mother called me last night, and today I went to your house at her invitation. Together we discovered you ran away from home. After thinking long and hard about everything that happened, your mother and I came to a conclusion."

"You have two options, Cassandra. Option one: you come back to me right now, we pretend nothing happened, and we get married just like we planned. After all, it's no secret that my father wants me married so he'll keep supporting me and keeping me at the company."

"You can go ahead and tell me the other option, because that one's off the table," I said, rolling my eyes at his sheer audacity.

"Okay. Your mother and I already figured you wouldn't accept, so we're pretty sure that once you suffer a little, you'll come crawling back home and back to me with your tail between your legs."

I let out a bitter laugh.

"That's never going to happen," I said.

"We'll see," Renan said.

"You're fired, Cassandra. Here are your termination papers."

He tossed the papers onto the desk.

"Sign them and you're free from the company and from me. But remember — I'll only take you back when you come crawling to my feet, begging me to let you return."

I was furious at his words. I grabbed the damn papers and signed them, even knowing I'd be screwed without a job.

When I saw the severance amount, I felt a little relieved. The money wasn't much, but it'd help me get settled and hold me over for a while until I found another job.

I signed everything and handed it back to him, then stood there waiting for my money — since even skimming through the documents, I'd seen that my settlement was supposed to be paid in cash at the time of signing.

What I didn't realize was that I couldn't have been so stupid. I should've demanded the money first, before signing any piece of crap paperwork. But the anger kept me from thinking straight.

The truth is, I never expected him to be such a bastard.

"What are you waiting for? You can go," Renan said.

"What about my severance money?" I asked.

"It says right here that you received the agreed amount, and you signed it. So I don't owe you anything."

"What?"

"Relax. I'm not screwing you over. Since your mother and I knew you'd never accept the first offer, she took the liberty of keeping your severance. So I don't owe you a thing — the settlement's already been paid."

"You've got to be kidding me, Renan, you scumbag bastard," I said.

I went to lunge at him, but he called security. They ripped me out of his office, dragged me through the building, and threw me onto the street like I was some criminal being tossed into the gutter.

And now what? How was I supposed to go on? I had nowhere to sleep, nothing to live on, my accounts were at zero — I wouldn't even have anything to eat.

That was when my phone rang. I figured it was my mother again — after all, there were at least thirty missed calls from her, a few from my brother, and one from Renan, all of which I'd masterfully ignored. But when I looked at the screen, it was a number that wasn't in my contacts.

I wiped my tears and answered the call from the mystery number, even though I was ready to cuss out my mother in case she'd had the nerve to call me from a different phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hi, good morning. May I speak with Miss Cassandra, please?" a woman said.

"I'm Cassandra. Who's this?"

"Hello, Cassandra. My name is Magdalena. I'm calling on behalf of Loftware Hospital regarding a position that's opened up."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. My eyes went so wide I thought they were going to pop right out of my face. My heart raced, my mouth went dry. I couldn't believe a new opportunity had landed in my life — especially now, when it was exactly what I needed most.

"Before you come to the hospital so we can talk, I need to let you know that the only available position we have is for a janitor. If you're interested, we can discuss it in person."

"Of course, absolutely. I'm very interested," I said.

"Great. Can we meet at the hospital at ten-thirty? Does that work for you?" Magdalena said. "This position is for an immediate start, so if you don't show up, we'll move on to the next candidate."

"No — ten-thirty is perfect," I said.

"Okay. I'll be waiting," Magdalena said.

She hung up, and I just sat there in shock.

Loftware Hospital was the most prestigious hospital in the city — maybe in the whole country — and ranked among the best in the world. It'd be an honor to work there, even as a janitor. I'd never been afraid of hard work, and honestly, in the situation I was in, I would've accepted any job as long as it was honest and decent.

I stood up and dusted off my clothes, which were a little dirty from sitting on the sidewalk.

I snuck around the back of the company and slipped in through the rear entrance. Luckily, my badge still opened the doors — it hadn't been deactivated yet.

I made it to the locker room without anyone seeing me, grabbed my suitcase, changed clothes as fast as I could, and left through the same way I'd come in.

From there, I went straight to the bus stop, grateful that I still had fare on my transit card — because without it, I had no idea how I would've even gotten to the interview.

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