Page 11 of Cruel Bratva King

“Mr. Mars—”

“That will be all for now,” he cut me off. “Gotta go.” He hung up on me, leaving me confused. Mr. Mars was seventy; he had a nasty temper and a tongue sharper than a blade. I found it odd that he had not only spoken softly with me but he was telling me to stay in the apartment for as long as I needed.

I knew I should’ve been thankful, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was something wrong. Something I couldn’t wrap my head around.

Just as I was about to put the phone down from my ear, it rang again. It was Mr. Jenkins this time, and I was stunned. He’d carefully instructed me never to contact him or come within the vicinity of the firm after he forced me to resign yesterday.

What did he want now?

I tapped theanswericon and took the phone to my ear, but I didn’t talk. I wasn’t going to say a word until he did.

“Miss Anderson?”

“Yes, you’re speaking to Miss Anderson,” I replied. “How may I help you?”

“You’re speaking to Mr. Jenkins.” I knew I was speaking to him already, but I didn’t care to tell him that. “It’s about your job. I’m sorry about yesterday. I had a shitty morning and took it out on you.”

Mr. Jenkins was apologizing? This had to be a dream of some sort. I’d worked with him for four years, and as far as I remembered, the wordsorrydidn’t exist in his dictionary. He was an arrogant man who looked down on his staff as if they were nothing. It didn’t matter if he was in the wrong. We were the ones who had to bow our heads and apologize to him.

I wanted to turn down his apology, but I didn’t want to stoop to his sick way of treating people. “It’s fine. I understand you weren’t in the best mood after we lost the case.”

“I’m glad you understand,” he muttered in an almost reluctant tone as if he had a gun to his head and was forced to call me. “Speaking of yesterday, how would you like to continue your job at the firm?”

“Do you mean I can resume working at the firm?” My heart was picking up an unusual beat as I waited for him to answer. I didn’t know that I would like to work with Mr. Jenkins again, considering how toxic the work environment was, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be stunned if he asked me to start working at the firm again.

“Yes, I’ll be happy to have you back.”

My brows squished together, and my anxiety dissipated into a wave of confusion. Over the four years I’d worked with Mr. Jenkins, he’d sacked a handful of staff. Not once had he asked any of them to return to work. Some of them had worked with him longer than I had, so it made no sense he was offering me another opportunity to work at the firm.

Something was wrong; I could sense it. Sergey’s promise rang in my ears, and I started to wonder if he had a hand in any of this. Did he have something to do with my landlord asking me to remain in my apartment or Mr. Jenkin’s sudden change of heart?

No, there was no way he did. It had only been two hours since I sneaked out of his mansion, and he was asleep when I left, He couldn’t have pulled all of those in such a limited time.

Right, he had nothing to do with it.

“Are you there?” Mr. Jenkin asked, pulling me out of my thought.

“I am.” As much as I wanted to jump at his offer, I needed to think it through. Jenkins law firm was a toxic work environment, and I needed to be certain I’d be fine working there a second time. “Could you give me some time to think this through?” I asked. “I’ll give you an answer in a week.”

“Sure. Take all the time you want and get back to me after you’ve decided.”

“I will.”

“Thank you for your time, then. Looking forward to your response.” Mr. Jenkins ended the call, and I took an extra minute to put my phone down. Before I could process what just happened over the phone with Mr. Jenkins, my phone bleeped and a mail flashed across my screen. When I opened the email and started reading, my heart skipped several beats. It was a job offer fromenchanté, one of the biggest law firms in Chicago. I’d sent several applications to them, and none of them had returned with a positive response. And now, all of a sudden, they’re offering me a job at their firm?

My face split with a smile as excitement surged through my stomach. My toes curled, aching for me to jump from my excitement, but I held myself back. I needed to be certain this was actually happening, ‘cause it seemed too good to be true.

Just yesterday, my world was falling apart, and today, everything was falling into place already. What were the odds of that?

***

Two months later, my head was buried inside the toilet bowl in my bathroom, my intestines twisting aggressively as I vomited.

I’d ended up taking Mr. Jenkin’s offer. I decided it was better to stick with his toxic ass just until I got a better offer. Surprisingly, he wasn’t as much of an ass to me as he used to be. It was almost painful to admit Mr. Jenkins had suddenly become a good boss, further encouraging my suspicions that something was wrong. Whatever it was, I hoped it remained that way.

To take his nice boss act a step further, he’d allowed me to head home from work four hours earlier than my usual closing time since I got sick a week ago. He’d even suggested I could work from home if I wanted, but I’d refused. I didn’t want to take advantage of his niceness unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Are you alright?” Eva asked, her arms folded to her chest as she stared at me from the door frame.

---