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Chapter 23

As she got in her car, she stared at the reporters, some of them leaving, others waiting on orders. She was going to call Mike, but her phone started vibrating. It was Matt. "Hello?"

"Hey, Alice, this is Matt."

"Hey, Matt. What's up?" She asked as she pulled out of the driveway.

"I'm calling because... this is hard. I'm sorry, but we have to let you go."

"What?" A knot was forming in the back of her throat.

"What happened with your father doesn't look good, and we have an image to maintain. I am so sorry. I know this is not your fault. But it's out of my hands. Whenever you can just come by and return your credentials, okay?"

"Okay and thank you for the opportunity." She said hanging up fighting the desire to cry. She quickly dialed Mike.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

"Oh, hey. Sorry I didn't call you back last night, but when I got in I had to check in then go see the doctors, and when I came back it was too late to call you, then this morning I went early to the hospital. But what happened? You sounded upset in your voicemail."

"Everything is crumbling down around me, Mike. I don't know what to do."

"Take a deep breath and tell me what happened."

"My dad's a pervert! Someone sent some pictures of him with prostitutes doing horrible things to the news station. He went live and admitted it and resigned from his position. My mom won't leave him and wants me to forgive him. I can't do that. What he did was a horrible thing and now on top of that I received a call from Matt, I got fired!"

"What? That's horrible. Why would they fired you though?"

"Matt says the firm has to maintain an image and with my father admitting he had multiple affairs that's bad for the firm. Not only did it break the family, it cost me my job. What am I going to do?"

"I wish I were there with you. I'm so sorry this came up and I had to leave."

"I wish you were here too. I miss you already. But you have to be there for your mom."

"I'll try to finish up here as soon as I can so I can be back with you."

"My mother slapped me, Mike. She's never done that before. And now I'm going to have to move back with them and pretend to be a happy family."

"My offer still stands. You can move in with me."

"That's sweet and tempting. So, enough about me. How is your mom?"

"Not too good. She's refusing to take her medications. She's acting frantic wanting to get discharged. My brother was there, but he was no help."

"How did that go?"

"Not good. I was always her favorite, so she would only listen to me. She ignores him when I'm there, so he gets furious. What are you doing right now?"

"On my way back to the dorms. I spent the night at my house last night, but had to get out of there."

"I understand. Did Patrice leave already?"

"Yeah, she was leaving early today. We said our goodbyes yesterday. I was visiting when the news came on tv about my father."

"Who would expose him like that?"

"It doesn't matter who did it, he shouldn't have done it in the first place. If I would've stayed with Landon and married him, that is how my life would've been. My mom said he used to sleep around before they got married, just like Landon used to do."

"You dodged a bullet. I would never do something like that. If I feel the need to cheat, that means there's something wrong in the relationship that is not working anymore, so why stay there?"

"I like your way of thinking." She said as she pulled into the parking lot. "Well, I'm here."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

She got out of the car and walked to the dorm. As she opened the door, she saw Patrice's side of the room completely empty. It hit her right then and there how alone she was. Her world was crumbling down and she had no one, only Mike, but he was miles away. She fell on her knees and started crying.