The imperfect perfect man

Alexander

"James your late." I yelled as he grabbed his cart to start cleaning my office bathroom.

"Sorry Mr. Kane." He said walking passed me.

I walked over to Lilith and she looked terrified of me. I looked passed her to see what she was looking at on her computer and it was a bank account with no funds in it. I know she just got paid on Friday and it should have already posted.

"What are you looking at?" I asked her.

"Nothing sir." She answered trying to close out the tab, but I put my hand on the mouse and clicked the tab.

"Where's your money from your paycheck?" I looked down at her, but her eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"It's gone sir." she said staring at the screen.

"You blew though your money in one weekend?" I asked her.

"No Sir." She kept looking down.

"Did your husband take it?" I asked her as I logged out of her account.

"I think so sir" a single tear fell from her eye "He now knows I'm in New York." Another tear fell "I have no money, no home and soon no life."

"What about the address on your resume?" I asked her but her eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"Where have you been living if you have no home?" As I asked the question James walked out of my office.

"your bathrooms done Mr. Kane" James walked to where Lilith's desk is "Lilith can I speak to you?" He asked her quietly.

"No, you can't! We are in the middle of a conversation. Leave now James before I fire you." I gave him an I'm going to kill you look.

"Yes Mr. Kane." He started to push the cleaning cart to the elevator "I'll talk to you later Lilith."

"In my office now." I told her and started walking to my office door. I held the door open for her as she walked in then she took a seat.

I sat behind my desk just staring at her face. How did I not see this? She would get to work early and leave late. Normally I'm so good at reading people, but she was dealing with so much more than I realized.

"Please don't fire me." She was shaking uncontrollably "I really need this job, I'm so sorry for everything I'll move my car out of the garage, I'll do anything you want me to, please this my last chance at a life." She put her hands to her face so I couldn't see her cry.

"I want you to tell me everything and leave nothing out." I brought my chair around the desk to sit next to her.

"Remember when I told you how he pushed me down the stairs and I miscarried?" She asked me.

"Yes" I replied.

"The doctor put me on birth control so I wouldn't get pregnant again. It worked for seven years but, just last year Christian found out that I've been on birth control all of our marriage and he went crazy and threw out the pills." She paused for a moment and took a long breath "He's never been gentle with me, but those few months were different, very scary. He would wrap his hands around my throat during sex, sometimes I would pass out and sometimes I would wish I would pass out and not wake up. After I got pregnant with my Rose, I was so happy."

She put her hands on her flat stomach as the tears started streaming down her face "I even made a deal with God, if he would let me have her, I would protect her and find a way to leave him. I would never let him hurt her. I was wrong." She looked down, "When I was 6 months pregnant, I had a doctor's appointment and they scheduled it in the afternoon not the morning like I was used to. I thought I could get home before 5 pm before he got home, but my appointment ran later, and I missed the bus back home when I walked through the door it was almost 5:30 and he was there." She took another breath "He asked me where I was, but before I could answer him, he hit me. He slapped me in the face and punched me in the eye. I didn't block his hits because my hands automatically went to my stomach trying to protect my baby and when he saw that, he got this look in his eye and all I remember is lying on the ground while he was kicking me in my stomach" Those silent sobs were getting louder as she continued her story "I don't know how long it lasted for because I kept passing out but when I finally came to he was gone and there was blood all over. I tried to get up, but I couldn't because my leg was broken so I crawled out my door and tried to make it to my neighbors' house, but I only made it out the front door and fell down the steps. I woke up four days later in the hospital." She lifted her head to look at me "why would I think I could protect her when she's born If I couldn't even protect her when she was still inside me. The one thing I wanted more than anything in this world was ripped away just like that."