The Confession

Victor's hand catches the elevator door before it closes, and I want to scream. "Let go." My voice is raw. "Just let me leave." "Not until you hear me out." He steps inside, the doors sliding shut behind him, trapping us together. "Amelia, please—" "Please what?" I round on him, all my carefully contained fury exploding. "Please understand that you manipulated me? Please forgive you for playing with my emotions like I'm some kind of toy?" "It wasn't like that—" "Then what was it like, Victor?" His name tastes like poison now. "Explain to me how my boss—the man who rejected me at a Christmas party—decided it would be fun to control me through an app. To make me wear plugs to work. To watch me fall apart while pretending to be someone else!" He flinches like I've struck him. "I'm not accepting your resignation. You're being impulsive—" "Impulsive?" A laugh tears from my throat, bitter and broken. "I'm being sane. For the first time in months, I'm thinking clearly. And what I see is a man