Page 46 of Tiebreaker

Poor Toby. I need to give him some shrimp or something; some kind of reward for the trauma he just experienced. And I need to get him out of the tower. It's not safe for him here. It's in this moment that I realize if it's not even safe for a little helpless cat, it's not safe for me either. But I can't leave, and Toby can.

I reach for my phone. There's gotta be someone who can help me.

Eighteen

Olivia

The girlin the mirror is pale and thin. And she looks lost. And to me, scared and alone. I spent the night hugging Toby tight, curled under the covers with him. I had almost lost him yesterday.

I don't think Everett, really, would have done it, but it sure felt like it. If he had squirmed the wrong way out of Everett's arms, he could have fallen. I nearly lost him. And now I was going to give him up on purpose.

There's an animal sanctuary that takes pets with a $2,000 donation. It's a lifetime of living in a cat sanctuary with volunteers petting him, and good food, and lots of space, and an enclosure outside that he can play in. My eyes are wet when I think about giving him up, but I can't keep anything here in the tower that's precious to me.

It's not safe.

What does that say about my own sense of self-worth? I don't know. But my cat is more important than my own safety.

This is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. And I've done a lot of hard things. Saying goodbye to my mom, realizing that I was all alone in this world, coming here and finding out I had a father who cared enough to put me into this situation.

I'm not mad at him. I don't think he could have foreseen the true evil that lurks in these halls. It's like something is poisoning everyone who is in connection with this building, this business. I don't understand it. It's just one of those things, I guess.

Once Toby is safe, and the girl from the shelter should be here pretty soon to pick him up, then I'm going to go write to Everett and tell him I'm not signing anything over to him. I'm not going to vote with him and I'm not going to let him fuck over Vince and Kai.

I need to make sure that they're protected, too, from his evil, as much as Vince is always judging me and Kai seems to treat me like I'm a weird sex with benefits friend. None of that matters. I can't let Everett get what he wants.

My cell phone buzzes and it's the front desk downstairs. My heart skips a beat in my chest. They must be here from the charity.

"All right, Toby," I say to him, picking him up gently, giving him one final kiss on this fuzzy little head. My eyes are wet with tears as I tack him inside his little crate.

"You're going to go on a big adventure," I promise him, "far away, where nothing can hurt you."

As I take the elevator down, my chest is growing tighter and it feels like a part of me is dying. But I have to do this. It's the only thing that makes sense; the only solution

The lobby is large and cavernous, bigger than I remember it being despite the years I've worked here. But I see her standing there by the security desk, waiting for me.

"Hi," I say. "Avril?" I ask.

She nods, "You must be Olivia. And this is Toby?" She bends down to look into his cat carrier and smiles. "Oh, he's sweet."

"I made the donation last night," I say.

"Yeah, I noticed. I have a credit card receipt for you."

I shake my head, "I don't need it. Thank you."

She smiles, "All right. Well, do you want to say goodbye?"

My breath catches in my throat.

"I already have," I say. I hand her the crate.

She nods.

"Well, thanks so much,” she says. “We'll send you updates."

I choke up and nod, not able to say anything else. I stand there until she disappears out the front door, Toby's plaintive crying meows disappearing with her.

"Here," says the security guard and passes me a tissue. I wipe away the tears that have been silently dripping down my face.

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