Page 27 of Twisted Trust
“Is that really what you want to call it? Survival?”
“Of course it was fucking survival,” she snaps. “Did you want me to wait around for your family to come and kill me like some fucking maniac just because you were gone? Although I suppose it’s hard to keep track when you’re pretending to be dead!”
Wait… what? What the fuck is she talking about?
The question rises in my throat but before I can speak, the elevator jolts to life and drops for a few seconds.
When it comes to rest, the doors behind me creak open and I quickly release Maeve, unsure what to expect.
Several worried-looking maintenance engineers stand at the elevator's entrance.
One rushes toward me.
“Sir, I’m so sorry for the fault of the elevator. This is highly unusual, and rest assured, we will conduct a thorough inspection. I will make sure compensation is applied to your card…”
His words fade as Maeve rushes past me and makes her escape down the corridor.
By the time I make it past the maintenance workers, she’s already gone but her face lingers in my mind.
The bruises and lacerations stand out like beacons while her final words repeat in my thoughts.
She didn’t speak as someone who had spent months planning to screw me over.
And accusing me of pretending to be dead? What the hell was that all about?
It has to be another one of her tricks.
Next time I corner her, we won’t be interrupted.
7
MAEVE
“You’re fired.”
The words cut through me like a knife. “E–Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry, Maeve. You’ve just been off your game for too long. And this?” My boss, Sandy, points to his monitor, which has been turned around to display security footage from earlier today when I snapped at a client for their absolutely disgusting request of eighteen-year-old sex workers. “We can’t have this kind of grief with our clients, especially those who pay as much as he did.”
“Wait, wait—” Holding up both hands, I step back from his desk. “Are you firing me for refusing to get him young sex workers or are you firing me because he has enough money todemandI’m fired?”
Sandy sighs raggedly. “You’ve been rude and irritable lately, Maeve. You’re off your game. You messed up two bill payments for clients a few days ago. You’re encroaching on losses that we don’t want to observe.”
“But no actual losses have happened! At least not ones that matter,” I say hurriedly with a glance at the monitor. “Look,you know I was mugged last week and it’s got me slightly off my game, but can you blame me? Please, Sandy. You know I’m good at my job. Half the contacts this hotel has are because of my own legwork between here and the casinos. Half of our clients are ones I brought in myself. I’m the only one who can whip up a wedding reception in two hours, the… the only one who accommodates Mr. Delaney and his mistress when no one else would. I’ve made this placeshinein reputation and you’re getting rid of me?”
Sandy actually looks pained as he turns his monitor back to face himself. “I’m sorry, Maeve. Maybe this is a sign for you to take some time and take care of yourself. Let yourself heal and then get back out there.”
“No, Sandy, please!” I surge forward until I hit his desk. “I need this job, Sandy, please! I’m barely making rent on top of food, I can’t afford my kid’s activities so I’m having to rely on my neighbor to watch him. I can’t afford to be out of work. Please, please, I’ll do anything!”
“I’m sorry, Maeve,” Sandy says as he hands me a brown envelope containing my last pay slip. “We can’t keep you on here. Your work’s been in decline for months, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.”
No.
No, no, no.
This can’t be happening.
I stare Sandy directly in the eye until my vision blurs and a painful static sensation floods through my chest, smoothing my pounding heart. “I’m a fucking star employee and you know it. I hope his filthy money is worth it,” I snap, snatching the envelope from his hand. “Fuck you, Sandy.”
