Only Ten Years - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

At Mrs. Miller’s birthday party. Ashley, in a dark blue dress, stood next to Mrs. Miller.

The guests were all rich and powerful. Liam stood on the edge of the crowd, staring into the night, like the party had nothing to do with him. Guests raised their glasses, congratulating him:

“Congrats, Liam, on finding a wife.”

Yes, it was also the day he was supposed to be engaged to Ashley. People thought he was celebrating, pouring himself glass after glass. And when he was drunk, he hugged Ashley, calling out my name.

I watched the video Sarah sent me. The whole thing became a scandal. Ashley cried and left. Liam’s dad beat him and sent him to the hospital.

“Jane, I didn’t know about you and Liam. I kept bringing up Ashley. That must have been hard for you.”

Sarah apologized on the phone. I shrugged, it was all in the past now.

By now, I knew.

Liam had never seen me as an equal. Maybe he’d had some feelings for me. But those were only a few crumbs. He was willing to be with Ashley for family reasons, and also to force me to submit to him. He’d given me a boost, but he also had the power to tear it all away.

My assets were frozen, my stocks were disappearing. I remembered the text from Chet:

“Come back to me, and you can have everything back.”

Threats, promises, those were tools we’d used in the business world. And now, he was using it on me. I smiled, took out my SIM card and threw it in the trash.

I turned towards the sun, and the next stop on my journey.