Page 43 of Darkest Deception

“I came to apologise.”

She lifts a brow. “Do you need something?” she repeats stiffly.

“No, I don’t need anything. I wanted to apologise for how I treated you. I am so sorry for the position I put you in years ago. You don’t understand just how much… guilt I have been carrying around me, the weight on my shoulders is too heavy, and I cannot imagine what you went through after I fired you like that—”

“Are you done? Do you need a pat on the back?”

I shake my head. I knew not everyone would be accepting of my apology, and that’s okay. As long as they know I am sincere and truly mean my apology.

“I came to give you money. I didn’t realise you were struggling, and to be honest, I shouldn’t have fired you at all. I am truly sorry, and I hope you accept my apology. Not because you feel bad for me or I am trying to guilt trip you, but because I know I did the wrong thing, and I am here to address that and make amends.”

She looks at me for a second, and my heart quivers with uncertainty inside of me. She sighs and shakes her head.

“This is nearly not enough for what you made me go through. I had two kids to support. That job was providing for all four of us, and you took that away for such a small error. Rich kids like you will never understand the struggle to put food on your table, to be working while being under the pressure to provide everything for your family.” Her words dowse me in ice water.

“You were rude, selfish, entitled, and the sickest person I had ever met. Your money now will not fix what you ruined years ago, Miss Torre. I suggest you leave before my kids get back from the park. I don’t want to see you again. Please. Leave.”

I open my mouth, but she looks away from me.

“I truly hope you find it in yourself to forgive me one day, Savannah,” I whisper into the quietness of the house before walking out.

I left behind the cheque. Regardless of her reception of me, I don’t want her to struggle.

The next two ex-employees did shout at me, but they also cried in my arms, making my own eyes tear up.

The old Ambrose never realised the severity of her actions.

God, I hate myself.

I’m fixing everything. I’m trying.

It doesn’t matter that I can’t fix myself.

“Come on, Ambrose, let loose a little.” Talia says, then urges me to take a sip of the water she brought me, but being at this event while thinking about everything I have destroyed is hard.

I feel like I’m drowning in my own mistakes, in my own mind, and the water is so deep I can’t seem to pull myself out of it.

“Is something wrong? Do you want to get out of here?”

I sigh into my drink, gazed fixed on the water, thinking if I were to jump off this yacht, if I were to let my body sink beneath the waves, would that bring me peace?

“I … I’ve made too many mistakes and wrong choices in my life. How can I stand here and enjoy this?” I look up from my glass.

Talia’s head is tilted, her beautiful hair falling to the side, her bright eyes swimming with confusion.

“Don’t we all? Don’t we all wake up and have to decide to be better each day so we can correct that? Make up for it? Don’t you think we all strive to better ourselves? So that we become a better person?”

Leaning against the railing, I watch the water, the ripples, as the yacht moves through it, pulling me in.

“Sometimes, the sins we commit are so big, so grand, that it could be deemed as unforgivable,” I say quietly.

Talia stays quiet. Murmurs and laughter from inside the yacht trickle outside, the wind whips our hair in all directions. The music flowing out from the interior room feels like it’s mocking me. It’s so lively, so soft and warm, while I stand outside in the cold, letting the cool wind slash at my heart, taking it as a form of punishment.

“Do you want to know something?” Talia whispers.

I glance over at her. Her head is tilted back, her gaze fixed up at the cloudy sky. Her brows are pinched together, a small twist to her mouth.

“Remember when I told you months ago that I sometimes wished I could do what I wanted? To not be born from money and do silly little things like sneak out to parties, to kiss a random boy recklessly, to go to a school where I could actually make friends because they genuinely like me?”

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