AMOS VOSS, RETURN OF THE TITAN

Smart Rose, hard trait

Lisa's laughter rang sharp like thunder slicing through the room. She threw her hair back, diamond earring glinting in arrogance and mockery.

"You think you call the shot here, Huh," She sneered, rolling eyes on Amos.

"You think you're the man now because you know stuff I kept away, and because of that you think you can scare some shit out of me? Divorce?" She waved at the paper like it was trash, her laughter drifting across like spear. "You think this entire thing mean something to me? marriage?" She gestured at the minimalist apartment vaguely.

"I never loved you Amos," She just said it. Like it just dropped. Like she had been holding back the explosion all along.

Amos felt as though a knife had just twisted his gut.

The woman he'd devoted all his life to, loving for seven years of his life. He thought they were on a good note, but this was more horrible than a bad note.

She'd never loved him.

"I thought together we could build something together, but everything is illusional!

"You're only good at taking cheap shots with your cheap photo machine, Amos. You call no shit, Voss. You offered me nothing. Nothing but misery." Her lips twisted so hard in irritation that her cheek punctured.

She lashed on. "How could I have been so blind to marry a man like you. You're worthless, Amos!"

Amos stood there, pinned, allowing each insult to wash him like bleach. He didn't speak. He just stared, detached and disappointed.

"You think I'm worthless," His voice came under like a quiet thunder. "Who was it when you had kidney failure! I gave you one of mine thinking you were worth the blow but seeing you and hearing you now, I see just how delusional I have been about you."

"I gave you everything. I gave you back the passion you lost, but you..you Lisa was rehearsing risque!" Amos' continued, his voice leveled but unmistakable. "How dare you speak about worthlessness when you're the one who's shamelessly opening your leg for men out there for clout!"

The word jabbed Lisa like a dagger to her pride. Her eyes blazed like inferno, and she burst, her arm swung through the air like a whip.

It landed clean on Amos' face.

Raw!

Merciless!

And that was it.

Amos didn't see that coming.

And then, Rose walked out of the room. The squabble had woken her peaceful sleep. She stood at the door, witnessing the slap.

The room seemed to pause.

She stood there, her innocent eyes accessing the situation with perceptive eyes. She looked at her mother in quiet disappointment. Her mentor. Slapped her father. Was that another lesson or she'd just seen wrong?

And that really broke Amos' heart in a thousand pieces he couldn't piece. The slap didn't hurt more than the reality that their...his daughter had just witnessed it.

Thinking that was the end, Lisa blew hot.

Her finger jabbed in the air like a spear— at Rose— her daughter.

"She's the one..both of you are the one dragging me down," She hissed, jewelries jangling in her wrist. "I could have been more...more than who I am today. But I'll get there. Without you. I don't need you. You both are a setback to my existence, my career.I regret it! I regret you both!"

Amos' looks hurt. But it wasn't her sharp mouth. It was the fact that Rose was there to witness everything.

She'd just called her daughter— Her daughter, a mistake! No shame, no remorse.

Without waiting more than two seconds, she hissed, yanked her designer bag from the desk, and she stumbled out of the room.

The door slammed like the last bullet to an enemy's chest — final. She was gone. Gone.

The silence that followed was heavy. The room still hit with her cologne and words which twisted.

Amos turned slowly to look at Rose. Her eyes were on the door— slightly wide— shocked. Whatever was going through her small mind was something Amos couldn't imagine.

Her mother— the woman she calls her mentor, she just saw her slapped her father in the face, called her a mistake.

The weight of her words after she left was even more heavy. Amos wished his daughter never heard those words. But she did.

Yet in that moment of despair when Amos was losing his shit about what she might be thinking, Rose's tiny voice carried audible and firmly across the room.

"Dad," She said. "Mum doesn't deserve you."

Amos froze. Stunned.

What was that? Had he misheard her.

He looked at her with slightly wide eyes. Rose was smart, really smart. But he didn't expect so much maturity...or maybe disappointment from the six year old daughter. Most kids could have been shedding tears, but Rose was just another kid with a hard trait.

"Rose," Amos called, his voice low, still stunned. "Your mum is only ignorant."

"That's foolishness Dad. It's greediness." She said immediately, Putting Amos into another astonishing moment. "She doesn't appreciate everything you've been doing for us."

Rose didn't stop. She spoke up with the confidence that surpassed a six year old kid. Her voice tiny but sharp, slashing the tension Lisa threw in the room.

"She never wanted you because she thinks you're poor, but I'm proud of you, Dad. You take care of me, get me cookies and chocolates, even when you're starving, and that's enough. I know you'll get very rich one day. You'll be unstoppable!"

Amos paused.