Chapter One
Eleanor's POV
To celebrate landing our biggest client of the year, the company rented out the entire terrace of a beachside bar.
When it was time for the team photo, the only open spot left was next to my boyfriend, Harrison Kent.
I'd barely moved over when he waved toward the back of the crowd. "Lacey, come stand here."
Lacey Monroe was my best friend. She squeezed in beside him with a smile. The second the camera clicked, the whole terrace erupted in whistles.
"Okay, these two belong on a magazine cover!"
"Since when does Mr. Kent ask anyone to take a picture with him? I mean, come on."
Someone popped a bottle of champagne in the middle of it all. The crowd pushed forward, I got shoved into a table, and a broken glass sliced open my palm. Barely a few feet away, Harrison was bent over, wiping champagne off Lacey's dress.
The company had a strict rule against dating your boss. For three years, I'd helped him keep us perfectly hidden, believing that one day he'd finally take my hand in front of everyone.
But standing there with my bleeding hand clenched, I suddenly didn't want to wait anymore.
I was done with a relationship that could never see the light of day.
"You need a bandage? There's a first aid kit behind the bar."
In the restroom, a girl I didn't know had spotted the blood on my hand and was nice enough to say something. I thanked her, turned on the faucet, and rinsed the bits of glass out of my palm.
I had a text from Lacey, sent forty minutes earlier: "The group chat people are just bored. Don't let it get to you, okay?"
I sent back a single "K."
Harrison's had come in just a few minutes ago: "That was just for show earlier. We'll talk when we get home."
For show. Again.
Over the past three years, he'd pulled some version of this more times than I could count.
At last year's Christmas party, when the drawing put us on the same team, he claimed he had to take a call and walked off right then and there. For the company anniversary photo, he made a point of standing in the row farthest from me. Whenever I spoke up in meetings, his eyes stayed glued to the projector screen.
Our coworkers noticed all of it. They figured Harrison couldn't stand me, and little by little, nobody wanted to be around me either.
I set my phone face down on the sink and didn't reply.
Back on the terrace, everyone was still clinking glasses and laughing like nothing had happened. Only the throbbing in my palm kept telling me I'd meant every word of what I decided earlier.
As the party wound down, a hurricane warning popped up on my phone. Every rideshare app was completely slammed, and somebody nudged Lacey toward Harrison.
"Mr. Kent, the hurricane's about to hit. It's not safe for Lacey to be out here waiting on a ride by herself. Why don't you just drive her?"
Harrison didn't say no. He just asked, "I'm heading toward Coconut Grove. Anybody else going that way?"
His tone was casual, but his eyes were on me.
My chest tightened.
Two years earlier, I'd worked until midnight, and a man followed me from the parking garage all the way to the elevator. Ever since then, I'd been too scared to walk anywhere alone after dark. When Harrison found out, he started parking two blocks away every night to wait for me after work.
"I live out that way too..." I started.
"I've got everyone else covered!" The account manager stepped right in front of me. "Mr. Kent, you go ahead and take Lacey."
Harrison's eyes stayed on my face for a moment. In the end, all he said was, "Thanks, I appreciate it." Then he turned and walked Lacey to the parking lot.
When the account manager heard my address, he looked a little put out. "You live in Coconut Grove too? Why didn't you say something earlier? It's already past one. Going all the way out there would eat up half my night. You should just call a ride. You'll get one if you wait it out."
I didn't say anything. I just opened the rideshare app.
Estimated wait time: 58 minutes.
In the group chat, people were checking in to say they'd made it home. Then someone, I couldn't tell who, steered the conversation somewhere else.
"Did anyone else notice a certain someone kept trying to cozy up to the boss all night?"
"Yes! She literally scooted over for the photo and he called Lacey instead. So awkward."
"Come on, him asking who was going his way was just him being polite. He obviously wanted some time alone with Lacey. And of course somebody actually bought it."
Lacey replied: "Guys, stop guessing! He's just looking out for me because I'm new, that's all."
That only made the chat blow up even more.
"Remember when the intern tripped in the hallway and dropped papers everywhere? Didn't see the boss rushing to help pick those up."
"He hasn't denied it. If you know, you know."
I scrolled through every single message. I couldn't even feel the hurt anymore.
When Lacey heard I was being frozen out at work, she quit her old job without a second thought and joined the company, saying she wanted to be there for me.
Now she was everyone's darling, and all she had left for me was a throwaway "don't let it get to you."
As for Harrison, every time office gossip linked him with Lacey, he told me to focus on my work and not get dragged into pointless drama.
I stared at the screen, remembering the look on his face when he called it pointless. Turns out, to him, my hurt was just as pointless.
The rain started coming down, and the salty wind off the ocean blew it right into my face.
I left the group chat, opened my work email, and sent my resignation letter to HR.
I'd made up my mind to leave. There was no point in putting myself through any more of this.
