Her Fire

01 ~ The Last Straw

A gorgeous brunette wearing stilettos and a form-fitting black dress slides gracefully inside a parked luxury car in front of her house.

As the driver closes the door and begins to drive away, she gives the handsome man waiting for her inside a million-dollar smile and whispers in a sensuous voice. “Well, well… don’t you look dashing?”

The blond man grins, his eyes hazy with desire as he looks at her from head to toe. “I may be starting my dinner early… as in right now…” He starts kissing her long neck where a strand of pearls nestles elegantly.

She laughs. “At least offer me something to drink first, Mark.”

“Tease.” He groans, adjusting his pants before turning to get their drinks.

She licks her tongue provocatively. “You know I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Oh baby, I know you will.” He hands her a glass of pink champagne, her favorite, unable to stop himself from caressing her thigh, intentionally exposed from the high slit on one side of the dress.

“Cheers!” She moans at the sweet taste. “So, where are you taking me today?” She asks excitedly, glancing at the road outside, trying to guess the direction where they’re heading.

He laughs. “You know that fancy new restaurant at the top of—”

Her phone suddenly pings notification after notification as voice messages begin to flood in.

She frowns. “Who could it be… oh!” She pales and almost drops her champagne flute when she reads the name of the sender.

“What? Who is it?”

She blinks, furiously trying to calm herself. She knew what she was getting into when she started this affair but the flutters in her stomach still bother her.

She swallows as she puts the phone on the loudspeaker and plays the audio.

"Hey, Jane? I'm Deirdre…Mark's… Well, you know who I am.”

The man beside turns pale as well and he tries to grab her phone but she slaps his hand and glares at him.

“I want to hear what she has to say,” she tells him firmly and Mark groans, cursing the other woman.

“Listen, I'm not looking for a fight, I just wanted to… say a few things.”

“Come on, Jane, just ignore her… don’t let her ruin our night—”

“I said, I want to listen!” She snaps and he sighs, turning away, sulking, like a sullen child.

Jane presses the play button again.

“Um, I saw your chats the other day… and um, I was just… concerned, I guess, because… you see, his words were so… familiar… He used to say the same to me… and I… I guess all I can say is… wow.” The woman talking on the audio takes a deep breath. “I mean… Wow… I admit I did not see that coming.”

Jane snorts. For someone supposedly so smart, having built a business empire from scratch and is now one of the thriving young entrepreneurs in the world, she can’t believe the woman can still be so naive. Mark is handsome and a born flirt. And Deirdre was often busy building her fortune.

“Anyway…I guess you're wondering why I called…or, left a message…I wasn’t sure if you were going to take my call and frankly, I don’t really want to hear your voice. But then again, I suppose you're expecting this confrontation, perhaps later rather than sooner but uhm… maybe it's hardly surprising since you've known all along that he's already with someone… and from what I've read, it doesn't seem to bother you so… I'm just going to cut to the chase.” The woman clears her throat. “You see, 'your sweet pie'...used to promise me the world too. Before we got where we are now, we were… barely making ends meet, armed only with our dreams. But I thought he really loved me… and that made me brave… so I worked my a$$ off day and night and made those dreams come true.”

Mark sneers. “What does she want, an applause!? She was never around anymore.”

Jane rolls her eyes at his sorry attempt to save face, being arrogant and angry, rather than ashamed and guilty.

Typical narcissist.

She shushes him and plays the next vocal message to listen, intrigued and rather fascinated at how the woman on the other side seems to be handling the situation. For a long time, Mark has always told her that Deirdre is quiet and boring.

Well, tonight, quiet-and-boring is proving him wrong.

“Oh, I saw that he bought you expensive gifts and took you to exclusive places…I was impressed too, actually… all those romantic gestures…didn't know he had it in him, to be honest… I think the most spontaneous I ever got was a bunch of wildflowers he picked on the side of the road the day after Valentine's day.” She chuckles dryly.

Mark huffs, looking ruffled and offended. “She said she liked it! That it’s better and more romantic than those from the shop!”

“Anyway, he probably forgot to tell you… the car you're riding with him tonight, it's mine. I bought it for him as a surprise so it's registered in my name. The gifts and out of town dates were paid with my money too, not that I knew about them…the promises of a luxurious and glamorous life?” Deirdre laughs quietly. “I've heard them before, don't keep your hopes up. I hope for your sake he's really good in bed as you told him because I gotta tell you…I always had to… self-serve afterwards. There's only so much fake orgasm I can do to soothe his ego. Oh, sorry, I'm getting distracted.”

While Mark lashes out about how frigid Deirdre is and how s€x with her is so unsatisfying, Jane tunes him out and presses the next audio.

“See, what I really want to tell you is that I thought I knew him. I thought he was the one. I thought… destiny couldn't possibly f**k up and fail me again. I am a good person, I never hurt anybody… I work hard and respect other people. Well, that was naive of me. Being good to others doesn't always guarantee the world will return the favor. So… I've thought about this really hard because this time I don't want to do anything stupid like shacking up with a charming man with empty pockets and even emptier promises. And I have decided that no, I don't want him anymore. You said you love him, you claimed that many times so… He's all yours.”Well, that’s mighty generous of her. Jane thought wryly, already dreading the next messages but unable to stop listening. It’s like one of those things…an accident happening in slow-motion you can’t help but watch.

Deirdre clears her throat, her voice remaining calm and seemingly detached, but Jane knows better. Jane can tell the woman is furious and has reached her limit. It’s over. There's no more getting her back.

God, she hopes Mark has a backup plan! She'd barely started to bleed him dry… and being this physically perfect is expensive. Maintaining her lifestyle is not easy and Jane's not getting any younger.

She has been hoping for an early retirement from working a nine to five job and Mark had seemed the perfect stepping stone to that. So full of himself he doesn't even realize he's being manipulated. Although, as of that moment, Jane is starting to doubt her own ability to see through a person as it is revealed how much Mark has lied to her too. She had thought it was going to be easy.

“I know you're together right now, I followed him and watched him pick you up, just a few cars away. I have his suitcases in my trunk, I'm leaving them at your door right now. I hope you can make him a better person than I was able to. I'm sure you'll enjoy him, he's free now. Thank god I wasn't marriage material. You seem to be the one, since he was willing to throw away years of memories, of everything I've done for us… to get in your bed. Someday, I'd like to learn how to have that kind of magical pvssy. Yeah, I read about that. That was impressive, by the way. Anyway, maybe I'll just find a better man. Or I will just get myself one of those s*x dolls that look so authentic—might as well get my money's worth.” Deirdre laughs again. “Oh, and before I forget, just one more thing…”

With trembling hands, Jane presses the next audio.

Deirdre has been sending bits and pieces of audio messages on purpose. It’s more dramatic and she’s making her work her way from one ugly message to an even worse one.

“You are fired, so don't even bother coming back to the office tomorrow. I bought your company this afternoon, paid a nice sum too, and one of the conditions I set was to make sure you don't get to enjoy anything I own anymore. It's petty, I know. But a girl's gotta take small pleasures where she can, surely you can understand that? So you see, it's a new start for both of you, isn't that nice? A new beginning together, just like he promises you as soon as he leaves me. Just as he had promised me before too. Now he's just as penniless, bearing no gifts and oh, I doubt he can afford that trip to the Maldives this summer anymore so… Good luck and…please tell him…"

As Mark continues to be an angry ass blaming Deirdre for every single thing, Jane stares at the last unopened audio message, dreading to hear more but unable to stop listening and knowing the full damage that the woman has done.

She presses play.

"Please tell him…the driver he hired to drive you tonight has been paid, the poor man has nothing to do with any of this and there’s no need for him to suffer… But do tell Mark his cards are useless now... so you might actually need to pay for dinner. I hope you brought a card in that micro purse you were carrying, but judging from its ridiculous size, I bet it’s as empty as his promises. Okay, bye."