With her eyes darting frantically to the phone she was holding, Sussana paced back and forth in the large living room. Her breaths were short, frustration bubbling up inside her.
Her fingers trembling, she dialed the number again and punched through each digit. When the call finally connected after a few rings, she immediately straightened up and forced a calm tone into her voice.
"Hello?" Sussana's tone was clipped, barely concealing her desperation. "I assure you that everything will be resolved. You already stopped me from attending the meetings… Why did you remove me from the group?"
The woman on the other end of the line spoke coolly, her words like icy daggers. "Sussana, you are no longer part of us. As of today, you've been removed from the group. We cannot afford to have someone with a smeared reputation as a member of our elite circle. You have already been replaced by someone else."
