Please, God.
“I heard my brother finally kicked you to the curb. Now I don’t have to deal with your sticky fingers dipping into the petty cash anymore.”
I frown at her, completely thrown for a loop. “What?”
“You have stolen more than three thousand dollars from petty cash. Did you think I wouldn’t keep tally and just forget about it?”
The words slam so hard into me that my pulse stumbles before picking up fast.
When I shake my head, she snaps, “Don’t play stupid with me. Did you know Austin was going to finally drop you for Amanda and you decided to clean out the petty cash box yesterday?”
“No.” My voice comes out strained and uneven. “The last time I checked, there was twenty dollars in the box.”
Heather lets out a sharp, humorless chuckle. “I placed five hundred dollars in it, and when I checked yesterday afternoon it was all gone.”
I shake my head again as waves of horror crash over me. “No, there was only twenty dollars left.”
When she keeps going, her voice gets even sharper and crueler with every word. “You know what your problem is? You drift through life expecting everyone else to take care of your worthless ass.”
Do not lose your shit. You need the money!
My stomach twists violently. “That’s not true.”
“Really?” Heather lets out another chuckle. “Because from where I’m standing, you’ve spent years leaching off my family.”
The word hits like a slap across the face. “I have never leached off anyone.”
If anything, they took advantage of me!
“My brother let you live with him while you barely contributed anything.”
Disbelief crashes through me because every paycheck I got disappeared into groceries, utilities, and all the other bills. I was the only one keeping the house clean.
“I did everything for your ungrateful, cheating brother,” I snap, my anger overriding my survival instincts.
Heather rolls her eyes like I’m pathetic. “Please. Austin’s been miserable for months, but he felt sorry for you until Amanda and I sat him down and convinced him to cut ties with you.”
Pain slices straight through my chest, knowing they laughed behind my back while they plotted everything.
Heather grabs a file off her desk and throws it at me. Before I can catch it, the papers spill to the floor. “Your salary’s being withheld to cover everything you’ve stolen from petty cash. I have footage showing only you handled the box and will turn it over to the police if you cause a scene.” The corner of her mouth lifts higher. “That includes the security footage of you breaking into the office around one a.m. this morning to live here like a squatter after I fired you yesterday.”
My ears start ringing as the final blow to my already shitty life knocks me a step backward. My voice is hoarse as I whisper, “You can’t do that.”
“I absolutely can.” With the cruel smirk still on her face, she steps around her desk and gives me a daring look. “Who do you think the cops are going to believe, my family and me or little ol’ you?”
“I worked for my paycheck.” Panic claws violently up my throat. “I need that money. Just give it to me, and I’ll leave without causing any trouble.”
Heather’s expression turns ice cold until she looks at me like I’m nothing but a cockroach she’d love to squash beneath her high heels. “You won’t get another cent out of me. You are not my problem any longer.”
For a second, all I hear is my own breathing as reality closes around me so tightly it feels suffocating.
I have nowhere to go.
No paycheck.
No place to stay.
No way out.