Six

Life gives us sunshine after the rain, don't lose hope...

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Ellie glared at the scruff of a man in front of her, considering how much damage she could do to him. "I need you to hand this case to someone else, its more than I can handle."

Jimmy Patterson sat in his chair that was much larger for his small frame, his eyes latched onto her chest regions "Are you turning down this case? The Brodericks are one of our biggest clients. Besides, why the hell should I help you? You refuse to go out with me, or am I that hideous even for you."

"Because I deserve it. For two years, Jimmy, I've been handed the deadliest and dirtiest of cases. Cases no one would touch, all because you are pissed at me? Because you want to get in my pants?" Ellie bunched her fist in her lap.

Jimmy laughed. "Be careful there smartass, you're forgetting who signs your pay cheques."

Ellie all but yelled. "My life is in danger." Her eyes widened and she squeezed her the hem of her skirt to keep from reaching over and hitting the man.

Jimmy considered her for a moment. "Rantings of a desperate old man," he snorted. "Now let's make a deal. One night at my penthouse, then I'll think about exchanging your case?"

Ellie finally lost it. She had put up with way too much and had reached her breaking point. She stood up from her chair, clutching her purse tightly in an attempt to keep her hands off Jimmy's scrawny neck. "You fucking moron. You're a sick bastard, I'd rather die than go to bed with you," she yelled at him, not minding the fact that the other partners and employees at the firm could hear her. "I haven't sunk that low yet. I'd never consider sleeping with the likes of you," she spat at him, turning to leave.

She was done with this mess. She should have taken Parker's offer to work with him three years ago. Now she had all but turned in her resignation letter. There was no way Jimmy would let this go. He would be calling HR pretty soon to tell them he was harassed by a junior. He had done it last year to Samantha. She had yelled at him for grabbing her ass, and the next day, Sam had gotten a warning notice from HR.

"Trust me, Eleanor. You'll be back, we both know you need this job. Especially since your parents abandoned you to travel round the world," he smirked.

Ellie turned to look at him and the man smirked at her. She took a few steps towards him and Jimmy's smirk grew into a full-blown grin. When she got as close to him as she could tolerate, she slapped him hard across his face, her palms stung with the force exerted. Forget a warning notice, she knew she was getting fired. She could take any form of horseshit from people, but having Jimmy badmouth her parents was more than she could handle. Especially since the topic was a sore spot for her. She regretted telling him that little tidbit of information about her parents. Jimmy had said he wanted to know his newest employee over drinks. She had spilled everything, excited about the prospect of being on good terms with her boss.

Jimmy's mouth was hanging open, her palm imprinted on his cheek. "You bitch." He lunged at her, but stopped himself when the door swung open, revealing one of the senior partners. He smoothed the front of his dress shirt and nodded at the executive.

Ellie mumbled a greeting to him, not bothering to explain what happened. She ran to her office, hoping to beat Jimmy to HR. In a hurry, she typed out her resignation letter and emailed it to Susan at HR. She printed other copies; one for Jimmy that she would leave to his assistant and a copy for Susan, just to make it faster. She refused to give a three month notice, so she knew not to expect the next pay check.

She made a quick stop to Jimmy's office, dumping the letter on his assistant's desk. Daniella was never on seat when she was needed. Ellie was actually grateful for it. At least she could escape without having to explain what happened. Ellie dropped the other letter with Susan who barely looked up. She had only nodded to her tray of inbox.

Ellie ran to her car. She was grateful she hadn't accepted Parker's offer of a ride, although he had a bodyguard or two tailing her. He would probably be nursing another bruised knuckle from hitting her ex boss.

She slid into her car, then noticed the dark car from the other side of the road pulling out, ready to follow her. She sighed. She didn't want the bodyguards around. She wanted to be left alone, to figure things out on her own. She wanted to forget everything, she even wished for everything to be a dream. She wanted desperately to wake up in her bed, sweating and laughing at the dream.

But she knew she couldn't. What she could do was forget about everything for another day. Tomorrow, she would focus on updating her resume and job hunting.

She tried so much to lose the bodyguards, but they stuck to her like glue, allowing only a car or two between them.

She took a narrow road off to the side of the main road, the truck behind her obstructing the bodyguards' view. The road wound down a steep incline, with enough bumps to jar her teeth lose. She saw the closed off sign almost immediately. Of all the roads she could chose for solace, it was a one way lane, that was closed up for construction, and had a large ditch right in the middle. She laughed hysterically when she pressed on her brake. The pads went limply down without any traction. She pressed harder, frantically. This was the worst time to be having issues with her car. She had taken the car in for maintenance only a week ago. And there was no way she would land in that ditch without breaking a few somethings.

She had heard the mind could imagine the worst in a near death scenario. She hoped she was only imagining things as she pressed down harder on the brakes, her car moving down at a great momentum.

Her life flashed before her eyes as she neared the huge pit, finally coming to terms with her useless brake pads.

Ellie was very sure she was going to die, there was no way she could avoid the pit. It covered most of the road. She was already losing control of the car, her mind working overtime. If only there was a way to slow down and gently ease into the ditch. It would be impossible to get out, but at least she would be safe, mostly.

When she had the car taken in last week, her brake pads were good, she had used the brake when she pulled in at work. Either it was finally her time, or someone was fast forwarding her time on earth.

She couldn't bring herself to scream even as she got closer to the pit. She hadn't had a chance to figure out if she had anything going on with Parker. She hadn't called her parents to let them know she had forgiven them. She didn't want to end up dead on the day she quit her job. She hadn't even gotten the much needed celebratory drink.

Her cell rang. She risked a look at it on the passenger seat.

Parker.

That was the last thing on her mind when she heard the loud bang, then the blackness descended.