(18+) RED (Complete)

Ch. 84: First aid kit

*One hour earlier*

I can't believe I got that job! It wasn't perfect of course, but it was close to Los Olivos, the payment was acceptable and my new boss was the sweetest person ever. Even though both my parents and auntie Dorothy had warned me about taking a job like that, I wanted to give it a try. I knew perfectly well that working with families in different kinds of crisis situations could be challenging, so I didn't expect anything else. I still wanted to help.

I had just sat down in the living room with a glass of soda and my favorite ice-cream, ready to binge watch some crappy sitcom until Michael came back. The remote was in my hand and my legs were curled up underneath a blanket, and I was sending random texts to Benjamin, telling him about my new job. He was probably even more excited than me.

A sound from the hall caught my attention. As far as I knew Michael didn't have any guests over, and both his maid and his chef left half an hour ago. The only ones there were the security team, and they came in to check on me once every hour in addition to patrolling the property and keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras. It had almost become a routine now. Utterly and completely insane if you ask me, but brutally necessary.

"Michael?" I asked, thinking it had to be him. Who else could it be? The place was a fort.

"Michael? Is that you?"

I got up and put the ice-cream on the table. There was that sound again, followed by silent footsteps that came to a halt. And when I turned around, my eyes fell upon someone who unfortunately was very familiar.

"Veronica?"

"Missed me?" she snickered, and stepped further into the room.

"Not really," I mumbled, and took a step back. The blood felt like ice in my veins, and my body reacted to everything in slow motion. "How'd you get in?"

"Oh, the way I always do. Those stupid security guards haven't found my secret escape through the fence. But I mean, I didn't expect them to either. I did a pretty good job camouflaging it."

She seemed disgustingly proud of herself and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I was just too scared to take my eyes off her to even blink.

"I'm impressed," I said dryly, and made sure she got the sarcasm. "But the door was locked."

She raised her hand so suddenly that I ducked, thinking that it was a gun. It wasn't. It was a key.

"I used to work here, duh. Until you came and ruined it all. But that's your thing, isn't it? To ruin everything?"

She didn't really wait for my reply. Her mind was obviously back to the night where Ryan's dad threatened to kill me, and it was clear that she had a happier memory of it than I did.

"That poor man... What happened to him, by the way?"

"Behind bars. And if you don't get out, I'll make sure you'll join him."

"Right," she dragged, and unlike me, she did roll her eyes to get the dramatic effect she obviously loved.

"What do you want, Veronica?" I snapped. I was getting angry now, and I wasn't sure how smart that was. Especially since I didn't know if she had any weapon.

"To get my old life back!"

"And how the hell are you gonna do that, when I didn't take it?" I yelled back. I was getting tired of this.

"But you did! We were going to get married and have babies, and I was going to live here and be with him..."

"You're delusional! Michael never had any interest in you like that. He said so himself!"