SILENCE THE TRUTH

N I N E

THIRD PERSON 

The next day Oliver leaves the party apartment early and heads into work. Jonathan stayed up extra late to make sure the security footage was deleted and gone by the time Charlotte showed up to work. 

Natalia leaves to Wayne Enterprises sort of late. Well, later than an hour early, so she was technically on time. When she got to work she waltzed right in, on her way to her office, since she went a floor up then walked down, she heard Charlotte telling someone they were fired. 

Natalia quietly walks into Charlotte's office to see Charlotte telling James he was fired. James. James motherfucking Abbot. Charlotte, Oliver, and her own best friend. 

" No, he's not. " Natalia stands tall and defiant as Charlotte gives her a dirty look. 

" Excuse me? " 

" You are not firing James. It's not happening, " Natalia didn't return Charlotte's dirty look, but gave James a sympathetic look. 

" Yes, I am. He's never at his desk, he never does any work. " 

" He's your best friend Charlotte. " 

" So were you. " Charlotte says, venom dripping from her words. That was true, a long time ago. Once, Charlotte and Natalia were best friends. Unstoppable, powerful, and fucking terrifying. Natalia wishes she could forget it. Forget all of it. All the fucked up shit that happened in her childhood, her early adulthood, and throughout her teen years. She never would have wished that upon anyone, even her sister. Who dealt with most of the same shit. 

Oliver stands behind Charlotte, looking scared. Charlotte walks towards them and grabs Natalia's arm and drags her to her side. Natalia yelps, praying to a God she didn't believe in that her stitches didn't rip. 

James runs to her side and helps stabilize her, " You okay? " 

Natalia stands by herself and lightly pushes him away, " I'm fine, I'm fine. James isn't getting fired, it's not happening. " 

" Fine, I won't fire him. " 

" You better not. " Natalia leaves and remembers when Charlotte fired her. She sits at her desk to relive the memory. 

Charlotte was yelling at Natalia, had been for hours. It was stupid, really. N'ya had lied and lied and lied to get Natalia out of the picture. Charlotte pushed Natalia out the door and into the rain outside. The rain had soaked through Natalia' shirt, down the collar and her back. She couldn't tell what was rain or tears anymore, all she knew is that she wanted to kick, scream, and break things. 

So she did, she crumbled to her knees and screamed, she stood up and kicked Charlotte's door severely hard. She walked off of the property and walked to her apartment, the press already taking pictures and trying to interview her. She punches an interviewer in the face for saying, " Maybe it's just your lack of trust after your father left, your sister killed your mother, and your sister tried to kill you. " She went home and sat on the floor in her kitchen, drinking till she passed out. 

God this is going to be harder than she thought. A lot fucking harder than she wished. So much fucking worse.