Page 18 of Other Woman Drama (Content Advisory #4)

Sixteen

Once I see that you can’t spell, I lose all interest. What do you mean, you wont me?

— Silver’s secret thoughts

SILVER

I was on top of the world.

I’d singlehandedly fixed all of the hospital’s problems today by being a digital superhero and clearing the entire system of viruses.

I’d been praised a hero—though that was a bit of a stretch—and the IT team had gotten me a cookie cake for figuring it out.

I had a box of iced cookie perfection in one hand, and my bag in the other, when the call came in.

I grinned like a lunatic when my sister’s name flashed across my desk phone’s screen.

I didn’t wait to answer it.

I punched the button for the ringing line and placed the phone to my ear. “Aella.”

“Hey,” she hesitated. “Um, girl, what did you do to Webber?”

I frowned. “What do you mean what did I do?”

“He’s pissed as hell,” she whispered. “We’re at the clubhouse barbequing, and someone asked about you, and he shut them down so freakin’ fast that it was a bit scary.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I let my voice raise as I passed one of my favorite coffee shops, Hughey’s.

“Something happened,” she murmured. “He’s been such an asshole this entire barbeque. Try calling him and finding out. Maybe you’re unintentionally ignoring him.”

I snorted. “This is not on me.”

Then I’d told her about what had happened, ending with, “He never came over. Never called to apologize. Never reached out at all. Not even a text message.”

She blew out a breath. “Come over and fix this then.”

The problem with me going anywhere was…I was exhausted.

I didn’t think that I could drive for the hour it would take me to get to the clubhouse even if I wanted to.

“I can’t,” I admitted. “I didn’t sleep at all last night because I was thinking about Webber. And when I finally did get to snooze a little bit, work called me in. And I stayed well past my shift, and I’m now at over thirty hours with only about an hour of dozing shut-eye. I am exhausted.”

Too tired to fight it out with Webber, too.

But I would text him and ask him to call me.

Maybe that’d be my olive branch.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and borrowed one of the floor cell phones and did just that.

Me:

Hey, do you mind calling me? It’s Silver.

I put the phone back to my ear and reported, “I just texted him.”

Aella cursed. “He read it and then shoved the phone back into his pocket without replying.”

My stomach sank.

“I don’t know what I did wrong,” I admitted. “We were seriously good. He invited me over to his place. I was getting the pizza. The full pizza is still on my counter.”

“I don’t know, but I’ll ask around,” Aella offered.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as a headache started to form.

“Okay.” I blew out a breath. “Thanks, Sissy.”

“Love you, Silver,” she murmured, then hung up without waiting for my reply.

Not that she needed it.

She knew how much I loved her.

I walked up to my apartment, foregoing the elevators, and let myself in.

My entire stomach sank when I closed the door and spotted the white paper towel with angry letters slashed across it.

I slid the lock home and walked to the paper.

I then read Webber’s note and then reread it.

Well, that was my answer, wasn’t it?

I picked it up, and the absorbent material soaked my tears up.

Just when I was about to lose it completely, feeling the life that I’d wanted start to slowly slip away, there was a knock at the door.

A heavy and familiar one, letting me know exactly who was on the other side.

I opened the door to find my father standing on the other side.

He saw the note and the set of keys that had a particular keychain on them that belonged to the man standing in front of me, and he smiled.

It took me a few seconds to comprehend the smug look on his face, but I knew exactly what—and who—had been responsible for Webber and me having issues in half a breath.

“You did this, didn’t you?” I asked.

Webber had been fine yesterday. More than fine.

He’d been perfect.

And then we’d split up, and nothing.

Now, my father shows up at my door with a smile on his face that practically screamed ‘I won’ and I just knew.

It didn’t absolve what Webber had done—Jesus Christ, communication was important. Had he just told me that he needed time, that my dad was causing trouble, I’d have backed off. Let him figure it out.

But he hadn’t given me that option.

He’d gone straight for breaking my heart without an explanation, and that wasn’t something I could just forgive.

“Whatever are you talking about, daughter?” my father asked.

I gritted my teeth.

“What I’m talking about is that I was finally with someone, and happy. I was so happy, Dad. Then you had to ruin it because what? You don’t like him? You don’t like me happy? I seriously don’t know.”

“You were happy?” He laughed humorlessly. “You took my entire world away, Silver.”

I frowned. “What?”

“My wife!” he bellowed. “You took away my wife!”

I had no clue what he was talking about. “Dad, I didn’t take anyone away.”

I wasn’t ready for the explosion that followed that statement.

One second I was standing on my own two feet, staring at my dad.

Then I was on the ground, and my face was exploding in pain.

I was confused.

I was stunned.

And…my god. My dad had just punched me in the face.

I was dizzy, and I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.

I was lying on my back on the floor, my hand up to my face, and I was staring at the ceiling.

My left eye was blurred.

I couldn’t see out of it clearly.

My dad came to stand over me, and he was wearing that disgusted look that always made my insides crawl.

My dad had never been a physically violent man, but I could always tell that he’d had the capacity.

Whenever I saw this particular look, I knew not to push him.

But despite me not pushing him, he kicked me anyway.

I doubled over as the breath that I’d managed to barely catch wheezed out of my lungs.

“You took my Trini away,” he hissed. “You and that piece of filth sister of yours. I can’t do anything the easy way anymore, and that’s on you. But I’ll make you pay. I’ll make it my life’s mission to make sure that you’re not happy if I’m not happy.”

Then he was gone, leaving my door wide-ass open as he did.

My vision was blurry, but I still saw the drop of blood that landed on the white paper towel note, and thought it was fitting.

This day couldn’t have gone any worse…or so I thought.

That’s when Cadence Moran came inside my wide-open door and smiled.