Chapter 2
The next morning, I started packing.
Three years of my life fit into two suitcases.
I had just zipped them shut when the door opened. Julian walked in with Sloane. The people who had laughed at me the night before trailed in behind them.
None of them looked the least bit embarrassed. They stood around my suitcases and commented like critics at a bad play.
“Wow, she’s actually packing.”
“If you’re going to put on a show, you go all in. Even if it’s two empty suitcases.”
“I bet she unpacks tonight.”
“Tonight’s too long. I give her three hours.”
Sloane held up one finger. “One hour. The second Julian offers her the apartment, she stays.”
Someone gave her a thumbs-up. “Listen to the expert.”
“She would know. She used to be one. Takes one to know one.”
They all laughed.
I crouched down and slid my ID and passport into the inside pocket of my suitcase.
Julian stood in the doorway, his face dark. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business.”
Sloane answered for me. “See? She won’t say where. She wants you to worry. The second you ask, she wins.”
Julian had already taken a step forward. Sloane’s words stopped him cold.
I took a box out of the drawer. Inside were the key fob, the apartment key, and the few things Julian had given me. The most expensive was a necklace worth about eight hundred dollars. He had won it in a raffle at some party and handed it to me without a second thought.
I pushed the box toward him. “Here. Your things.”
When Julian saw the key, his face darkened. Sloane grabbed it first and dangled it in the air.
“Julian, don’t you get it? She’s lived in your apartment for three years, and it’s still not in her name. She’s tired of waiting for you to do the right thing.”
The others nodded like they had just solved a puzzle.
“Three years and still no apartment. Of course she’s running out of patience.”
“Julian, your charity work needs improvement.”
“Where she’s from, ten houses wouldn’t buy your bathroom. No wonder she’s in a hurry.”
My nails bit into my palms. Julian knew how much I hated people using where I came from against me. He just stood there and said nothing.
He only looked at me.
“I’ll have my assistant transfer the apartment into your name this afternoon. There. Happy? Stop acting. You can be real with me. You know I can’t stand fake women.”
It felt like a punch to the chest.
“I don’t want it.”
The others exchanged looks and laughed again.
“Big appetite.”
“An apartment’s not enough? She must be after a stake in the family business.”
Sloane crossed her arms, her voice dripping with scorn. “It’s not that she doesn’t want it. She thinks it’s not enough. Julian, give her the apartment today, and tomorrow she’ll ask for the company.”
I looked up at Julian. “Do you think that’s what this is? That it’s not enough?”
He said nothing.
In that moment, I lost the last bit of desire to explain anything.
I took out my phone and, right in front of them, called our event planner.
“Please cancel the engagement party.”
Julian’s head snapped up. “What did you just say?”
“There won’t be a wedding either. Take the cancellation fee out of my deposit. You don’t need to contact Julian.”
After I hung up, I canceled the dress fitting and the makeup appointment, too.
Julian snatched up the box from the table. “Once you cancel, it won’t be easy to undo.”
I nodded. “Then don’t undo it. Ever.”
He glared at me.
Sloane tugged at his arm. “Ignore her. The harder she fights, the more scared she is that you’ll actually let her go.”
Julian finally turned to leave. At the door, he threw one cold sentence over his shoulder.
“I’ll wait for you to come crawling back. But I won’t wait long. Think carefully.”
The door closed.
I unlocked my phone. The overseas contract was already in my inbox. I signed my name and hit confirm.
From that moment on, there was no going back for Julian and me.
And no matter how long he waited, I was never coming back to him.
