Page 95 of Breaking Conviction
Gail tilted her head in suspicion and Naomi slammed her lips shut.
“What do you know? You’re talking about things that haven’t been, nor will ever be, given to the press. Who are you getting your information from?”
Naomi briefly thought about trying to get out what she could from Gail, but there was no way she’d leave this conversation better than she started. Shaking her head, she leaned back against the chair.
“Does it matter?”
Gail’s lips tightened and she stabbed her pen at the bottom of the paper.
“I suppose it doesn’t. Here. You’ve been provided a severance for your termination. Feel free to use me as a reference in your future endeavors. I won’t let your recent job performance or this particular conversation taint my recommendation.”
At that dismissal, Naomi took the paperwork and slowly stood up, her mind racing. Just as she was about to cross the threshold to the office, she paused and turned back to her ex-boss.
“You know... what I did helped save eight lives from human trafficking. I won’t apologize for that, nor will I allow myself to feel guilty. But what hurts right now... what Idofeel shitty about... is placing so much faith and respect in a woman I thought was a pioneer in her field. It’s devastating to find out she’s been a pawn all along.”
Gail’s eyes grew glossy before she swallowed away her emotion. Naomi wanted to feel good about hitting her target, but disappointment was all she could muster. She pivoted to leave, but Gail’s voice caught her attention.
“Be careful out there, Naomi. There are much bigger threatsin this game. Players whom I have absolutely no power to control. Ones who have the political backing to wipe not just my company, but mylifeoff the map.” She shook her head and Naomi’s chest thundered at what she was saying. “It sounds like you know just enough to be dangerous to yourself as well as to others. Make sure you’re on the side that wins.”
Naomi narrowed her eyes. “Since when did justice become the losing side? Whatever side that saves lives and takes down traffickingisthe side that wins.”
“You’ve seen the world, Naomi. Don’t be naïve. Lady Justice is greedy and blind. She doesn’t see, nor does she care, whose hand stuffs her pockets.” She gave her a small, sad smile. “True justice is a fairy tale, Naomi. But I hope, for all our sakes, that yours has a happy ending.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“You ready for this?”
Naomi snorted at Nora’s question before answering. “You always ask me that, and the answer is always no. I don’t think anyone is ever reallyreadyto talk to a survivor. Everyone’s just hopin’ and prayin’ the right words will fall outta their mouth at the right time.”
“Look at you...” Nora twisted her hands up against her chest and gave a wistful sigh before swiping at a fake tear. “My lil’ girl’s all growed up.”
“Good Lord, shut up.” She rolled her eyes at the theatrics, but couldn’t help her chuckle. The woman had a knack for making Naomi laugh away her nerves. “Let’s go. I’ve had a shitty day and I’m in the mood to save someone.”
Nora winced before giving her a smile. “I’m sorry about your job, Naomi. That sucks big donkey balls.”
“Thanks girl, but you are so damn crass, I can’t take it. Somehow you always know what I need, though.”
Nora shrugged and stepped through the hospital double entrance vestibule with a smile. “Such is the fate of the side character BFF trope, Naynay. We just hang out on the sidelines waiting to cheer on the FMCs or die for their character growth.”
“Nora, do you really feel that way?”
Nora stopped short at the question. When the automatic door entrance tried to close on her, she yelped to get out of the way. “What? Oh, um. No. It’s just a joke.” She waved her hand. “You know me. Can’t be serious if my life depended on it.”
Naomi scowled, thinking of the many, many times Nora had reined it in to comfort survivors. “Well, we both knowthat’snot true.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “Whatevs girl, don’t worry ‘bout it. We have someone who needs our help. So anyway, like I was sayin’. The caller said his daughter would be here, so he asked if we could get someone who was good with kids, maybe who could even bring her kid—”
“And I said I would absolutely not let Thea anywhere near a hospital. She’s been through too damn much. But I’m here and I’ll just have to do—wait... you said it was a man?”
Nora narrowed her eyes. “Girl, you know the stats. DV survivors are overwhelmingly women, but men can suffer from abusers, too.”
Naomi waved her hand at Nora’s reprimand. “I know, it’s just I haven’t worked with a male survivor yet, is all.”
“Just treat him like anyone else. Except don’t let him do that macho BS where he tries to say since he’s the man he can’t be abused by a woman. That’s a sexist trope more tired than the BFF.”
Naomi cut her eyes at Nora again, but they continued down the hallways to the ER, where they’d been told the survivor would be waiting.
When they got there, it was bustling with people and hard to get a nurse to pause for long enough to show them the way. Finally, when they found someone to help, she directed them to a curtained-off corner.
