Love Ended First

My CEO boyfriend had threatened to break up with me 99 times. So when he found out I willingly handed a multimillion-dollar contract to his junior protégée, freshly returned from studying abroad, he assumed I had finally caved. He was so pleased that he proposed we get engaged. But the moment she caught wind of it, she lost it. She skipped the contract signing, stopped showing up to work, and threatened to resign. My boyfriend, who had always doted on her, completely panicked. He promoted her on the spot, then used a business trip as an excuse to cancel our engagement plans and flew to another city to throw her a lavish engagement ceremony instead. When he came back, he brushed it off like it was nothing. "It was just a ceremony. It's not like we're actually married. Why are you being so dramatic about it? "Anya's a top-tier talent with an overseas education. I did this for the company, for our future. You're going to be my wife, so I'd think you of all people would understand." I gripped my phone, staring at the photo she had just posted online. Two matching engagement rings sat front and center, his and hers. I did not argue. I just nodded. He lit up, convinced I had finally come around. He promised to throw me an even bigger ceremony once he was back from his trip. What he did not know was that I had already submitted my resignation. The moment he agreed to hold an engagement ceremony with another woman, I was done. Chapter 1 I listened to my boyfriend, Kyle Wyatt, make yet another promise. As usual, I did not argue. My thumb scrolled idly through social media while his dismissive voice droned through the phone. "Sally, you have no idea how hard it is to recruit real talent these days. Someone like Anya, with her overseas credentials, is one in a thousand. The company needs people like her to keep growing. You're the one who's always telling me I should use every tool at my disposal to retain top talent, right? "All I did was hold an engagement ceremony with Anya. We didn't file any paperwork, we didn't throw a wedding banquet. It was just a retention strategy. You're reading way too much into it. "Besides, I'm not just her boss. I'm her senior from school. Professionally and personally, I can't just turn her down when she asks for help. "She just got back to the country. She's still getting her footing, and it's my responsibility to look out for her. You've always been the reasonable one, Sally. I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from." I could not help but laugh bitterly at that. What company on earth retained talent through a fake engagement? It was nothing more than an excuse. He favored Anya Channing, and this was the cover story he had chosen. Did he really think I could not see through it? All I had ever said was that he should loosen up on retention policies and find better ways to keep good people around. He had taken that completely out of context and twisted it into justification for getting engaged to Anya, as if it were some kind of corporate strategy. His devotion to her was really something. On any given day, he went out of his way to show her preferential treatment. He overlooked every mistake she made and handed her one special privilege after another. When she deliberately skipped the signing ceremony for a multimillion-dollar contract, she did not receive so much as a warning. Instead, she got a promotion and a raise. Meanwhile, I had run back and forth to the factory hundreds of times. I had wined and dined clients until I developed an alcohol allergy, all to land that same multimillion-dollar deal. And all Kyle had to say about it was, "That's your job." He wiped my contribution clean and tried to hand the credit to Anya. When I refused, he started threatening to break up with me. In three days, he had used that threat 99 times. The moment I finally gave in, he did something unprecedented and offered to get engaged to me. Then, on the very day of our engagement, he bailed. He used a business trip as his excuse, sent me a text that read "Business trip, talk later," and thought that would be enough to shut me down. Yet the next thing I saw was a photo of him and Anya at their extravagant engagement ceremony. Chapter 2 I had stood there like a fool, waiting in the hotel, staring at the cramped little ceremony hall while the people around me whispered and sneered. I really should have appreciated Kyle's good intentions. It was just that none of them had ever been meant for me. When Kyle heard me laugh, he took it as a sign that the matter was settled, forgiven and forgotten. He repeated himself, satisfied. "I'll keep my word this time. Once this business trip is over, I'll throw you a proper engagement ceremony. Then we'll go file the paperwork and make it official, okay?" My thumb froze mid-scroll. He paused for a moment, then added, "Oh, and that contract Anya didn't close? Go ahead and take over on that." I let out a quiet, bitter laugh. So that was why he had suddenly brought up filing the marriage paperwork. He needed me to clean up after Anya. We had been together for 9 years. I had brought up getting legally married more times than I could count, and every single time, he had shut me down. At first, he said he was still young and wanted to enjoy life without being tied down by marriage. I believed him. Later, he said he needed to focus on his career, that youth only lasted so long. I believed that too. Then, once his career had taken off and everyone around me was already married with children, I figured I had waited long enough. I tried to use the multimillion-dollar contract I had just landed as an opening to bring it up again. He turned me down once more. His reason that time was, "I've gotten so used to the way things are between us. I'm afraid I won't be able to adjust if we change things now. Let's just keep things the way they are. You're the one I love, and that's never going to change." We had a huge fight over it, and he stormed out. I was about to text him an apology when I received a video from Anya instead. It was the two of them on a camping trip together. After that, I never brought up marriage again. Before I could even respond to what Kyle had just said, I heard Anya's voice in the background on his end. He muttered something about being busy and hung up. I clenched my fists. It had never occurred to me that the only reason he had offered to file the paperwork was because of Anya. He truly did spoil that girl rotten. I could not even begin to compete. Just then, a new post popped up on my feed. I did not even need to zoom in. I could tell the blurred figure in the photo was Kyle. The two of them were strolling through a street food market like a couple. Kyle was looking at Anya like she was the only person in the world. The caption underneath read, "In the quiet moments of ordinary life, love means you are never alone." I stared at Kyle's happy smile, and at the fried food he was holding in his hands. I blinked. He had always hated street food. I had taken him to a place like that once, thinking it would be a nice way to unwind together. I had waited in line for an hour to buy him something to try. He took one look at it, frowned, and tossed it straight into the trash without a word. Then he shrugged it off. "Weak stomach. Can't handle it." Yet I had seen the disgust in his eyes, and it was not directed at the food. I never took him to a place like that again. Only now did I understand. That look had never been about the food. It had been about me. Within a minute of the post going up, it already had many comments. I ignored them, tapped a quick like out of habit, and was about to close the app when a notification popped up tagging me directly. I opened it and found a comment dripping with hostility. "Finally, Team Lead Anya is posting for herself and setting the record straight. Unlike some people who can only talk trash behind everyone's back." "This is exactly the kind of person dragging the whole company down. If you ask me, anyone who can only run their mouth like that should've been fired a long time ago." Chapter 3 "Spineless pushover. If you've got something to say, come out and say it. Let me be clear, I'm talking about you! @SallyEther." The moment that comment went up, the usual crowd of sycophants eager to ingratiate themselves with Anya piled on. "She's the one who's always going around telling everyone she's Kyle's girlfriend, that she's practically his fiancée. So where is she now? Too scared to say a word!" "She's nothing but a coward. Now that everyone's seen her true colors, she probably can't even show her face. She's probably lurking somewhere reading all of this in silence!" "And she actually has the nerve to compare herself to someone like Anya? A woman her age going up against someone that young? That's just embarrassing." I stared at the usernames and felt a jolt of recognition. Every single one of these people was on my team. I had always treated them well. I gave them room to grow on projects, and even when someone made a mistake, I never followed protocol and escalated it. I handled things quietly, corrected their work behind the scenes, and let it go. Yet the second they saw Anya get promoted on the spot, they flipped. They scrambled to line up behind her and turned on me without a second thought. The comment count kept climbing. I read through every last one of them, and I felt nothing. A few years ago, I probably would have fought back and demanded some kind of fairness. But after going through enough situations just like this one, I just did not have it in me anymore. Besides, this was not the first time. If I actually confronted them, anyone with half a brain could predict how it would end. I would be the one punished. The last time something like this had happened, all I had done was disagree with a few colleagues on the direction of a project. I shared my perspective, nothing more. Anya accused me of pulling rank, bullying my coworkers, and took the whole thing straight to Kyle. Kyle did not even ask for my side. He docked half a month of my pay on the spot and made me clean the office bathrooms for a month. Thinking about that, I calmly closed the app, ignored every comment, and walked into the office. The moment I stepped through the door, I was met with stares from every direction. I pretended not to notice and headed straight for Human Resources to complete my handover. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. Right on cue, my phone buzzed with a notification. My resignation had been approved. The coworkers who had gathered near the door to watch could not resist. "I heard Kyle approved her resignation the second it came through. Sounds like he's been wanting to kick her out for a while now. At least she had the sense to leave on her own." "That's about the only smart thing she's got left. Did you see Anya's post? Kyle's in love with Anya, not her. And she had the nerve to walk around calling herself his girlfriend every day. Now that Anya's made it official, how could she possibly stay?" "Exactly. Why else wouldn't she fight back? All she could do was sneak a like on the post." I did not say a word. I was long past the point of caring. I went back to my desk and started packing up my things. Everyone in the company knew that Anya and I did not get along. Kyle was supposed to be my boyfriend, yet he openly favored Anya at every turn. Time and again, he took her side and humiliated me in front of the entire office. Whenever I tried to stand up for myself, they wrote it off as attention-seeking. So they fell over themselves to target me, each one hoping to score points with Anya. Once I had packed everything, I walked out without looking back. The moment I stepped outside the building, my phone rang. "We received word of your resignation. Would you be interested in joining our company? "Ms. Ether, this is the 10th time I've reached out to you. Our headquarters truly needs someone with your talent." Chapter 4 It took me a moment to place the voice on the other end. Then it clicked. He was a vice president I had worked with on a previous project. His company was massive, with its headquarters in Millbrook. He had tried to recruit me several times after we wrapped up that project together, but I had turned him down every time. Back then, I had stayed because of Kyle. I felt sorry for him, carrying the weight of the company on his own. There was already plenty of internal pushback against him, and if I left, his position would only get worse. So I said no, again and again. Still, Kyle never appreciated any of it. He did not even think twice about it. He downplayed my contributions at every opportunity and criticized my abilities in front of the whole office. Yet if I were truly as incompetent as he made me out to be, the company would never have made it this far. Partners would not have been lining up to work with us. At the end of the day, it was never about my capabilities. He simply did not care. And now, I was done believing him. The silence stretched on, and the man on the phone asked again. I steadied myself and answered calmly. "Yes. I accept." We exchanged a few more words, settled on a start date, and I hung up. Then I hailed a cab and went home. I pushed open the front door and went straight upstairs to pack. I was moving out. If I was going to end things, there was no point dragging it out. Packing did not take long. Looking down at the worn-out clothes and pants so faded they had turned white, it hit me just how lean these years had really been. When we first moved in together, I had spent every dollar I had to renovate the house so he would have a place worth coming home to. I ate nothing but plain bread for 3 months just to make ends meet. I had redesigned the entire interior to match his taste. I had spent 2 months studying color psychology so I could pick out custom furniture for him, all so he could walk through the door after work and feel at ease. I still remembered the way his eyes had lit up when he came home and saw the finished house for the first time. He made me a promise. "I'm going to live here for the rest of my life. No one touches this house." His version of "the rest of my life" turned out to be painfully short. It was over before it ever really began. Anya visited the house once and tossed out a casual remark. "The decor is so dated." Kyle immediately called a designer to have everything redone. When I questioned it, he snapped at me for being narrow-minded and not understanding modern aesthetics. He thought Anya obviously knew better than I did. Then he picked up a hammer and smashed the porch swing I had spent an entire month building for him by hand. Standing in the wreckage, I should have seen him for who he really was right then. But I had been too naive. I genuinely believed I was the one who was out of touch, that I just could not keep up with the times. So I stood by and let the two of them destroy nearly a year of my work. Looking back now, I could not believe how foolish I had been. Once everything was packed, I dragged my suitcase downstairs. I stood in the empty living room and looked around the house I had lived in for nine years. Then I set the key on the coffee table, pulled my suitcase to the door, and walked out. I took a cab straight to the apartment I had prepared as a wedding gift for Kyle. I had handpicked this place myself. I had spent weeks negotiating with the real estate agent to get the price down, and I had carved out time to furnish and decorate it personally, all so Kyle would be happy with it when he finally saw it. The deed had only just come through. I had been about to transfer it into Kyle's name as a symbol of our marriage. But before I could even get the words out, Anya sent me a video of their engagement ceremony. The venue was extravagant. The guest list was overflowing, and both sets of parents were there. It was as grand and official as an engagement could get. Kyle stood in a tailored suit, smiling as he slipped a ring onto Anya's finger. Chapter 5 So this was his "business trip." I let out a hollow laugh. At least I had not said anything about the apartment yet. If I had, I truly would have had nothing left. I got out of the cab and headed upstairs, pulling out my key to unlock the door. But no matter how much I turned it, the lock would not budge. Then the key snapped in half. I stared at the broken piece jammed inside the lock and called a locksmith. Once the locksmith got the door open, he glanced past me into the apartment. His brow furrowed. He gave me a long look, clearly wanting to say something but holding back. Then he frowned and asked, "You sure this place is yours?" I nodded. He shook his head. "You young people really ought to keep up with the cleaning." He gave me one last pointed look and left. I had no idea what he meant until I stepped inside. The apartment was buried in garbage. Clothes were thrown across every surface. The custom dining table I had painstakingly picked out was covered in leftover takeout containers. When I got closer, I could see mold growing inside them. Flies circled overhead, and the stench hit me so hard it felt like it was bouncing off the inside of my skull. On the wall hung a large, prominently displayed couple's portrait. Kyle and Anya smiled back at me from the frame. I clenched my fists and reached for my phone to call Kyle, but he called me first. "Sally, did you go to the apartment?" I bit back my anger. "Yes." Kyle paused for a beat, then continued in that careless tone of his. "Well, since you already know, I might as well just tell you. I lent the apartment to Anya a while back. You know how it is. She just got back to the country, she doesn't know anyone, and she needed a place to stay. "The place was sitting empty anyway, so might as well let Anya move in and put some life into it. It makes it easier for us when we eventually move in too. "Oh, and since you're already there, could you tidy up a bit for her? She's still young and a kid at heart. Don't hold it against her if the place is a little messy." I glanced at the disaster zone of a floor, then up at the wall where a piece of hand-embroidered silk art had been slashed to ribbons. I said nothing. My mother had made that piece. She had stayed up night after night for an entire year to finish it. And Anya had destroyed it like it was nothing. I gritted my teeth. "You gave her the apartment without even asking me?" Kyle sounded caught off guard for a second, then fired back. "What are you throwing a fit about now? "It's just an apartment. I only let her stay there because it's close to the office. It makes her commute easier so she can focus on contributing to the company. "She's my junior from school. Letting her crash at the apartment for a while isn't going to kill anyone. Is this really worth getting this worked up over? "And if you hadn't been so stubborn about refusing to let me bring Anya home with us in the first place, I never would've had to come up with this arrangement!" My clenched fists trembled. Kyle had once suggested bringing Anya to live with us in our house. I had put my foot down. We had a massive fight over it, and Kyle left with Anya in tow. I assumed he would rent her a place or put her up in a hotel. It never crossed my mind that he would hand her the apartment I had prepared for our wedding. My parents had helped pay for that apartment. Half of the money had come from their retirement savings. And Kyle had just given it away like it meant nothing. He even let Anya change the locks. How thoughtful of him. When I did not respond, his voice dropped lower. "Are you done? Look, everything I do is for our future. Anya's got an overseas education. Talent like that doesn't come around every day. If she stays with the company, our prospects are only going to get brighter." Chapter 6 "Once we're married, we're going to need money for everything. And you're the one who wants kids, remember? Even if you won't think about the future, I have to think about it for our children." Kyle said it with absolute conviction, like everything he did was for the future. But I did not want to hear his excuses anymore. No matter how he dressed it up, it was always about Anya. Maybe from the moment he personally brought her into the company, she had always been special to him. Or maybe his heart had been somewhere else all along. It had just never been with me. I exhaled slowly. "Kyle, let's break up." The moment the words left my mouth, the weight I had been carrying in my chest finally lifted. The line went silent. After a long pause, Kyle's voice came back, barely restraining his anger. "Sally, what the hell is this now? Didn't I just explain everything to you? "You want to break up over an apartment? We've been together for nine years. I was with you through your entire youth, and now you want to throw all of that away? Do you even have a heart? "You stay right there. I'm coming back, and you're going to say this to my face." He hung up without waiting for a response. Beside him, Anya had overheard the whole thing. Seeing how furious he was, she blinked back tears and said in a small, guilty voice, "If I'd known this was going to cause a fight between you two, I never would've moved in. I would've slept on the street before I let that happen. "When we get back, I'll apologize to her and beg her not to break up with you. This is all my fault. Every bit of it." Kyle's expression softened instantly. He reached over and wiped the tears from her face. "This isn't your fault. You don't owe her an apology. She's not actually going to go through with it. She's just blowing off steam. "I'll say a few nice things to her when we get back and she'll calm down. Didn't you say you really liked that apartment? I'll have her transfer the deed to your name." Anya's eyes lit up at that. She hesitated, putting on a show of reluctance. "Are you sure? That's supposed to be your wedding home..." Kyle shook his head. "It's fine. It's just a place. We're not short on apartments. "Come on. Let's head back now and have her take care of the paperwork." … I stared at the screen as the call disconnected. The second half of what I had wanted to say was still lodged in my throat. "I mean it." I laughed bitterly at myself. All these years, he had always been like this. He never considered how I felt. Everything revolved around what he wanted. I had gotten used to it a long time ago. I took the ruined silk embroidery off the wall and placed it carefully inside my suitcase, then called a cleaning service to take care of the apartment. I threw every last one of Anya's belongings into the trash. Then I called a real estate agent and listed the apartment for sale. If we were over, I had no use for a wedding home. It was a shame, though. It was a beautiful place, and I had poured so much of myself into it. Fortunately, the location was prime and the market was hot. It did not take long before a buyer came by to view it. They looked the place over once and made a decision on the spot. The paperwork was processed immediately. Once everything was settled, I booked a plane ticket. I handed the freshly cut keys to the buyer, grabbed my suitcase, and headed for the airport. I boarded the next flight to Millbrook.