FALLEN (NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

46.

"Please Simon, look after her.  Ronnie doesn't deserve this. Steeve has something against me. I get I left him and he must feel resentful, but that's not a reason to take his frustrations out on my family and friends." I let out trying to manage the panic I have inside of me to know Steeve would go to such extreme lengths. "Please, there must be something you can do as a police officer."

"You know I would do anything for you, sister, but if she doesn't press charges against him, there's nothing I can do. He didn't harm her. And if there's an investigation, I don't think they'll find enough proof to convict him." My brother responds being sorry and helpless.

"But what can we do?! Ronnie is clearly scared now. You know she's not the one to hide, she fights. But it's not the first time he causes a scene with her. Now, she is scared, Simon."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of her. She'll be under my protection." He reassures me because I know how much he cares for her. He will do anything it takes. And just as I thought our conversation is over, he thinks of another important thing to talk about. "By the way, did you know Will is planning to move out?"

"He talked about it with me, yeah. But Si? Can we talk about this later?  I'm at the office and working on something important at the moment." I look up at Marcel sitting behind his desk, his unfathomable expression on his face as he looks at the three printed graphic versions of what my book cover would look like for the bookfair.

"Of course, Gracy. Call me when you can. Take care of yourself."

"You too. I love you, brother." I let out and hang up.

I look down at my phone once I pressed the red circle and keep still for a long moment. I can't believe what happened. When Ronnie closed the restaurant last night with George, they were walking to their respective car when Ronnie saw that the word "WHORE" was engraved in capitals on the passenger side of her car.

She knows it's him, because earlier during the night, he came in the restaurant for a take out and she refused to serve him, because she had been warned the last time he was in there that if he were to come back and they would cause a scene she would be fired. She just preferred to ignore him. He didn't like that. He caused yet another scene. He finally left calling her exactly that, "whore". She is sure it's him.

On top of it all, she got fired. She was kind enough to end her shift, but texted me as soon as she got to George's home in case Steeve would show up to her flat. I called her briefly this morning. She was completely overwhelmed. And she had every reason to. To reassure her, I told her I would get Simon on the matter. I also told her to go back to her flat and to pack a suitcase. I invited her to come to Edinburgh with me. If she is going to be off work, let's make it worthwhile.

I sigh and hide my phone in my purse to try to hide my worries the same way. We have so much work to do, I need to get it done as quickly as possible to then be free be there for my friends.

"I love this one." Marcel decides and I simply agree with it without adding another word.

He leaves the room to head down to the graphic design department to add the synopsis and my picture to the whole draft. We've been waiting all day for Edith's reviews on my three first chapters. Still nothing. The big of the work is still to do and it has to be ready Friday for my big debut. For Edith, it's not that big of a deal, it's only the launch of the programming that will happen at the big festival in August. I'm still very happy it's becoming real at all. For weeks and even months now, all that I have been doing is sit in front of Marcel argue about my story. This weekend, other people will get a hint of what has lived in my head for years. It's very scary, but in a good way.