Last Tears

Evening gradually settled over the towering high-rise building of S & G Enterprise, Colorado’s leading fabric and textile company.

The city below buzzed with life, but inside the General Sales Manager’s office, the air was thick with heavy tension.

A stack of documents lay before Ethan Anderson, each page flipping under his intense gaze.

He leaned back in his chair, his jaw tight, and for a long moment, said nothing.

“Sir… the accounts are ready, but, um… are you sure about this?” Peter, his assistant, questioned, uncertainty etched in his voice.

Ethan's mouth twitched, his eyes fixed on the last page of the contract. Then, with a faint sigh, he said, “Yes. Make it happen.”

Peter nodded and turned to leave, then paused at the door and glanced back at his boss’s pale face.

“Sir… with this contract sealed, maybe you should take a day off.”

Ethan dragged his hand down his face and stared at the stack of documents in front of him as though they had a contrary opinion.

He had just fully resumed his position as General Sales Manager of S & G Enterprise after five years of recovery

and was working tirelessly to prove that he was fully capable of handling his new role.

“Thank you Peter, You should do the same,” he said softly.

Peter nodded slightly with a soft smile and walked out of the office.

Suddenly, Ethan's phone buzzed, the screen lit up revealing a new message.

“Babe, Versacer just dropped the Aurora gold dress, it’s limited edition and only 3 pieces are available. I have to have it before it's sold out,” Lora texted.

He exhaled slowly. His heart throbbed with emotions he couldn’t quite name.

He had expected to feel better after calling off the wedding with Emma, but… he sucked in a breath and looked at the text one more time, traced his hands along the profile of Lora, forced a small smile, and mumbled, “There is no going back with you, baby.”

Immediately, a thought crossed his mind, making him arc his brows in anger. He clenched his fist and stared at nothing.

He had been so busy for the past two weeks and hadn’t had the chance to tell Emma how disappointed he was in her about what she did to Lora.

“How many versions of herself did she hide away from me?” he wondered, anger etched on his face.

Lately, he had been constantly thinking of Emma, and he could swear that all of those thoughts were a result of the compensation he still owed her. Subconsciously, he reached out to his drawer and pulled out the five-million-dollar check he had written the day after their failed wedding.

He slipped the check into an envelope, picked up his jacket, and strode out of the office.

Moments later, he was in his car, the city lights streaking past as he drove toward the hospital.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Emma stared at her reflection in the restroom mirror.

The girl in the glass looked hollow, her eyes red and swollen, skin pale different from what she could remember herself to be. She had lost herself, her glow, on people that didn’t deserve her.

Today was meant to be a happy day for her, as she had just been discharged, but instead it made her feel worthless and unloved.

Her father had disowned her; the one person she had always loved had betrayed her. Colorado no longer welcomed her.

She chuckled darkly, wiped the last traces of tears from her face, picked up the small luggage Mrs. Dorcas, her nanny, had sneaked into the hospital for her, and quietly walked out of the ward.

Emma kept her head down as she walked through the hallway, not wanting to draw attention to her pale face. Her heart ached with memories that stabbed deep into her core. Fighting the urge to cry again, she quickened her steps toward the hospital exit.

Suddenly, a strong body collided with hers.

Emma gasped as she lost her footing. For a split second, she was certain she would crash to the floor.

But instead, a firm arm caught her.

Her eyes fluttered open.

As she met a pair of striking ocean-blue eyes, a defined nose, a sculpted jawline, framed lips that were neither thin nor full—the type that made girls go nuts.

A strand of his neatly styled chestnut-brown hair had fallen across his forehead, giving him a boyish charm, while his furrowed dark eyebrows made him mysterious. That was the contrast he needed to look dangerously handsome, oozing with power and yet gentle.

Emma’s breath ceased as she took in the scent of his expensive cologne that smelled of warm wood and coffee.

Her lips parted slightly as though intending to say thank you, but no sound came out, her face flushed red from embarrassment as she stared into the gentle eyes that were locked on hers.

At that moment, Ethan stepped through the hospital entrance and froze. His eyes locked onto the scene.

“Emma…!” he yelled, but the name came out as a muffled sound.

His jaw tightened. His fists clenched. A sharp sting tore through his chest.

“She is really pretentious and vicious,” he muttered.

It hasn’t even been a month, he thought bitterly. And she’s already flirting with strangers?

The vein in his temple pulsed, anger surging through his body.

His hands tightened, crushing the envelope in his grip. His breath came in short, uneven bursts. For a moment, he felt betrayed. Then jealousy flooded his mind, hot and suffocating.

“How dare you, Emma?” he muttered under his breath.

He crumpled the paper further and thrust it into the trash can, then stormed out of the hospital, feeling emptier and his heart heavier than it had been before he left his office.

Back in the hallway, Emma gulped hard as the perfectly outlined face suddenly shifted from a concerned, curious gaze to blatant disgust.

She tried to pull away from his arms, but before she could

a thud! Echoed through the hall

and a sharp, excruciating pain at the back of her head.

“What is wrong with you?” she snapped, clutching her head.

“So, you think you can get my attention by throwing yourself at me? How shameless,” he uttered

“Throw myself at you? Hell no. You’re not qualified,” Emma fired back.

Logan Sinclair stared at her in disbelief.

Logan Sinclair, heir to Halcyon Consortium, was a man everyone approached with extreme caution. Yet this small, pale woman had the audacity to speak back at him so rudely.

He turned to look at his assistant, who was equally shocked.

“I’m not qualified?” he repeated with a short, incredulous laugh.

“What would you want her punishment to be?” Victor Lane asked.

Logan’s cold gaze returned to the defiant figure of Emma. Normally, he had no interest in women, but something about her was…different. Exciting. Intriguing.

“To Marry me” he said.

Victor looked at him in shock.

"Ma....?" Logan shot him a deadly glare, making him immediately shot his mouth

“Noted, sir.”

Hours later, Emma stood at the boarding gate. She crushed her SIM into pieces and dropped it into a trash bin before stepping into the aircraft.

As the plane began to move, she pressed her forehead to the window. Tears slid down her cheeks as she watched the city that had once been home fade in the distance.