I stood rooted to the spot long after the black car had vanished into the night. My mind was a mess, spinning in circles, unable to make sense of the last hour.
The only thing that felt real was the pain. My cheek burned like it was on fire, and my split lip stung every time the cold wind hit it. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, and when I looked down, I saw the reddish-brown smears of dried blood.
I had been hunted down in an alley, dragged to a mansion, and beaten by a woman who looked at me like I was a bug under her shoe.
Slowly, my fingers trembling, I opened the white envelope Secretary had forced into my hand. Inside were checks. I blinked, trying to focus my blurry vision on the numbers. One, ten, one hundred... I kept counting zeros until my head spun. There were five checks in total.
