Chapter 5
Eddie saw what was happening and couldn't resist putting on a show.
He was about to plop himself down on the floor.
He cried out, "Oh, can you believe this?
"My own daughter won't even see her old man.
"I busted my ass raising her, and this is what I get in return."
At that moment, a woman in a business suit, looking like a supervisor, walked over.
She glanced at Eddie and checked the computer at reception.
Then she turned to Eddie and said, "Sir, are you looking for Rosie, who used to work in Design Department Three on the 17th floor of Building A?"
Eddie nodded eagerly. "Exactly, that's her."
The woman nodded, her tone calm. "Let me explain, Mr. Fisher. Rosie completed her resignation paperwork last Friday.
"She's no longer an employee here."
She said Rosie quit. Eddie's mind buzzed, suddenly going blank.
All the lines he'd rehearsed, all the emotions he'd built up, got stuck in his throat.
His ultimate trump card, the one he thought would give him leverage over Rosie, was useless before he got to use it.
Eddie stood there, frozen like an idiot, at a loss for what to do.
The security guard stepped forward. "Sir, she's not here anymore, so I have to ask you to leave."
Eddie was politely but miserably shown out of Evergreen Group's front door, looking like he'd lost his soul.
He stood amid the bustling city street, feeling like the whole world was mocking him.
Right then, a black Bentley glided silently into the VIP spot right in front of him and came to a stop.
The door opened.
A young man in a custom-tailored suit, exuding an air of authority, stepped out first.
Then, with a gentlemanly gesture, he walked around to the other side and opened the passenger door.
A slender leg in a silver high heel emerged gracefully from the car.
Then, someone Eddie recognized, yet seemed like a total stranger, stepped into his view.
It was Rosie.
She wore a champagne-colored dress that fit her perfectly, with flawless makeup to match.
She was glowing with confidence and elegance.
Gone was the girl in old T-shirts, quietly doing chores at home. This Rosie was a whole different person.
The man slipped his arm around her waist, leaning in to whisper something in her ear.
Rosie tilted her head back and flashed him a dazzling smile.
It was a smile Eddie had never seen before, which was genuine, radiant, and full of happiness.
Their gaze brushed lightly over Eddie, who stood at the entrance looking lost and defeated.
They didn't pause.
There wasn't a flicker of emotion.
To them, he was another nobody, someone irrelevant.
Then, arm in arm, they walked into that building, a place Eddie could only dream of entering.
Eddie stood frozen in place.
A cold chill ran up his spine, leaving him numb.
Suddenly, it hit him.
He'd always thought Rosie leaving home was like a fish out of water.
But he finally realized that he and that so-called family were nothing but a filthy, suffocating fish tank.
But Rosie was never a fish.
She was a dragon.
It wasn't that she'd left the water.
She'd shattered her cage and soared, unstoppable, into the sky.
When Eddie got home, he looked like a shell of himself, as if his soul had been sucked right out.
He told Tessa and Devon everything he'd seen at the entrance of Evergreen Group.
Tessa was left speechless for a long moment.
She was curious about that guy in the Bentley.
She wanted to know when Rosie started hanging out with someone that rich.
Rosie quit. She wondered how she was still able to walk right into that building.
All these questions kept spinning in Tessa's head, making her panic inside.
Devon's reaction was way more direct.
"A Bentley?" he blurted out.
That was what caught his attention first.
He asked, "Rosie's really hooked up with a rich guy?"
Then came a surge of jealousy and venom. "What an ungrateful girl.
"She's shacked up with some rich guy, living it up while she doesn't care if we live or die.
"She totally meant to do this. She must've been scheming from the start."
Eddie waved his hand, looking exhausted. "What's the point of talking about it now?
"She doesn't want anything to do with us anymore.
"She quit her job. We don't have anything to hold over her now."
All of them hit rock bottom, overwhelmed by a hopelessness they'd never known before.
Right then, Devon's phone rang.
It was his girlfriend, Willa Anderson.
When her name popped up on his phone, Devon instantly switched to his best puppy-dog face. "Hello, Willa."
On the other end, Willa's voice came through, sharp and totally fed up.
She snapped, "Devon, I'm asking you for the last time. When are you buying that house?
"And yesterday, I spotted a Hermès bag I really want. When are you going to buy it for me?"
Devon broke out in a cold sweat instantly.
He tried to explain, "Willa, please hear me out. Something happened at home, and money's really tight right now..."