WHAT YOU LOVE MOST

JADIS

“I feel for you. I really do” Ivan said with a sympathetic look, “but there is nothing I can do for you.” He sat there waiting for an emotional reply, but he didn’t get one. Jadis’s face held no emotion. 

“Your son is dying.” She said, Ivan, Rubbed his chin. Jadis stood up abruptly, “he's still your son, even though you’ve abandoned us.” In a shaky voice, she asked, “How can you not spare but a little of your money?” 

He stood up, “I have a family to take care of Jadis, I’m no longer responsible for you, If you don’t stop bothering me I'll file a restraining order” he brushed off his blue suit and held out his hand to the door, “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a business to run.” Holding back tears she glared at him and stormed out of the office, it must have been a normal thing for the employees as they paid no attention to the commotion. She banged her fist on her car as she sat down, her head on the steering wheel, tears raced down her cheeks. Letting her emotions run wild she screamed and filled her body wildly. How could he be so selfish, she thought, as She drove off.

IVAN

Ivan swiveled in his leather chair and took a deep breath. He caressed his marbled desk and straightened his pencils. He was startled when his assistant stormed into the room. He looked up.

“Sir, bad news,” Fay set the papers on his desk, “Mr. Dalavine just signed the contract to become Valkyries' new supplier. That was our last chance, sir.” She held her head low, her glasses almost slipping off. 

Ivan put his head on his desk. His business had gone bankrupt, becoming the airline’s new parts supplier had been his only chance.

He waved her off while composing himself. She nodded slightly and left the room. As soon as she left, in a rage, he whipped his desk clean of everything, threw his laptop, and kicked his chair. 

“Damnit!” He shouted, breathing heavily. The employees sat there staring, through his glass window he waved them back to work. After telling his employees the bad news, he found himself alone. The building was dark. Ivan stood looking at an empty room. Soon the building would belong to someone else, that someone else being his rival. Everything he worked so hard for, gone. He had devoted his whole life to building the company, and in one slight twist of fate, it all fell apart. That night he drove home slowly, what was he gonna tell his wife. At the gate, he nodded to the security guard and drove in. His mansion lit up like a Christmas night. The pool was still, the plants quiet, the crickets chirping. It was a symbol of his wealth, his accomplishments. Throwing his suit on the floor, he headed straight to bed, where his wife lay asleep. That night he couldn’t sleep, all he could do was stare into the empty darkness. He got up and went to the kitchen, taking the nearest bottle from the bar. Slouched on the couch he began to drink. 

“Dad?” Said a quiet voice. A small kid popped up from the stairwell holding a little stuffed rabbit.

“You should be in bed,” Ivan replied coldly, taking another sip.

“You were supposed to tuck me in” She frowned, a tear ran down her cheek. Her messy braids sticking out. She whipped her tears with her nightgown.

Ivan didn’t look at her, “Daddy was held up at work, go back to bed or mom won't be happy” he said. She turned and walked up the stairs. Morning came like a shot to the head, Ivan shielded his face from the light, and rubbed his head, his messy hair stuck up in all directions. He looked up to see his wife's hands on her hips, holding the bottle.

“Really?” She said, walking to the kitchen and pouring the whiskey down the sink. “What the hell Ivan.” She crossed her arms, after forcing him to drink a cup of water.

“Can we not do this now, my head hurts.” He mumbled

“No. We will do this now, Explain yourself.” She demanded.

“We’re done.” He threw his hands up.

“What?”

“We’ve lost the business, Cora.” He said rubbing his face, Her arms fell to her side in shock. There was a moment of silence.

“We’re gonna have to sell the house Ivan” she broke the silence and sat down next to him.

“No!” He exclaimed, startling her

“Ivan, we'll figure this out together, it’ll work out.

“No I'll figure something out, We’re not selling a damn thing” He shot up, grabbed his coat, and slammed the door behind him.

JADIS

The hospital room was chilly, nothing around but medical machinery and a vase of flowers, next to the hospital bed. Jadis pulled the blanket tightly around herself. The heart monitor entranced her in thought beeping like a metronome, as she held her son's hand. The nurses came in every once in a while but other than that, it was cold and empty.

“Mom” a weak voice called. Jadis was pulled back into reality and she leaned forward.

“Hi baby, I’m here?” Her weary eyes smiled. His eyes barely open.

“Mom…..will dad come to see me?” He muttered, She twitched at the question but shushed him,

“Yes, baby, he will.” Tears filled her eyes, “Don’t try to speak” There were a few minutes of silence, soon broken by a long beep, she frantically looked up the heart monitor line was flat, she ran to the door, and screamed 

“Help! My son isn’t breathing!’ She could barely get the words out, nurses piled in. She was pushed out of the room by one of the nurses who sat her down. After what felt like an eternity a doctor came out. Jadis stood up wide-eyed but was greeted with silence.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Peterson.” The doctor said, She fell to her knees, the doctor kept talking but she couldn’t hear anything, tears welled up, but no sound came out. Along with her grief was anger, hatred.

IVAN

“Another one.” He waved to the bartender. Who frowned but passed him another shot. 

“What's your story?” asked the bartender as he cleaned glasses. Ivan looked up, with a slight bobble. His eyes got big. “What’s my story?” He drained more shot glasses, “What's my ****** story?” He repeated, “Well, My annoying ex keeps begging me for money. Because she can't get off her *** and get a job” He snorted, “Me” He drunkenly pointed to himself like it was the most surprising thing, “The business that I built up from the dirt, literal ****, just went poof” He made an explosion with his hands, “I have a fricken mansion, this big” He stretched his arms as far as he could, almost falling off his chair. “My wife’s trying to sell it, She doesn’t believe in me, no I'll fix it I can do it” He started to laugh. 

The bartender didn't look surprised.

“What the hell am I talking to you guys for,” He announced to the whole bar, “I have a 300 million dollar house, you people haven’t worked a day in your sorry-ass lives” He threw his wallet at the bartender. “Hell, keep the change” He turned and fell off the chair. There were a couple of chuckles, but he just dusted off his jacket. Struggling to open the door he was greeted by his car, and there in the driver's seat sat his wife. She rolled down the window and glared at him.

“Get in. now.”

 After moments of silence, Ivan turned and asked, “How did you know I was here?” 

“Your phone tracker”, she angrily replied, keeping her face on the road, “ This isn’t the first time I’ve had to drag your drunken ass home”

“You need to smile more honey” he smirked

“Shut up.” She replied firmly, his hands shot up, “What is going on with you Ivan? We can't keep living like this”. There was no reply.

“I should have left Maven at Mrs. Fenn’s, I don’t want her to have to see this, We are supposed to be a team, this is a partnership Ivan, what the hell is wrong with you” the anger boiled in him, the stench of alcohol filled the car.

“I lost everything” He shouted, “give me a ****** Moment” Silence filled the air again.

“Don’t yell at me” She said, choking on her words. The emptiness was filled with sirens.

“What is happening?” They were pulled over for some time, She began to worry. Her face went pale as she saw them turn into their driveway. Groups of people stood staring. She ran out of the car along with Ian only to stop short in horror.

JADIS

Her makeup was caked on, but at least it covered her red face, and her eyes were returning to their original color, after several eye drops. Her voice was shaky with every breath. She calmed her Wild hair with her hands.

“Are you done yet? My daughter has to go” called a voice.

“Give me a damn minute.” Jadis snapped. She looked at herself once more in the mirror and then collected herself and practiced her smile. Opening the door she was met by a small lady and her kid. “All yours” her fake smile pierced through them as they hurried in. Jadis looked around the store, gathering matches, and fireworks, and gasoline. To hide any suspicion she threw in some s’mores and chocolate.

“Are you having a big party or what?” Chuckled the cashier. Jadis replied with a fake smile.

“Yeah, everyone loves fireworks” They exchanged a few laughs. Her smile faded once she drove off. 

“The son of a ***** deserves worse but this will have to do.” rolling up to the mansion she parked her car behind some trees. The security guard was sleeping, his snores were loud.

 “Pfft, and I wanted to fire him a long time ago” She slowly dragged her equipment through the camera's blind spots. Once she got to the windows she peaked in. The living room was made up nice, the doing of his wife no doubt. no one seemed to be around. Trailing to the back door, she tried the keypad, which of course hasn't changed.

“Wow he didn’t see me as a crazy old threat, that’s nice of him.” She muttered as she slowly opened the door and piled all her stuff in a corner. When she got to the security panel it wasn’t changed either. change soon the cameras were down, she had to move fast. She lined gasoline around the rooms, along with newspapers, on the couches, beds, and the stuffed animals in the child’s room, that made her twitch. she turned all the cookery machines on, and the fireplaces. Dryer lint from the dryer, as well as dowsing those with gas, she couldn’t wait to turn on the gas stove. Outside she lined the grass beneath the planted fireworks. “This is what you get you selfish little rat, watch the only thing you’ve ever cared about go up in flames.” She jeered. And with that, she started to throw matches. Closing the backyard door she watched as the line of fire quickly raced throughout different paths. As she walked away she continued to throw it in the grass and near the trees. The smoke started to rise and after enough time the house was ablaze. It was beautiful she thought as she sat by the hedged fence. Tears willed her eyes and laughter all around her. She would wait to light the fireworks until she lured him there. The sirens in the distance didn't faze her, all she wanted was to hurt him in the only way she could. 

THE END

Cora frantically ran up to the people asking them if they saw her daughter, every time she heard a no, or a head shake, the tears would well even more.

“Has anyone seen my baby?” She choked, falling to her knees and covering her head. 

“My house,” Ian shrieked, “What the hell happened!” His drunken faze held him like the devil. His eyes filled with rage.

“Who the **** did this!?” He turned rapidly to the bystanders. He walked up to a young man. 

“Did you see who did this?” The man frantically shook his head. “Do you guys know who I am?” While he shouted. Cora was jerked out of her meltdown by a small voice. Her head shot up. Her daughter ran into her arms. The babysitter followed behind.

“We were getting ice cream” she sobbed 

“Thank God you were,” cried Cora as she hugged them both. Meanwhile, Ivan was still yelling frantically as the police were trying to calm him down. The sharp sounds of whistles filled the air followed by large bangs. Everyone stood and watched, Ivan stood there helplessly grabbing his head. They were going off non-stop. A couple of cops had gone to search the parameter and later were seen dragging back a person in handcuffs. Ivan went dead silent.

“You did this?” He pointed to Jadis, as she \ spit at him.

“You deserve more, you killed my son you selfish ****” he tried to go at her but was held back by police. 

“Do you know what Liam’s last words were before he died? You ********, he was asking for you, but all you care about is your money and status, watch it burn!” They screamed at each other back and forth as she was dragged into the police car. The last thing he saw from her was a pleased smile as she was driven off. The fires blazed like Forest fires unstoppable. Ian knelt in defeat and sobbed at the sight of everything he’d ever worked for. Up in flames.