"And the hits just keep on coming! Hits for the stock market, that is!" The buffalo on the television bellowed loudly as a picture of Jimmy - with red cheeks and big, teary eyes lazily photoshopped onto it - appeared on the screen behind him. "Yes, Crystal Entertainment's numbers just suffered yet another massive plummet, following a thirteenth accusation of workplace misconduct against Jimmy Crystal!"
Suki pinched the bridge of her nose, turning down the volume as the presenter explained more of the details, most of which she'd already been hearing non-stop at the crisis meetings all day. Although the current accusations were rightfully devastating for the public to hear, Suki knew these were only minor offences compared to the countless other crimes and shady practices that the Crystal Empire had been built on.
Predictably, Jimmy and his latest accuser - one Clementina Buckley - were trending in all corners of the Quacker app on her phone, with various comments, jokes and complaints being levelled at this and all the other controversies that the company had endured for the last several months. Jimmy's legal team - which Charlie had been excluded from, after the custody hearing - had issued a statement claiming a so-called "addiction", and unsurprisingly this had been met with the most scorn and mockery from the public.
DrEctor: Gorgeous young women that are easily taken advantage of is a weird thing to be addicted to, NGL.
Wrangled4Ever: TBH, 13 sounds way too low. Wouldn't shock me at all if it gets to hundreds.
WokeAndProudOfIt: There's an armed conflict going on in Schnitzeldorf, climate change and a worldwide banking crisis, yet we're supposed to be getting upset for some rich white wolf sleeping around. What is the world coming to...?!
UncleSamTheEagle: Ironically, his actual wife was the prettiest one.
Suki was taken slightly aback by this last post, especially when she saw that it had a familiar photo attached. It was Stephanie, somewhere in her mid-twenties, pre-pregnancy, stood in the centre of the red carpet at one of Jimmy's premieres, rocking a very flattering red dress while she waved and posed for her adoring public.
This led to a fairly long thread of other old photographs from various events that the couple had attended together, both before and in the early days of their marriage. But while the young wolf looked absolutely stunning in all of them, the chronological order of the pictures was mainly indicated by the more fatigued, lifeless expression that progressively formed on Stephanie's face as the reality of her situation slowly set in on her.
TheLoraxWasRight: Like seriously, if I had a girl like this, I'd be treating her like a goddamn queen!
NotWildKnuckles: Someone who has such little respect for women has no right raising a daughter. Or a son either, for that matter.
FeministFreeSpeech: Funny how you all thought SF was the bad guy going into that trial. She had the right idea taking the kid and ditching his ass!
TheCalatoniaChronicle: In all seriousness, his wife's actually doing a lot of really great things here in Calatonia. She's been helping run our local theatre, and now it's selling out all the time - Crystal should've had her running things for him too!
The photograph that was attached to this post - showing Stephanie and Porsha sitting on the edge of a wooden stage, next to a short but surprisingly handsome koala - took Suki even more off guard, as she finally got a good look at how her old friend and her daughter had changed in the last three years.
"Oh my gosh..."
While it had lingered in the back of her mind when seeing Stephanie at the custody hearing - though her more formal, modest outfits at the time made it difficult to know for certain - it was only seeing this picture that made Suki realise the wolf was at least twice the weight that she'd been during her later years in Redshore. She wasn't fat by any means - in fact, it was clearly much healthier than her dangerously thin figure from before - and her added curves and fuller face only seemed to further emphasise her natural beauty and the much happier expression she now wore.
Due to Porsha not being present during her custody trial, Suki found her appearance to be an even more drastic change. The cute, slightly chubby four-and-a-half-year-old Suki remembered seemed to have shot up in height - already being just a little taller than the koala sat beside her - and while she certainly still had a long way to go before being her complete spitting image, she was thankfully taking far more after her mother.
Suki couldn't help feeling her eyes misting up a little while they lingered on the various images, and she removed her glasses to wipe her face as a pang of sadness gradually washed over her. While she was mostly happy that Stephanie and Porsha had managed to get away - and that she'd played what little role she could in ensuring they'd do so - Suki knew things just weren't the same at either the Crystal Mansion or Redshore City as a whole without them around.
And as she set her phone aside and lounged back to gaze up at the ceiling, Suki felt her mind drifting back to the fateful Valentine's Day night that had set all these events into the motion.
"Come with us. Me and Porsha." Stephanie said, quickly sitting up on the couch and pulling Suki back up with her. "We can get outta here... leave Redshore behind, start someplace new. All three of us."
"Oh boy..." Suki exhaled as she pinched the bridge of her nose, while the wolf left a trail of kisses across her muzzle and cheek. "Stephanie, no."
"Yes."
"No!"
"Yes!" Stephanie nearly laughed, gently grabbing Suki's chin and turning the saluki's head to face hers. "Come on, you're as miserable here as me and her are! We don't need Jimmy!"
"Stephanie, just... j-just slow down, okay, think about what you're -"
"I have thought about it!" Stephanie interrupted, with her firm tone making it clear that Suki wasn't going to convince her otherwise. "Alright, I... I already talked to Porsha about it in there, she... well, she probably had no idea what I was talkin' about, but point is, she's game! Alright... a-and sure, we gotta hammer out all the plan and stuff, but we can do it! We can get away from all this, we can be free! Look, I know it sounds crazy, Suki, but -"
"Crazy?!" Suki almost laughed. "Stephanie, crazy doesn't have enough syllables to describe what you're talking about here! You can't expect to just up and leave, and think that Jimmy's not gonna do something about it! If I've learned anything from Jimmy Crystal, he's one wolf you do not wanna be on the wrong side of..."
Stephanie took another moment to process Suki's words, her ears and smile drooping down while she quietly slumped back in disappointment. "Quite the motivational speaker, aren't ya...?"
Suki sighed, putting her glasses back on. "Look, I know you're not happy here, Stephanie, but trying to run off into the sunset isn't going to change anything."
"How will I know if I don't try it...?" Stephanie shrugged. "I mean, worst case scenario, Jimmy just drags me and Porsha back here, right? What do I have to lose...?"
Suki bit her bottom lip, knowing full well that Jimmy and his thugs would definitely not be so gentle in such circumstances, but rather than upset her friend further, she simply sat up straight and took on a more firm tone. "Well... I just want you know that if you leave -"
"When we leave." Stephanie cut in, raising an eyebrow as she pulled a more confident smirk, a all-too-familiar expression that Suki felt she hadn't seen in a good long while. "I've made up my mind, Suki."
Having nothing to argue against her with, not that she wanted to, Suki kept a gentle grip on her friend's hand while affectionately stroking the wolf's face with the other. "Well, whatever you choose to do, I... I'm really gonna miss you, Stephanie."
"Hmm... you too, Suki." Stephanie gently nestled closer to Suki, resting her head on the saluki's shoulder as she closed her eyes. "You too..."
The gentle buzz of a notification on her phone suddenly snapped Suki out of her reminiscing, and she glanced down to see what the title of the message said:
PURCHASE COMPLETE - YOU'RE ALL SET TO GO!
Everything else for the last few minutes had been a bit of a blur while she was thinking about what Stephanie had said, but it now appeared at least one part of her mind had been conscious enough to open the Redshore City Bus app and purchase a single, one-way ticket. And Suki couldn't help feeling a smile form on her face as she clicked on the message to see the details of her upcoming escapade.
Bus Number: 12-16
Departure Time: 11:50am
Destination: Calatonia
"Hmm... perfect."
Her tiredness from the long day was suddenly replaced with an injection of excitement as the saluki rushed around her apartment, grabbing all the valuables she could take and packing them all into two large suitcases. Suki decided to leave most of her outfits in the closet, only packing a few different shirts, pants and shoes to maintain herself for a few days or weeks. It was perhaps a little early to think so far ahead, but if this really was to be a permanent move, she figured it was better to buy new clothes once she'd sorted out living arrangements.
At least a hundred thoughts were racing through her head - some more minor, such as Porsha potentially not remembering her, or how Charlie was going to feel about her decision - but the most prominent was the question of how her employer was going to react to her leaving. And with the bus scheduled to depart just before midday, Suki wasn't even sure if she should even go into work that morning.
Could she just get on the bus and disappear without a trace, just as Stephanie and Porsha? Or would it be better to go see Jimmy to offer her resignation in person? Would he just dismiss her and continue on as if she never existed, or would he try to track her down? And, if he did, how long would it take for him to figure out where she'd gone...?!
The more Suki pondered this, it was really starting to feel like a no-win scenario any way she looked at it. While Stephanie seemed to have managed well enough, and at least had some protection from her victory in court, Suki still felt a nagging feeling that, as long as Jimmy was still around, they would never truly be safe from him.
"Well, if you ask me, I don't think Jimmy Crystal's gonna be able to take much more than this!" The voice of a guest presenter on the TV suddenly grabbed Suki's attention, prompting her to look over to the screen at the panel that were now discussing the various Crystal controversies. "Honestly, all this just feels like it's just scratching the surface. He gets one more whistleblower, somebody who brings all this together... pfft... finished."
"Whistleblower...?"
The makings of an idea began to form in her head - along with several arguments both in favour of and against it - as Suki frantically dug through her just-packed suitcase to get her laptop, quickly setting it up on the coffee table and opening the screencast app. After quickly brushing down her fur and straightening her shirt and glasses to look as presentable as possible, she leaned forward and adjusted the camera to put herself in the centre frame.
"Okay... okay..."
Her finger still hovered over the Enter button for at least another thirty seconds, still not sure whether or not she should actually do this. But she finally did, and the red light flashed at the top of the screen while a ten-second countdown began at the centre of the frame. Taking another deep breath, Suki sat up straight and waited for the recording to begin.
"No turning back now..."
Hello, hello
I'm at a place called Vertigo
It's everything I wish I didn't know
Except you give me something
I can feel
"GAH! I'm up, I'm up!" Suki jolted awake, nearly tumbling off the couch that she'd fallen asleep on. Even after putting her glasses back on, her eyes still took the better part of a minute to adjust to the bright, mid-morning sun that was shining in through her window. The Clay Calloway song on her ringtone was still blasting out full volume as her phone vibrated on the table, and she rolled her eyes when she looked down to see the name on the Caller ID. "Ugh... Jerry..."
She hesitated for another moment or two, mostly so she could peel off the sweat stained clothes that were still stuck to her body, then finally picked up the phone and answered, letting the cat's high-pitched, more anxious than usual voice pierce her ears. "Finally! I thought you'd never pick up!"
"Yeah, well, I did, Jerry..." She snarked back. "What do you want...?"
"Mr. Crystal wants to see you."
"Oh... h-he does...?" Suki froze up, pursing her lips as she tried to think. Logically, there was surely no way that Jimmy had already caught on to what she was planning to do - after all, it's not like he could read minds - but she knew she couldn't completely rule it out, so she tried her best to sound calm and collected. "Well, I uh... I could drop by this afternoon if that -"
"He means now." Jerry cut her off, sounding unusually blunt. "Right now. Immediately."
"Right... yeah..." Suki pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a sigh. "I'll be there in half an hour."
Once her moped was parked outside the Crystal Tower, Suki had no time for hellos or any other kind of greeting with her fellow employees as she made her way straight to the private elevator. Her mind continued to spin with thoughts, fears and questions as she ascended, and the vibrant, dazzling Skyline of Redshore City wasn't doing much to put her at ease.
As she still wasn't entirely certain why Jimmy had asked to see her in the first place - ideally, he'd tell her he needed to make cuts and had already decided to fire her, though she didn't expect this to be the case - Suki still wasn't sure whether to inform him of her intentions to quit her job and leave the city. But she definitely wasn't going to tell him where or who she was planning to go to, or the post that was currently saved in the Drafts section on her Quacker app.
The saluki was about halfway up the side of the building when she checked the clock on phone, seeing the number 10:27am flash up on the screen before she put it away. Counting down, Suki had less than ninety minutes to return home, retrieve her cases and get to the bus station, though she did keep her money and passport in her handbag, just in case she had to skip the second step of her escape plan.
She was briefly snapped out of these thoughts when the high-pitched DING! of the top floor sent a slight chill through her bones, before the doors slid open and she strutted down the hallway. Although she was putting on a smart, confident front, the saluki couldn't help feeling a tight knot forming in her stomach as she approached the big, golden doors of Jimmy's office, but after taking a final deep breath, she finally pushed it open and stepped inside.
"You, um... you wanted to see me, Mr. Crystal...?"
"Yes I did, yes I did! Come on in!" Jimmy was stood at the balcony window - which took up the entire back wall of the room - and casually stirred a cup of tea in his hand while he faced away from his visitor.
"Okay... well, um..." Suki hesitated for a moment, before settling down on the chair right in front of the desk, sitting straight with her legs crossed in a calm, professional manner. "How can I be of service, sir...?"
"Eh... I guess I just wanted somebody to talk to..." Jimmy placed his cup on the desk as he sat in his big, golden throne and leaned slightly forwards. "About Stephanie..."
"Stephanie...?" Suki bit down on her bottom lip, trying her best to figure out how exactly this conversation was going to go. "Are you um... are you wanting to take further legal action...?"
"Oh no... no no no, nothing like that..." Jimmy let out a casual, almost playful, chuckle. "I'd say she's embarrassed me enough on that front, wouldn't you...?"
"I suppose. Hmm... know when to hold them, know when to fold them, right...?" Suki chortled, but she quickly straightened up when Jimmy didn't laugh in response. "Um... Mr. Crystal. I know this has been a lot of you. Y'know, the custody battle, the allegations -"
"The stock market too."
"Oh. Y-yeah, that... um..." Suki cleared her throat again, trying her best to keep her poker face. "It's been tough for everybody, sir, but... but we've been doing anything and everything we can to resolve it."
Jimmy looked at her again, a rather neutral, cryptic expression etched onto his face. "Anything and everything, huh...?"
"Of course, sir..."
"Well, then let me ask you something..." Jimmy leaned back in his seat, keeping his friendly tone and smile. "What'd I do to make you disrespect me, huh?"
Suki's felt her heart skip a beat, and her smile immediately dropped. "What...?"
"Oh what, you think I'm an idiot...?" Jimmy remained casual, which only made his words even more unsettling. "Y-ya think I'm some kinda bozo...?"
"No... no sir, not at all..." Suki tugged at the collar of her shirt, which almost felt like it was choking her as the knot in her stomach slowly tightened again. "I... I d-don't know what you're -"
"That tape... the one the little piggy used in court..." Jimmy leaned forward slightly, holding up one of his hands so he could study his own claws. "The night she left, I told Jerry to have it erased... and then he told you to do it..."
"He... h-he did...?" Suki pretended to think, then feigned surprise. "Oh yes, of course he did! Ugh... I'm sorry, it um... it must have slipped my mind, sir... b-because y'know, that night, it um... it was quite a stressful experience for everyone, Mr. Crystal..."
"Yeah, I'll bet it was..." Jimmy let out a sigh, then stood up, still keeping his hands planted on the desk as he towered over the saluki sat in front of him. "But y'know, funnily enough... turns out one of our security tapes actually was tampered with that night..."
"Oh... really...?"
"Yeah... in Porsha's room. Pretty peculiar, ain't it...?" Jimmy let out a low growl, a rageful reddish tint slowly beginning to form on his cheeks. "Footage cuts around 2am... doesn't come back on til 4... woulda been right around the time Steph came back for her..."
"Hmm... well, that um... th-that is peculiar, Mr. Crystal..." Suki's eyes slowly bulged to their widest point as she gripped the arms of her chair tight, while Jimmy slowly moved forwards until his face was mere inches away from hers. "Sir, I... th-there's something we need to -"
"YOU HELPED HER ESCAPE!"
Jimmy suddenly lunged forward and slammed his fists hard on the desk, almost breaking it in half. Suki was sent flying back by the force of his outburst as she tumbled back in her seat and fell to the floor, along with the various desk toys and fine glass decanter that fell down and shattered around her.
"Ugh..." The saluki groaned as she rolled off her toppled chair and crawled onto her front, her vision still slightly blurry after her fall. Suki had to squint to see her phone lying a few feet away and grabbed it, only just managing to press the Quacker icon before Jimmy pulled her up onto her knees.
"Treacherous little tramp!" He snarled right in Suki's face as she began to hyperventilate. "You've been workin' for her all along, haven't ya...?!"
"N-no... sir, please, I never..." Suki felt her eyes misting up as she tried to stammer out an alibi, which only hurt more when Jimmy tightened his grip. "I... I just..."
But then, it happened. For just one small, fleeting moment, Suki stopped struggling, and her felt her breath gradually returned to normal. The saluki let out a small exhale, a calm confidence washing over the utter terror she felt in Jimmy's grasp, as she finally looked her rather dumbfounded employer right in the eye.
"It's true..." She said, keeping her defiant expression while she steadily rose to her feet. "I did help her. I had to."
Suki wasn't entirely sure how she had expected Jimmy to react - most likely, it probably would have involved a lot of shouting and breaking things - but it was still surprising to see what he actually did.
The reddish tint on Jimmy's cheeks had faded to a more relaxed pink, while he still held that perplexed look on his face as he slowly loosened his grip and let Suki go. The white wolf wasn't even looking at her anymore as he took a few deep breaths and stepped back, standing up straight while he gripped the corner of his broken desk.
For the next five seconds or so, which certainly felt a lot longer, Suki entertained the thought of bolting out the door, running to the elevator and getting out. She had a few ideas for what could potentially happen after - perhaps he'd just stand there and let her go, or he'd call his thugs, or maybe even give chase himself - and yet, she didn't run. She just stood there still, they both did.
Somehow, the sight of Jimmy Crystal looking perfectly calm and staring at the left wall, seemingly focused on his Bonaparte-esque portrait that took up the entirety of it, was even more unsettling than when he was trashing his office during one of his enraged tantrums. But as much as Suki wanted to leave, something inside was telling her not to. It was a feeling that, one way or another, this was the very last time she and her tormentor would ever be in the same room, let alone speak, and there were things that she couldn't and shouldn't leave unsaid.
"I couldn't let you take Porsha from her..." She finally broke the silence, noticing Jimmy's scowl expose his teeth while he clenched his fists. "You already took so much from her, and I couldn't let you keep them ap-"
THWACK! Suki was sent spiralling down when Jimmy's fist connected hard with her left cheek, planting face-first on the floor with a blunt THUD!
The saluki winced in pain as she got up on her hands and knees, cringing at the taste of her blood while it dripped off the corner of her mouth onto the floor below her. The small lump floating in the sticky red puddle took Suki off guard for a moment, until she put her tongue to her gums and felt the fairly large gap where a tooth used to be.
"Who in the hell do ya think y'are...?!" Jimmy roared, his familiar fury coming back in full force. "Huh...?!"
Suki barely had time to process this before Jimmy swung his foot into her stomach, wheezing out loudly as she flopped down on the floor again.
"You were always soft for her..." He continued. "You're the one who brought that little gold digger into here in the first place!"
"I... I... ugh..." Suki clutched her stomach as she propped herself back up against one of the pillars, pulling a smug grin as she looked at her cracked phone screen. "I'm not the one who married her..."
"RRRAAAGGGGGHHH!" Jimmy stomped Suki's face hard with his foot, the back of her head denting the pillar behind her, before throwing her like a ragdoll to the other side of the room. "It was all a sham! A con! You were tryin' to bring me down the whole damn time!"
"Oh yeah... t-typical Jimmy Crystal..." Suki snarled hoarsely, discarding her cracked glasses while she spat out another bloody tooth. "Always thinking the world's out to get you!"
"WHAT...?!"
"This wasn't a crazy conspiracy, or some... s-some convoluted revenge scheme. This was reuniting a wonderful woman with the girl you tried to take from her!" Suki wiped her bloody, battered face, taking a deep breath before forced herself to her feet. "And I... I helped them because it was the right thing to do, sir."
"The right thing to do..." Jimmy gripped Suki's collar, then roared in her face. "...IS WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO!"
"Gah!" Suki grunted as he yanked her forward, dragging her along the floor as he opened the window behind him and approached the balcony. "No... NO!"
"I really didn't want to have to do this to ya, Suki. But you didn't give me any - ARGH!" Jimmy yanked his hand up after the saluki sank her teeth into it. But before Suki could crawl away, he gripped the fur on top of her head, then threw her hard against the metal rail of the balcony with a echoing CLANG!
Suki clutched her forehead as the vibrations rang in her ears, while more blood streamed down from her nose and mouth onto her green shirt. Jimmy's heavy breathing was the first thing she heard as she regathered her bearings, right before the white wolf latched his hand around her neck and hoisted her off the floor.
"That low little loser thought she was gonna humiliate me, huh...?" He growled, bearing his teeth as his blue eyes turned bloodshot. "No one makes me look like a fool! NO ONE!"
"She... she's not a loser..." Suki choked weakly, barely able to keep her tearful, swollen eyes open, though she couldn't help pulling a big, toothy smile as the wolf glared at her. "They got away from you. They're safe, they're happy, they're... t-they're together. And there is nothing you can do or say to change that now, Jimmy..."
"Nothin' I can do...?" Jimmy snarled with an ominous chuckle as he held her face closer to his own, before holding out his arm to dangle the already near-lifeless saluki over the balcony. "I'm Jimmy frickin' Crystal, and I can do whatever I WANT!"
"Oh no... no no no no no!" Jerry was short of breath when he barged into the completely trashed office, barely noticing the broken glass, scattered debris and overturned furniture as he ran to the balcony where his employer was stood overlooking the skyline. "Mr Crystal! We got a problem, it... i-it's Suki, sir!"
"Hmm..." Jimmy grunted back, still peering down as the sounds of car horns, police sirens and panicked screams echoed from far below. But the wolf didn't seem concerned as he turned back to face the terrified little cat - in fact, he almost looked relieved, even satisfied - before straightening down his suit and adjusting his cuff links. "Jerry, tell 'em we're movin' the auditions up to noon. Oh yeah... and get somebody to clean up all this while we're gone."
"Huh? Oh, uh... y-y-yes, sir, I'll get right on that. But... b-but no, wait!" Jerry frantically wiped the sweat off his brow as he looked down to his tablet, trying to keep up with Jimmy as he walked to the door. "S-sir, you need to see this... it was Suki, she -"
"Suki's been taken care of, Jerry!" Jimmy snapped, making the cat tense up as he glanced back over to the balcony, quickly putting two and two together. "Now, are ya gonna get those auditions ready, or do I gotta do everything by -?"
"She posted something!" Jerry finally blurted out, wincing as Jimmy froze up on the spot and turned around to glare at him again. "About five minutes ago, she, um... sh-she posted a video. On Quacker, sir."
"What...?!" Jimmy swiped the tablet from Jerry's hand and looked at the screen, his bloodshot eyes bulging wide when he saw Suki's Quacker profile, and the single, solitary post that had been uploaded onto it seven minutes earlier. "No... NO!"
"My name... is Suki Lane. For thirteen years, I've worked as a talent scout for Crystal Entertainment, and a personal assistant for Jimmy Crystal and Stephanie Frangipane... and... and, um..."
Suki's voice was still rather shaky on the recording, but after some hesitation, she sat up straight and cleared her throat, taking on a more confident expression as she looked right into the camera to begin her monologue.
"And this is my story..."