His Emancipator🖤 [His Duet #1]

CHAPTER TWO

I lift the weights for the umpteenth time, albeit ignoring the protests of my muscles. I needed an out and an unoccupied gym seemed the best solution.

I pay no heed to the beads of sweat cascading down my face and abs. At the moment, breathing is a secondary need. What I want is to kill the gnawing pain that eats at my life.

Whoever said live one day at a time was impractical because they have no idea how much it hurts to live all my days in every day. My life has become a blueprint of crippling affliction. An embroidery of ineptitude.

After a sore fifteen minutes, I decide to take the much needed break. I pick my phone from the bench and begin to scroll through the texts which have now worsened.

My mind drifts back to the untouched card that has been sitting in my wallet since Monday. Maybe she could help. Truthfully, she's the only person who's shown interest in helping me. I should've known Roach was always going to stall with my case. If the rumors about his bad work ethics are anything to go by, then I don't stand a chance against my perpetrators.

She might be my only shot at keeping my family safe. Because the only way I'll be liberated is if they're liberated. And when all hell breaks loose, I want them to be as far away from the fire as possible.

With my mind made up, I take the elevator back to the two-bedroom apartment. The house is eerily quiet which must mean Madison is out. I march past her room to mine.

After taking a quick shower in the en suite bathroom, I rummage my wallet for the card. I dial the number on it and she picks after the second ring.

"Hello?" Her voice is skeptical.

I clear my throat. "Hi Zuri?" I use her middle name.

"This is she."

"It's Darelle. We met outside Roach's office."

She pauses for a moment as if trying to remember. "Hi. What's up?"

"Can we meet?" I ask. I'm not that naïve to assume I'm not being monitored over the phone. Because with him, everything is possible.

"Tomorrow eleven sound good for you?"

"Yeah. The park sound good for you?"

She chuckles at my poor attempt at humor. "See you tomorrow stranger."

Through the large windows, I stare as the golden fingers of the sun casts a rosy hue across the clear sky. If only the weather was a reflection of how I feel.

After dressing, I descend downstairs to find Madison at the breakfast bar. She stands tall in her five inch heels dressed in a red bandage dress. Her peculiarly, green eyes pierce at me. A reminder of the cruel person that harbors them. I wish I could describe them as a force of nature.