From Jilted Assistant To Zillionaire Queen

evision cut through the suffocating darkne

ment broadcast showed a grand e

tuxedo that seemed to shine with an impossible wealth, a stark, sickening c

mile he used to give her when they shared

mile at Jasmine Stout, the h

e diamond ring onto her finger. The crow

es to her chest. Her eyes were bloodsh

coffee table. The screen lit up

ance was less t

as she swiped the screen open.

he screen, blessing Guillermo a

She pressed the number she

and was shaking so hard the plastic

ice told her the num

A wave of nausea hit

It hit the wall with a sharp crack, the scre

per calendar hung on a nail. Today'

r ten-year

stand up. Her

y glass liquor bottle rolled off the edge

heavily against the wall, and st

buzzed overhead. She

bruised the skin under her eyes. H

e sink. Her fingers closed around a

poured a handful of small

ucet. She shoved the enti

head back and

r throat, tearing at the dry

d down the wall until she

avy. The edges of her

he scripts she wrote for him in the middle of the night. T

heers from the television e

tened. Her hea

ce of the bathroom, it

ow. They injected a stabilizing serum into her failing veins, lifting her limp body from the grimy tiles. In her place, they lef

broke the quiet o

ed by the curb. Eleanor Si

avement in her designer heels,

topped at the apartment door. She pulled a spare key f

or swu

smell of deca

tep back, waving her manicur

f curses about bottom-f

eyes scanning the trash

oor sitting ajar. She walk

et out a

of the tiles. There was no sadness in Eleanor'

She pulled out her phone and dialed the nu

ss," Eleanor ordered, her voice like ice.

pair of oversized sunglasses from

pulled a tissue from her purse, and

tes, four men in b

vy body bag, stuffed Kayla's clothes, her notebooks, and her life into thick bla

out of the apartment. Her heels c

't look