3.
1307 Words
She saved Bret Lawson’s deals, rewrote his proposals, polished his bullshit speeches, hid his failures, and rebranded his stupidity into brilliance. She was the ghostwriter behind his entire success...while he enjoyed the spotlight and treated her like a decorative shadow.
And for what? To be replaced by a secretary who couldn’t spell “entrepreneur”?
Regina’s legs buckled.
She collapsed to her knees on the polished floor...letting out a scream so raw it tore through the entire office like a blade.
Her voice echoed across the walls, shattering whatever dignity she had left. Employees poked their heads out of cubicles. Whispers exploded instantly, spreading like wildfire.
“Is that Mrs. Lawson?”
“What happened to her?”
“She looks… destroyed.”
“Did Bret do something?”
Destroyed didn’t even begin to describe it.
Regina didn’t care who stared. She didn’t care who judged. She didn’t care whose eyes widened in horror or pity or gossip-hungry excitement. Her world had ended five minutes ago.
Everyone else was just watching the ashes fall.
Security rushed toward her...two tall men in black uniforms, confusion quickly shifting into frustration.
“Ma’am, you’re causing a disturbance,” one said stiffly.
A disturbance in the company she practically built from the shadows. The company that would be bankrupt if she hadn’t stepped in countless times.
When one of the guards reached out to touch her arm, Regina jerked away and hissed like a wounded animal.
“Don’t f*****g touch me!”
Her voice cracked...rage an heartbreak. The guards recoiled, taken aback.
People gathered around, forming a circle of silent judgment.
Regina snapped. “Why the hell are you all staring?! Watching someone crash out is interesting until you’re in their f*****g shoes.” she screamed at the cluster of employees. Her voice bounced off every corner of the marble hallway. “Go back to your worthless jobs instead of watching me with fake concern!”
Gasps.
Whispers.
Eyes widening.
She didn’t stop.
“And YOU!” She pointed randomly at one of Bret’s junior staff...poor girl nearly fainted. “Tell your precious CEO that he can rot in his damn office with that slut he’s f*****g! Tell him Regina is DONE cleaning up his s**t!”
Her voice cracked again and her chest heaved painfully.
The guards closed in once more. “Ma’am, please...”
“I SAID don’t touch me!” Regina shouted, swatting their arms away. “Call Bret. Call that b***h on his desk. Call EVERYONE. I don’t give a damn anymore!”
Regina staggered to her feet, shoulders slumped, mascara streaking down her cheeks like black scars.
She pushed through the circle of onlookers and stumbled out of the office building, barely holding herself together. The sunlight outside felt like an insult...too bright, too normal, too indifferent.
Her hands shook violently as she wiped her tears, but they kept coming anyway. Her vision blurred. Cars honked distantly. People passed by without caring.
Regina’s fingers trembled so violently she almost dropped her phone. Her vision was still blurry, clogged with tears that refused to stop falling.
Just then her phone rang.
The caller ID flashed: " Mother-In-Law".
Even the damn emoji mocked her.
She swallowed hard and answered.
Before Regina could even breathe, the voice on the other end exploded like a hurricane of venom.
“I CAN SEE YOU ROLLING YOUR EYES AT ME!”
Regina froze.
“What...?”
Then she saw it.
One of the cars parked at the curb had its window rolled halfway down. Inside sat her mother-in-law, lips painted blood-red like she bit into freshly killed prey, smirking like the devil’s secretary.
“Will you get in, you stick of poverty?” the older woman barked.
The words hit Regina like a slap...but she’d heard them before. A thousand times.
Gold-digger.
Leech.
Stick of poverty.
Her mother-in-law made sure to remind her daily that Regina came from nothing.
Regina wanted to walk away. God, she wanted to walk far, far away. But a tiny flicker of desperate hope clenched her lungs.
Maybe Bret’s mother finally decided to return the loan she stole from Regina weeks ago.
Maybe her mother-in-law regretted snatching the money meant for Regina’s sick mother.
Maybe...just maybe...there was something humane left in her.
So Regina forced a brittle smile and approached the car.
She opened the door, and before she could settle in her seat, WHACK!
A rolled-up magazine smacked her straight across the head.
“HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU,” her mother-in-law shrieked, hitting her again, “THAT A WOMAN’S WORLD IS IN HER HUSBAND’S KITCHEN?! YOU USELESS THING!”
Regina’s skull rang with pain. The magazine came down again...
But this time, Regina caught it mid-swing.
Her mother-in-law froze...shocked.
Regina had never grabbed her hand before. Never stopped an insult, never stood tall.
The older woman’s eyes narrowed like a viper preparing to strike.
“You’ve got some guts now?” she hissed. “It’s like you’ve forgotten who I am. I am the mother of your husband...”
“And why,” Regina cut in sharply, voice trembling with rage, “does YOUR daughter get to live in luxury? Why the f**k is she a renowned pop artist, dancing half-naked on the internet, adored across the world...when you locked me in a kitchen like a captive?”
Her mother-in-law blinked.
Actually blinked.
She wasn’t used to Regina talking back.
Regina didn’t stop.
“You think I’m useless?” she snarled, her voice cracking with fresh grief. “You think I don’t know how you manipulated me into becoming a shadow? You think I’m blind to the way you broke me down piece by piece until I was too scared to remember I had dreams?”
Tears burst from her eyes, hot and furious.
“Don’t you f*****g know I’m someone’s daughter too? Someone who raised me with love? Someone who taught me to dream big?” Regina screamed. “And I threw all that away for a man and a family who saw me as NOTHING!”
Her mother-in-law gasped, clutching her chest dramatically, but Regina kept going...like something feral had finally clawed its way out of her ribcage.
“You stole my loan money,” Regina spat, grabbing the older woman by her coat. “Money for my mother’s treatment. What kind of monster steals from their own daughter-in-law? What kind of SICK family did I marry into?!”
Her mother-in-law whined in mock pain.
Regina didn’t care.
“You ruined my life. You destroyed my dreams. You made me a slave in that f*****g house,” Regina sobbed. “And now the bank won’t lend me money anymore because you blacklisted me! WHAT KIND OF WOMAN ARE YOU?!”
Her mother-in-law shrieked back, slapping Regina hard across the face.
“GET OUT!” she screamed hysterically. “GET OUT OF MY CAR, YOU CRAZED THING!”
Regina went still.
Completely still.
She touched her cheek, feeling the sting burn.
Then she slowly opened the car door and stepped out.
Her eyes were wild...yet eerily calm.
Her voice was cold enough to freeze hell.
“I don’t believe in karma,” she said, staring at her mother-in-law with a smile that shouldn’t have existed on a broken woman’s face. “But I might be your family’s karma.”
The older woman’s bravado cracked instantly. Her lips trembled.
“You’re… you’re going nuts,” she stammered. Fear creeping up her spine. “Regina, I...”
Regina leaned forward, her smirk widening into something unholy.
“Send my regards to Bret,” she whispered.
The mother-in-law’s eyes widened.
Regina tapped the roof of the car once...slow, controlled...and stepped away.
Her mother-in-law slammed the accelerator like the devil himself was chasing her. Tires screeched, smoke rising as the engine roared in panic.
- Writer
