Annabella didn't look back as she walked toward the elevator bank, but the metal doors slid open before she could press the button.
Marge Kowalski stepped out of the elevator. She was flanked by two massive men in dark suits. Marge's eyes locked onto Annabella, her face twisting into a mask of pure venom.
Marge stepped forward, blocking the narrow hallway. "I heard what you said in there," Marge hissed, her voice trembling with rage. "You cursed Donie to die. You have absolutely zero class."
Annabella crossed her arms over her chest. She let out a dry, mocking laugh. "Were you pressing your ear against the door, Marge? Or did you just wait out here until you needed to play the attack dog?"
Marge's face flushed a deep, angry red. She smoothed the fabric of her skirt with trembling hands. She looked at the two bodyguards. "Take her down to the lab. She is going to give blood right now."
The two men stepped forward. They moved like a solid wall of muscle, closing in on Annabella, their sheer size meant to terrify her into submission.
Annabella didn't flinch. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She unlocked the screen and held her thumb directly over the 9-1-1 dial button.
"Take one more step," Annabella said, her voice dead calm. "I will call the police and press charges for false imprisonment and assault. Let's see how the Kowalski stock price handles that headline."
The bodyguards hesitated, looking back at Marge for direction.
Marge gritted her teeth. She realized physical force wouldn't work. She shifted her strategy, raising her chin to look down at Annabella.
"If you walk out of this hospital without donating that blood," Marge threatened, her voice dripping with malice, "I will make sure you never work in New York again. I will call every managing partner in this city. I will blacklist you. Without the Kowalski name protecting you, you are nothing but a cheap paralegal."
Annabella looked at Marge's twisted, ugly face. Suddenly, everything made sense. Ethan's arrogance, his cruelty, his absolute belief that he owned people-he got it all from his mother.
Annabella locked her knees, standing tall. "I already submitted my resignation to HR. I don't want your protection."
She took a step closer to Marge. "I would rather hand out flyers on the street than eat another meal paid for by your family. I am done taking your shit."
The heavy door of Room 401 swung open. Ethan stepped out into the hallway, his eyebrows pulled together in frustration.
He caught the tail end of the conversation. He heard Annabella confirm her resignation out loud. He froze in his tracks. His jaw tightened, and he rubbed his left chest.
Marge saw her son and immediately changed her posture. She dropped her shoulders, playing the victim. "Ethan, look at her. She is being completely unreasonable. She refuses to help Donie."
Ethan looked at Annabella. His eyes were a storm of conflicting emotions. But he didn't say a word. He didn't tell his bodyguards to back off. He didn't tell his mother to stop threatening her career.
He stood there in silence, waiting for the pressure to break Annabella.
Annabella looked at Ethan's silent face. The very last ember of hope inside her chest sizzled and died, turning into cold ash.
She let out a soft, breathy laugh. "Congratulations, Ethan," she said, her voice hollow. "You don't have to choose between me and your precious childhood friend anymore. You win."
Inside the hospital room, a loud crash shattered the tension. The sound of glass breaking against the floor was followed by Donie crying out, "Ow! Ethan, it hurts!"
It was the cheapest, most pathetic trick in the book.
But Ethan reacted instantly. He spun around and sprinted back into the hospital room, abandoning Annabella and his mother in the hallway without a second thought.
Marge smiled. It was a cold, victorious smirk. She looked at Annabella, proving that her son would always choose Donie.
Annabella didn't even look at Marge. She reached out and pressed the down button for the elevator. Her face was completely blank.
The doors slid open. She stepped inside. She turned around to face the hallway, looking at Marge as if the older woman were a piece of trash rotting on the floor.
The metal doors slid shut, cutting off the sight of the Kowalski family forever.
As the elevator dropped, Annabella felt a physical weight lift off her chest. The crushing gravity of the last five years was gone.
She walked out of the hospital lobby and into the cool evening air. She took a deep breath. For the first time in five years, her lungs filled completely.
She walked toward the underground parking garage, ready to face her own life.
