by McAdams, Amy
This was the last shit I was going to take from someone who thinks himself the most important person in the world.
I’m going to prove to him that he’s just a lame piece of shit, like many other similar to him!
I started looking for the files to prove that I was right and that my construction project could continue.
Chapter Thirteen
For the rest of the day, I gathered all the documents and materials for proof.
I just couldn’t sit and watch as someone mocks me and my efforts. I’m a fighter, and it means I’m going to give him the fight of his life.
By the end of the day, I had everything I needed. The result was a one-foot pile of papers—papers given by the same office that asked me to redesign the project.
I barely slept, due to stress and thousands of thoughts that crossed my mind.
All I wanted is for time to pass as fast as possible so that I can go to the planning office and smash them in the face with the same papers they gave me, attesting the validity of the project.
First thing in the morning, I took one of my assistants to help me carry the huge load of papers and went straight to the planning office, as I wanted it to be the first thing to deal with that day.
I knew that they always found excuses not to do things.
They immediately recognized me when I entered.
But I didn’t go in with my assistant or my evidence yet, because I wanted to see their reaction and how they’ll act when a person simply asks them to do something without having anything to “blackmail” them with.
I was sure they’ll consider this blackmail, when in fact it was my right and legitimacy to ask for the unblocking of my project.
“Good morning,” I bypassed the secretary and stormed into the head planning manager’s office.
“Um… hi? May I help you?”
“We spoke on the phone yesterday.”
“Oh… You’re the stadium girl I talked with yesterday. Have you come with the required modifications?” he asked so nicely and relaxed, but I could barely hold my nerves together.
“No, I haven’t come with any modification. I’ve come to tell you to give me a break and put the project back on track, because my designs are okay and you were the ones who gave me the permit to build just a few months ago. Back then the project was good, and now it isn’t anymore? Is that what you’re telling me?” I asked her quite nervously.
Seeing how the blood rushed to my face, he backed her chair off a little bit. He’s probably afraid I would attack him, but that thought never crossed my mind.
“We told you yesterday what the problem is, and there is simply nothing we can do for you. Either you modify the designs or your project is put on hold. You’ve now chosen how you want things to get going.”
He gave me a straight face that said, I just don’t give a damn about you and your projects.
“Was the bribe good at least?” I asked him, letting my nerves and frustration out in the open.
“How can you talk like that? Don’t make me call security.”
“Well it seems that’s the case. He came here with his project months after we started the procedures, and then I find my project blocked just for those people to have their shitty office building. Let them go to the beach if they wanna see the sun!”
Then I smashed my fist into the wall.
The planning manager, clearly a bit scared, tried to get me to leave.
“Lady, please go,” said another who just came into the room. “There is nothing we can do to help. Is that hard to understand?”
“I won’t leave until justice is made and my project is back on track,” I said.
The manager started laughing. “If justice is what you want, then build a court.”
Seeing their attitude, I went out and returned with Sally, my assistant, and with my huge pile of documents.
I threw it right on the manager’s desk, almost hitting her in the face.
“What about now?” I argued. “Do you have the same opinion regarding my project?”
“What are these?” he asked, confused by the amount of papers in front of him.
He probably forgot they were the ones who approved them months ago.
The poor people must all have Alzheimer’s, but I was okay with that—I can make them remember every single thing they’ve forgotten!
“These are all the licenses and legal approvals from your office that state my stadium is both legal and feasible, thus there is no reason for me to change either the schematics or the design of the building. And if you think you’re going to fool me just because a prick gave or promised you something, you’re completely wrong. You’ll see that, eventually—I’ll make you see!”
He checked the documents, then called two other employees to help him with his efforts.
As they went through those files, they got more and more embarrassed by the fact that they didn’t manage to fool me.
Now I’m about to show them how corrupt they really were when they struck that deal with Blake.
After two hours or so of waiting, the men at the office apologized, admitting that I was completely right about the feasibility of my project and that they’ve been fooled by Blake.
He had come to them, requesting that my project be terminated in order for him to get his ‘precious sunlight.’
“Miss Clara, you were completely right about your claims. Therefore, our office asks for your apologies. We also want to excuse our attitude toward you earlier this day,” said one of them while arranging my files.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “All I wanted was justice and nothing more, because I’ve put a lot of effort into this project. This stadium is my baby, and I don’t want it to be ruined by someone who knows nothing about it and has no right to interfere with my business!”
“Thus, madam,” said another—I guess the one in charge, but I couldn’t care less about their hierarchy; all I wanted was to go home knowing that my stadium was being built the way it was supposed to from the beginning. “You can continue building the structure with the original design, and you can be fairly sure nothing will interfere with your activities from now on.”
“Yes, victory!” I whispered to Sally. Now I could finally show that prick who I really was. And if he still kept that superiority, it will only mean that he’s either crazy or a mad.
They told me that Blake would be contacted later that day to be informed that his application was rejected.
“C’mon, Sally, let’s go,” I told my assistant. “It’s time for us to celebrate.”
What did we do? We went to have some shots at the first bar we encountered.
“Girl, it’s party time!” I yelled outside the building so that everyone could hear me—I just didn’t give a care.
Soon enough, I finished my shots with Sally, and she got tipsy after just a couple of rounds.
She didn’t have the training, poor her, and I had dragged her to such a despicable place.
I felt bad about that…
Chapter Fourteen
Still in need of celebrating my victory, I called Madeleine because I knew she was always up for a challenge. This time, it was her turn to buy the booze.
When I got in front of her door I knocked once, expecting her to come right away.
But she didn’t answer.
I didn’t call her on the way because I considered talking to her once to be enough.
I knocked again, but still no answer.
Oh no, something must have happened.
Or was she wasted already?
I’ll kill her if she drank the booze before I got here, I thought, then opened the door by myself.
There was no movement inside…where could she be?
I was a little scared, but soon I heard water running.
My girl was just showering.
What a relief!
“Damn it, Maddy, you almost gave me a heart attack!” I said while grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit
after she stepped out of the shower.
Then I hugged her.
“A girl must wash from time to time, don’t you think?” she said while drying her hair. “So tell me what happened. What’s so urgent, and why do you need so much wine? Is it bad?”
“Nope,” I replied. “This time I want to get wasted of happiness. I’m happy!
“Who made you so?” she asked, intrigued.
“Myself,” I answered. “I did it myself.”
“Girl, you sound kinky. What exactly did you do that made you this happy?”
“Well, you know how hard I’m working on my new project?”
“The stadium, right?” she asked.
“Yes, yes, the stadium. Well after months of work and studies, we got the approval from the planning office, and they told us we were good to go.
“A few weeks ago, our workers started working on the foundation, and everything was going according to our plans. Until I got a call from the same planning office, telling me that I should stop my project because it doesn’t fit in with a future building that’s going to be constructed later this year.”
“And what has your stadium to do with it?” asked Madeleine, baffled.
“That building was going to be an office, and its constructor is Blake’s firm. The prick came to me that night to spy on me and find a way to stop my project so that his could go on. You see, my stadium is going to block the sunlight to their building. Can you believe it? He tried to bribe the people from the planning office because he wouldn’t see the sun. Just get a light bulb!”
“Get out of here!” said Maddy, laughing. “He’s something, indeed…a devil in disguise.”
“You’re perfectly right,” I added. “But today, I fucked him up because I went to the planning office and straightened things. Now his fucking building’s going to stay in the shade day and night, and there’s nothing he can do about it!”
“Way to go. That’s my girl! You know how to handle things and people, especially pricks like this Blake of yours,” she said, pouring wine.
That was a good day.
A perfect one, at least for me!
Chapter Fifteen
A couple of days had passed since the heroic moment when I defeated both Blake and the corrupted system in our city.
I was enjoying myself in the moments of my glory, when I got another phone call—something I didn’t expect, and something I didn’t like.
“Hello, Clara. How are you?”
But I knew he didn’t care about my current state of being.
“Why should you care how I am? You tried to screw me over, remember? If you forgot that already, I’ll remind you. So please be quick and spit out what you want, because I don’t have all day to listen to your bullshit!”
I was nervous because I knew he would come up with some shitty excuse or argument to make me soft or look the other way while he’s doing his game—a game that’s beginning to be outdated and overrated.
“C’mon, Clara, don’t be like that…you know I didn’t call you to have an argument. I just wanted to talk to you, that’s all.”
I knew he had a hidden agenda—he always had, no matter how simple the situation would seem at the beginning.
He was pure evil, and even if there was some charm attached to it, his evilness would shadow every other quality of his.
“Now you want to talk to me? What about that time I asked you to solve the problem you had created in the first place? Remember what you did? You threw shit at me, insulting me and making me feel like I was nothing compared to your awesomeness.”
“I was wrong,” he said. “I know that I did awful things to you and your company, and for that I am terribly sorry. I misjudged you, I admit, and I have to say that I’ve been surprised by your determination and drive to achieve the things you love. You’re clearly not the person I expected you to be; you are so much better.”
He was failing at his attempt at an apology—clearly, it’s not his thing.
“Keep those flattering words to yourself, please. This time, I’m not going to fall for the same cheap, lame shit you pulled in front of me last time. I learn from my mistakes, if you have to know. You don’t need to waste your words on me this time because I’m not in a mood for it and I’m not going swallow any of your lies!” I said, ready to hang up the phone.
“Please don’t hang up; I still have a couple of things I need to tell you. If you listen to me, I won’t bother you ever again…I promise that!”
And somehow, he convinced me not to hang up.
A couple of moments more or less…what difference can it make?
I thought, deciding to listen to his bullshit and knowing it won’t have any effect on me.
“So what is it that you want to say that suffers no delay?” I asked him quite impatiently.
He made my nerves go crazy!
“I was thinking of asking you out to dinner. What do you think? Would you answer positively if I asked you?” he said through a double question, as if he’s trying to make me smile, or at least forget for a moment what a jerk he was.
“Is this a joke?” I just couldn’t believe the audacity of this man. A moment ago he was shitting all over me, and now he’s asking me to dinner… His brain must’ve been broken when he was a child because there is no logical explanation to his words and actions.
They defied common sense!
“No, it’s not a joke: I am serious. Will you go on a date with me? I won’t kill you or anything…”
“Let me reiterate: I won’t ever go anywhere near you. Also, let me remind you of the last time, when you assured me that things will be just fine. You fucked me big time—and I’m not referring to the actual fucking, which I enjoyed; I’m talking about the other one, which almost destroyed my career if I didn’t fight to defend what was mine!”
He was a closed chapter for me, no matter how much he tried to persuade me the other way around.
“Well you see, that’s why I’m asking you to dinner: you convinced me that you’re the woman I need in my life. I’ve always looked out for a fighter, a woman who will never back down from a challenge and defend what is rightfully hers!”
“Are you telling me this was some kind of test to see if I’m worthy of your highness? Stop before I change my mind. God knows what I’m capable of if you keep bothering me with your silly shit. Go and try your stupid tricks on stupid women who will definitely fall for your cheap poems.”
“But…”
I hung up the phone.
Chapter Sixteen
The rest of the day, the phone rang constantly.
He called me again, and again, and again, until I finally answered.
“What do you want now? Didn’t I tell you already I never want to hear your name or see your face? Piss off! Leave me alone before I call the police and accuse you of harassment. Don’t you get it when people tell you ‘go away’?”
“I understand you perfectly,” he said. “But I want to tell you that you’re making a huge mistake, probably the biggest mistake of your life—”
“No way, you’re a psychologist too? Man, you’re full of surprises, but are even fuller of shit.”
“I know you’re mad with me. I know you’re nervous, but I beg you to calm down and judge things from another perspective, because we have this chance only once. I say we should take advantage of it if it’s here.”
But I just didn’t get it. “What are you saying? What opportunity? Because I can’t see a damn thing, and I’m neither blind nor stupid.”
“Us,” he replied. “I’m talking about you and me. I believe we should give us a chance before it’s too late…”
“There is no us!” I yelled at him through the phone. “Maybe in your wide and wild imagination it exists, but in reality there’s no such thing like ‘us.’ You better get this into your head: if you think that fucking you for a couple of minutes made me fall in love for you…well mister, you’re completely wrong! For me, sex is just sex and nothin
g more, just an ephemeral pleasure of the flesh that I forget about the next day when I wake up. So give me a break, will you.”
Even if I said those words to him, I was neither completely right nor completely fair to myself, because I lied.
Something did happen to me that night, making me feel a bit different.
He affected me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
“You know you’re lying your ass off right now? I know it too; I can feel it in your voice, you know. It’s easy to observe how your words tremble even if you want to seem stronger. These things you just can’t fake!” he said, so sure of his words as if he was right in front of me, looking at my face.
No matter how I felt and how my voice sounded, I was determined to end this shit once and for all.
No was the only answer I had prepared for that night.
“Can’t you understand, mister? I don’t wanna see your face again in my life. Get lost, and stop calling me because I won’t answer you anymore no matter how many times you try. Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?! “LEAVE ME ALONE! I told you, I’m going to call the police if you keep harassing me. I’ll see you in court—let’s see if you like that!”
This time I hung up, I also took the battery out of my phone so if he tried to call me again, I wouldn’t be able to answer even if I wanted to.
Chapter Seventeen
He didn’t try calling me again.
Somehow, he calmed down and left me alone.
It was a miracle, because I thought I would never break free from that awkward situation.
He seemed to be that type of man who follows you till his death—the stalker type even the police can’t handle.
In the solitude of my office, I relaxed.
Somehow I love this type of environment: the silence of the night, when you can concentrate at will without getting interrupted.
As I was sitting there all by myself, measuring and making all sorts of complicated calculations, I heard it.
