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“Where is he?”
“Mr. Conti has decided to take his annual leave early.” He picks up an envelope and holds it out. “He also asked me to ensure you get this.”
As I’m reaching for it my phone vibrates. It’s Laurie. I reject the call. I don’t have time right now.
“What is it?” I ask, weighing the manila envelope in my hands.
“Your severance packet.”
“My what?” I gasp, letting my lips part. My heart just burst, shooting sharp fragments through my veins.
“He is terminating your contract, effective immediately.”
“WHAT?” I yell, ripping a hand through my hair, forgetting about my neat bun. “He’s firing me? Do you have his contact number?”
“I was informed not to give it to you.”
“Well, then I suggest you fucking call him yourself and say I am not being fired. I will sue for unfair dismissal.”
He hesitates, looking me up and down, measuring whether I’m a worthy opponent. Oh I am. If Ezra thinks he can get rid of me this easily he has another thing coming.
I just need to speak to him.
He picks up the phone and I watch him dial while burning the number to memory.
His eyes linger on me, brown and uncomfortable. I bet he wishes he never took this job.
“Mr. Conti?” he asks, still watching me as though I’m ready to strike. “She’s here…” There’s a pause. “She’s refusing to accept it, claiming she will claim unfair dismissal and sue.” There’s another pause. “I will tell her, sir.” He hangs up the phone and looks at my bag. “He’s going to call you now.”
Thank God. Maybe I can convince him.
My phone vibrates. I grasp it and put it to my ear.
“Can you give me the office?” I ask and he moves to the door, taking his coffee with him.
“Hey,” Ezra breathes, sounding… different.
“What the hell, Ezra?” I choke, clicking my sore fingers and pacing back and forth. “You’re just dumping and firing me? What did I do?”
“Nothing,” he implores, his tone stronger than before, “you did nothing. I swear. You’re perfect in every way.”
“Then why have you done this? Have you gone back to her? Is that… I just… I’m so confused.” Tears burn trails down my cheeks.
“I had hoped you’d be so mad at me just vanishing you wouldn’t want to talk, and you’d just leave without needing to know.”
Is he insane? “What? Needing to know what?”
He lets out a staggered breath. “Just take the severance money, exit with your shining reference, and find happiness.”
“You make me happy,” I whisper, letting out a sob. “I love you. I want you. I don’t want anybody else. What happened to starting a family and being together? We were so close…”
“I know,” he breathes, sounding as devastated as I am. “I know.”
“Please,” I beg, “don’t do this to me. To us.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“Is it Maria? Did you not get joint custody? Because we can wait. I’ll wait. There’s no rush for us to be together. We can—”
“She’s pregnant.”
If there were ever words spoken that could tear my world apart, those would be the ones.
“Ezra,” I say, heartbroken at the sound of his anguish.
“She’s pregnant,” he repeats, sounding angry and desperate for something though I don’t know what.
I’m going to vomit. I know what he’s saying. I know who he’s saying it about, but I ask anyway. “Who?”
I guess I just need clarity. I just need to hear it exactly from him.
He throws something and it shatters like my heart did this morning. “Elizabeth.”
Sitting because I feel too weak to stand, I ask, “It’s yours?”
“Apparently so.”
“How can you be so sure? You said you didn’t sleep with her for two weeks before you broke up.” I’m shaking my head, my lips are parted, I just can’t believe this is happening. I don’t want to believe it.
He sounds so anguished and broken, like he doesn’t want this. “She’s three months pregnant. She didn’t want to tell me because she didn’t want it to be the only reason I went back to her.”
So much pain. I can’t handle this amount of pain.
“No,” I breathe, shaking my head and pressing my hand to my chest. “No. No. No. You… you begged me to stay. You told me to stay. You… you convinced me. I stayed. I gave it all up for you.”
This is my karma. I knew it was too perfect. I knew the fates would conspire against us in the end.
“Are you going back to her?”
His words are clipped, bitten out. I don’t know if he’s mad at me or just the situation in general, but it hurts that he’s taking this tone with me when I’m the one he has broken. “She is pregnant, what would you have me do?”
“Be a father and not her husband.”
“I would miss everything.”
I understand his need to be there for his unborn child, but I just can’t stomach this. I can’t lose him. I’m selfish but I love him so much. I can’t comprehend this.
