Paint Me Saved ✓ Book 1

34. Being selfish takes strength

Leonardo

Growing up, all my friends had their list of favorites - favorite food, color, places to visit. Memories even. Atypical of them, my mother and I shared a love for favorite words.

Though my preference shifted from a simple 'Always' delivered by Severus Snape in Harry Potter to a 'Definitely' when Sofia agreed to my marriage proposal to now - Fake fiancé friends forever; throughout all these years, my mother's favorite word remained constant.

Precipice, her favored word had always piqued my interest. 

I wondered about those situations that led people to the precipices of their lives.

What could have they done differently to avoid such crossroads?

In the partially clouded month of August, while hurricane Erica was expected to wreak havoc in the state, yet another storm brewed in my life. The one created by my brother.

When I saw Zemira rush into her car in the parking lot, clutching onto her broken self - not skin and bones but of spirit, I felt a gnawing inside my stomach. I knew something grave had happened. Something that injured her soul and bled hope.

The seven-minute video from the security camera in my office felt like a lifetime movie. Helplessly, I watched those precious moments pass when I could have returned to the office sooner. Those few seconds when Antonio morphed into a monster, never to return to his human form.

That video ended, then replayed and all I could do was watch.

Flashes of red and black danced across my eyes, pinging my head with one instruction - revenge. My feet fired, dragging me into Antonio's room but every other part of my body remained numb.

The moment I entered his office, Antonio rushed to lock the door behind me. Paled by guilt, his head hung.

"Let's just talk first, Leo. She's lying," he said, his hands surrendered in the air. "Hear me out."

Lit with rage and vexed by his actions, my body vibrated and seeped his guilty confession into my pores. Every breathing moment he used in explaining, my clenched fists floated up. When he closed our distance, something inside me snapped.

"You bastard." I held his collar. "I wish you'd died the day you were born."

"Listen to me, Leo..."

Rage - the untamed horse galloped. I felt a prickly pain over my knuckles. 

The rest of the scenes blurred from my vision. Blinking back to my senses, I was greeted with the sight of Antonio bleeding profusely from his nose and cheekbone.

What did I do?

"You hit me, fucker," he groaned, wrapping his palms over his face, thick blood dripping through the gaps of his fingers. "You hit me for a woman."

"I hit you for the vile man you've turned into." I moved a step closer, watching his body tremble backwards. "You'd be dead by now, you pathetic scum, had it not been for our Mother."

I swung the door open and walked out, feeling the heat of everyone's gaze sliding off my back. Whispers floated, and mobile flashes blinded me as I entered the elevator.

Nothing mattered but one person.

I walked outside, watching Zemira still seated inside her car. I reached for her keys but she refused with a nod.

"Don't argue with me, Zem," I said, peeling my hand off the car's roof and towering over her in the driver's seat. "You're not in the right state to drive."