Finding Her Joy

Interruptions

*A/N- TW there is talks of violence in this one, but I think it should be okay because it's only for a second. Hopefully, anyway. I know where I'm going with this chapter and into the next, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it as much as the other ones. I stayed up longer than I usually do to write this one, so I'm thinking, that's the problem. Either way, I think you'll like it. Enjoy.

(MIA POV)
The day just seemed to drag on after Charlotte left the office. I checked up on all the children's files and billing info, I put in an order for more nappies and went over what was needed for Chef in the kitchen all before 1 pm just to try and keep my mind off her.

Roger kept blowing up my phone all morning, and all the messages were the same thing, "Did you solve our problem yet? Why aren't you answering? Do I need to give Mummy Dearest a call? What would your father think if he heard how awful you are?" Every time he mentioned my Mum, I could feel my anger start to overflow.

I couldn't lose my temper on him again because I was trying to pretend everything was fine and I was still on his side. Instead of telling him to go to hell, I said, "Already on it. We'll have results by the end of the week." He sent back a few more messages and then left the conversation. He was probably going off somewhere with Siobhan. I wonder if he treats her better than the rest of us.

Besides Reecey, Roger only mistreated the women in his life. He had this weird obsession with wanting to control them and belittle everything they did. The way he went about it made me think of him as a Venusfly trap.

He would make women feel this false sense of security by complimenting them or showering them with gifts. He would make promises of wanting to treat them better than anyone else had before. Once he had them right where he wanted, it was like a switch would flip in his head.

Slowly, he would start to alienate the women. He would take them from their friends. Shatter their confidence with little remarks. Things like they shouldn't eat so much, their face should always be covered in makeup, but not too much because otherwise they would be viewed as a whore. Things would escalate from there. Any time they did something he didn't approve of, he would throw things. If he thought they had disrespected him, he would hit them. Somehow, these women always stayed longer than they should've. Roger always had a way with apologies and would promise never to do it again. Until, he did. It was a vicious cycle and one that I had become far too familiar with.

Reece always got the worst of it because he would step in to protect his sister. Roger hated this more than anything. He saw Reece as weak because he was the complete opposite of his father. He tried to teach Reece from a young age that women needed to be treated like dogs and that they weren't as important in the world. With Reece being so tall and intimidating, Roger always thought he would follow in his footsteps. He hated that his son was more of the "gentle giant" type.

Seeing the way his father treated women always made Reecey feel ill. He saw the way his mother was treated for years, and he knew it was wrong. He wasn't going to allow his father to treat his sister the same way. He loved Autumn too much to let her end up like his mother.

I never knew who Reece hated more, his mother or his father. His father was awful, but his mother abandoned them knowing how bad Roger was. That was just another thing we never talked about, and I knew better than to try and bring it up. I'd never wanted to either because if we had to talk about his family, then we would also talk about mine. It's that weird part of healthy relationships where both people dump all their trauma on the other, and they work through their problems together. Gross.

That's what therapy is for. Not that I was going to do that either, though.

The end of the work day was close now, only 10 minutes before everyone could leave, and we could lock up. "Finally." I said to myself when the last child had been picked up.