Chapter 9 - The Man I Feared and the Apology He Had Never Learned to Give
Dante asked me to dinner.
I told him no.
Not because I hated him.
Because I needed my life back.
I had missed three shifts.
My rent was overdue.
My manager had removed me from the schedule.
Dante offered money.
I declined.
“Help me get my wages,” I said.
“Don't make me dependent on yours.”
He called the restaurant's attorney.
Mara insisted we handle it properly.
Sterling had pressured management to fire me.
The restaurant had no written complaint.
I filed a wage claim.
I also reported Sterling's assault.
It felt strange to speak without apologizing.
Dante waited outside the office.
When I emerged, he asked one question.
“What do you want now?”
I thought about it.
“A quiet apartment.”
“A job I choose.”
“And answers about my mother.”
He nodded.
“No more orders,” he said.
I almost smiled.
Then I remembered the broken porcelain.
“You still owe Sterling an apology for what happened.”
Dante looked offended.
I folded my arms.
“Not for stopping him. For threatening violence.”
He took a long breath.
May you like
“You're right.”
It was the hardest sentence I had heard him say.
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