Echoes of the Past

Dominic's piercing, lethal gaze locked onto Chloe. The sheer weight of his stare left her trembling as she weakly attempted to feed his mounting suspicions. She took a nervous step back, struggling to maintain her fragile facade under his scrutiny.

"Yes, Audrey promised that she will be with Gideon if he breaks up with Valerie." Chloe nodded fast, making sure to confirm the calculated lie.

A dangerous frost settled deep in Dominic's dark eyes. In his mind, this calculated confirmation served as undeniable proof. Two years locked away in a prison cell had not changed Audrey's deceitful, promiscuous nature one bit.

Sensing his darkening mood, Chloe pressed her advantage. She needed to drive the wedge deeper by warning him against Audrey's ambiguous, filthy relationships.

"Dominic, Audrey still wants to hook up with you while keeping ties to my brother. Who knows if she has caught any sexually transmitted diseases given how licentious she is? Please, stay far away from her."

The vile slander backfired in a split second.

"Who are you to tell me to stay away from whoever?" Dominic retorted, his voice a low, terrifying growl.

Deep disgust radiated from him. He despised her use of such cheap, vulgar slander.

Chloe shifted tactics in a blink. Tears welled up in her eyes as she adopted a pitiful expression, playing the victim.

"Dominic, please do not misunderstand me. I only have your best interests at heart."

He saw straight through the cracks in her act.

"I know better than anyone what your true purpose is." Dominic turned his back on her and walked toward the heavy door. He threw a freezing warning over his shoulder. "Do not ever think about using your dirty, manipulative tricks on me again."

He strode out into the neon-lit club, leaving her drained of all color.

Chloe stood alone in the quiet room. Leaning heavy on her crutches, she glared down at her ruined left leg in ferocious, unhinged agony.

"Why can you not see all the sacrifices I have made for you, Dominic?" she asked the empty space through gritted teeth.

Hours later, back in the bleak confines of the staff dorm, Audrey leaned hollow against the cold door. Raising a trembling hand, she viciously rubbed her swollen, bleeding lip. Bitter tears slid down her cheeks, mingling sickeningly with the thick metallic taste of her own blood.

She stared blankly into the dim room. She knew she could not afford to mourn her shattered dignity right now. A mere six hours of sleep were all that stood between her and another agonizing, backbreaking shift scrubbing floors.

She dragged herself toward the narrow bed. A sudden, excruciating burning sensation consumed her stomach. She doubled over, clutching her abdomen as a familiar gastric flare-up hit her hard.

Penelope walked in and stopped dead in her tracks. Finding Audrey pale and severely hoarse, Penelope refused to let her suffer through the intense gastric flare-up alone.

"What is wrong with you?" Penelope rushed over to her side.

"It is nothing. Just a bad gastric flare-up." Audrey forced the words out, her voice barely a whisper.

"We are getting you some gastric pills right now. You cannot just suffer through this." Penelope grabbed her arm and pulled her up, insisting on escorting her out into the freezing night to a nearby 24-hour pharmacy.

The cold night air bit at Audrey's skin as they walked out of the bright pharmacy. She clutched the cheap medication in her hand.

"Drey, is it really you?"

A familiar, desperate voice froze Audrey dead in her tracks. Her lips trembled as she recognized the tone.

Arthur approached them under the flickering streetlights. Her older brother's face lit up with gleeful disbelief for a fleeting second. That joy rapidly melted into unconcealed, bloodshot distress as his eyes swept over her thin frame and filthy clothing.

Two years ago, the Vance family had callously sacrificed Audrey to the wolves to save their corporate skin. They locked Arthur in a room while he screamed and pleaded on her behalf.

"I will wait over by the corner," Penelope whispered, giving them space. Audrey gave a stiff nod.

"Why have you not come looking for me?" Arthur asked, his voice thick with overwhelming guilt.

Pain flashed in Audrey's eyes. She looked away from his pained stare.

"I just had not managed to do so yet."

She kept the darkest truth locked away in her chest. She had initially planned to take one last, secretive look at her family before saying goodbye to the world forever, but Dominic had forcefully interrupted her plan.

A biting autumn wind whipped down the street. Audrey shivered in the cold.

Arthur stripped off his expensive suit jacket. He stepped forward and draped the heavy fabric over her frail shoulders.

"What is with this awful outfit, Drey? Why won't you wear a proper coat if you are freezing? Has your taste dropped so low that you think this is a good look?" Arthur scolded her gently, assuming it was a bizarre fashion choice.

Audrey looked down at the frozen pavement. The heavy, suffocating emotions surged behind her eyes, but she swallowed them down. She stripped away whatever pride she had left.

"I am a cleaning lady now, Art. This is my uniform."

Arthur stared at her. He stood rendered stupefied with incredulity, unable to fathom how the beloved sister he had babied and spoiled so much was now scrubbing toilets for a living.