Chapter One #2
The wind outside was surprisingly strong, enough to make it feel like she was being slapped on the cheek. There was also a safety cone on the side, and when Rosé saw her looking at it, the other girl sighed, saying, “We have problems with waterproofing.”
“That’s, um, unfortunate.”
“But other than that, this place is perfect, don’t you think?” Rosé tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s Eric’s favorite place.”
There it was again, Payton thought. It was almost as if Rosé was taunting her, but Payton simply nodded. “That’s a given.”
Rosé would soon learn Payton was untauntable. It might not be an actual word in the dictionary, but it was real to Payton. That was how she had learned to survive, when she got tired of all the crying and hurting, with all the cruel words thrown at her over the years.
“I love having coffee here in the morning.”
Payton kept smiling. “I can just imagine.” And it was rather easy to imagine, with all the photos Eric posted on social media. #coffee and #work were his favorite hashtags. But those photos would always make it clear that he was taking it from the private terrace of his corner office.
“Oh, don’t just imagine. You should take a closer look. I like how it makes me a little dizzy when I look down and see how far I am from the ground.”
“Um, actually...”
“Come on, don’t be a killjoy.”
Payton was startled when Rosé gave her a little push.
“I’m not good—”
The other girl gave her another push, a stronger one this time, and Payton’s stomach started cramping again.
“Just go and take a look.”
“Stop this—” Payton’s heart was pounding hard. Her whole life, she had always been the pushover type. It hurt to admit this, but it was time she stopped lying to herself about how weak she was.
“And if I don’t stop?”
Rosé shoved her hard this time.
Oh, that does it!
The moment the other girl tried shoving her again, Payton was ready, and so...she jumped to the side.
Because duh, she was thirty-one, not thirteen, and so it was never about engaging in conflicts—
“Can we just talk about this first?”
But instead, she would try to be mature about this, as women of her age should.
“Because we both know what this is about—”
Okaaay.
That actually had Rosé stopping and laughing.
“No, I doubt you do.”
And now, it was Payton’s turn to stop. Well, mentally that was, since those words seemed to imply like she didn’t have what it to take to face her problems head-on, and maybe...
“We both know this is about Eric.”
Maybe that was true for the old Payton, but not anymore.
“And that’s...that’s what I want to talk to you about. I...know about Eric’s money problems—”
“So what if you do?”
“I thought we could work something out. T-The three of us.”
Rosé’s lip curled. “How nice of you.”
“I just don’t want this to be...ugly. If Eric is really choosing you—”
Rosé threw her head back with a laugh, but when she looked at Payton again—
“The only thing that’s ugly here is you!”
Payton bit back a gasp. That tone. That look. And those words. She had never seen or heard anyone being this vicious toward her! Even Eric hadn’t been like this when he was killing her in cold blood—
“And this isn’t about Eric choosing me, you stupid hag!”
W-What did this girl just call her?
“This is about the right man choosing the wrong woman.”
There was no chance for Payton to answer, with Rosé suddenly and actually kicking her right in the stomach—
Ooooooow!
And with enough force to send Payton flying, her back hitting the railing—
Nooooo!
She felt something behind her give way at the impact.
Aaaaaaah!
And just like that, Payton was falling and dying.
Again.
She looked up to where Rosé was.
The girl was actually smiling down at her like a psychopath, and that pretty much confirmed it.
Eric was telling the truth, after all.
Payton had thought her husband had made it all up about Rosé. The girl seemed too young to be so criminally evil, but she was obviously wrong about that. Age had nothing to do with one’s sanity, and—
How very strange.
Rosé was making a phone call while watching Payton fall to her death, and it was really, really strange, with how Payton could hear the other girl’s voice so clearly.
“P-Please help!” How convincingly frantic Rosé sounded. “I just saw someone fall!”
Payton slowly closed her eyes.
This is it.
This is really it.
When I open my eyes, I’ll know if—
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in danger?”
Her eyes flew open, and oh, how her head hurt, with the way everything was spinning. But unlike before, she wasn’t absolutely clueless, and so she knew.
It was her funeral again.
Eric was being arrested.
And Niccolò...
Her heart ached as she saw his jaw clench. He looked as if...he wanted to be dead like her.
“And how...”
His gaze was even more haunted, his voice rawer.
“How did you know you were my heart?”
Payton bit her lip hard, but it just kept trembling. In all the years she had worked for him, not once had she ever been tempted to call him by his name. It just didn’t make sense, especially for someone like her who had worked at Todd & Tolstoy for five years.
For Payton, there should always be some kind of boundary between her and her employer. But with Niccolò now looking as if he wanted to be dead like her—
Oh, Niccolò.
When she had first him say those words...
Tu sei il mio cuore.
She truly hadn’t understood where he was coming from, but now...
No. No. No.
Oh, if only she could pretend she still didn’t know.
If only she could tell her boss...
If only...
But there was no chance for her to complete the thought.
The darkness wanted her back, and she had no power—no power at all—to resist it.