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THREE
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2026-03-11 17:45:59THALIA
The meeting dragged on for nearly forty minutes.
Charts flashed across the screen as Dr. Harlan talked about revised timelines for Project Elara. Clara stood beside him, explaining sections of the presentation as if she had always been part of the team.
I stayed quiet.
My pen tapped against my notebook once.
Then I forced my hand to stop.
No reaction.
No weakness.
Inside, though, my thoughts were spinning.
How long had Brandon planned this? Because Dr. Harlan told me earlier, Brandon was the one who approved Clara as the supervisor.
Dr. Harlan finally checked his watch.
“Let’s take a fifteen-minute break,” he said. “We’ll reconvene after that to finalize the rollout strategy.”
Chairs scraped back as people stood.
I gathered my tablet slowly.
No rushing.
No running away.
If anyone expected me to break down, they were going to be disappointed.
I stepped out into the hallway.
“Thalia?”
The voice stopped me instantly.
I turned.
Clara stood a few steps away, holding two coffee cups.
Her eyes widened as if she had just seen an old friend.
“Oh my god,” she said, smiling brightly. “I’m so happy to see you again.”
I stared at her.
“You’re back.”
She walked closer, still smiling.
“I heard you were leading Project Elara,” she said. “I was hoping we’d run into each other.”
“Hoping?” I repeated.
“Of course.” She laughed softly. “It’s been years.”
I didn’t move.
“You disappeared without a word,” I said.
Clara tilted her head slightly.
“Life happens. And you can’t expect me to stick around after you married my man.”
Her gaze slid over me.
“You look good, Thalia.”
I didn’t return the compliment.
“What do you want?”
She lifted one of the coffee cups toward me.
“Peace offering?”
I glanced down at it.
“Black,” she added. “Two sugars. Your favorite.”
“I switched to oat milk years ago.”
Her smile didn’t fade.
“Some habits are hard to forget.”
She stepped closer and held the cup out again.
“Come on. It’s just coffee.”
I hesitated.
Then I reached out.
Her heel suddenly twisted.
“Oh!”
The cup tipped.
Hot liquid splashed across my hand.
Pain exploded instantly.
“Damn it!”
I jerked back as the coffee soaked into my sleeve, burning my skin.
Clara gasped.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry!”
Her tone sounded apologetic.
But her eyes didn’t.
She leaned closer.
“You should really watch where you put your hands, Thalia,” she murmured.
I stared at her.
“What did you just say?”
Her smile turned cold.
“Some things aren’t meant for you to hold onto.”
My stomach tightened.
“Excuse me?”
“Brandon,” she whispered.
Then she added softly,
“This project. This life.”
I clenched my jaw.
“You think you can just walk back in here and take everything?”
She laughed quietly.
“Oh please.”
Her gaze dropped to my hand.
“That burn looks painful.”
I said nothing.
Clara leaned closer again.
“You’ve always had a talent for pretending things belong to you.”
“Stop talking.”
“But it’s true,” she said lightly. “You begged Brandon’s father to save your father’s failing empire.”
My fists tightened.
“And the price was you.”
“Clara—”
“Years of marriage,” she went on. “And you still think Brandon will love you?”
Her smile widened.
“That’s almost adorable.”
“Enough.”
Her voice turned softer.
Mocking.
“Do you still think you’re the noble daughter of the Wentworth family?”
I froze.
She watched my face carefully.
“Oh right,” she continued. “Your father’s empire collapsed, and he died, didn’t he? Who would protect you now? Your mother? Is she still lying in that hospital bed? Years now. Comatose. Completely useless.”
Something inside me snapped.
My hand moved before I could stop it.
The slap echoed through the hallway.
Clara’s head snapped sideways.
A red mark appeared instantly across her cheek.
The conference room door opened, and Brandon stepped out.
Dr. Harlan and two executives followed behind him.
Clara pressed a hand to her face, tears suddenly filling her eyes.
“Brandon…”
Her voice trembled.
“She hit me.”
His gaze moved straight to me.
Not my burned hand.
Not the coffee dripping from my sleeve.
Me.
“What the hell, Thalia?”
I lifted my hand slightly.
“She spilled coffee on me. On purpose.”
“It was an accident!” Clara said quickly. “I already apologized!”
Brandon walked toward us.
His jaw was tight.
“You don’t put your hands on someone in my company,” he said coldly.
I let out a quiet laugh.
“Your company.”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “My company.”
He looked at me with open irritation.
“You’re suspended. Effective immediately.”
The hallway went silent.
“Go home,” he continued. “Cool off. We’ll discuss this later.”
“Discuss what?” I asked.
“Your behavior.”
Clara touched his arm gently.
“Brandon… please. I don’t want trouble.”
His expression softened immediately.
“You’re not the one causing trouble.”
I didn’t say another word.
I turned and walked away.
Each step sent a sharp pulse of pain through my burned hand.
Behind me, I heard Brandon say quietly,
“Come on. Let’s get some ice.”
I didn’t look back.
By the time I reached the lab, my hand was shaking.
I locked the door behind me.
Then I turned on the cold water and held my hand under it.
Blisters were already forming.
Second-degree burn.
The diagnosis came automatically.
Years working with chemicals had taught me enough about injuries.
I grabbed burn cream from the emergency kit and wrapped gauze around the wound.
The pain slowly dulled.
When I finally sat down at my desk, my laptop screen lit up.
Three new emails from headhunters.
I ignored them.
Instead, I opened the HR portal.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Then I typed the subject line.
Resignation – Thalia Wentworth
최신 챕터
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 209
CHAPTER 209BRANDONI saw her before I understood that I was SEEING her.The towel had slid a few inches, and for one terrible second the top of her was right in front of me, the line of her collarbone, the swell of her breasts, the water running down between them, a good deal more than I had any right to look at, and my mind went completely blank. I had negotiated with men who wanted me ruined and sat through a trial and a funeral, and not one of those moments had emptied my head like this. Then she caught the towel, and I tore my eyes to the carpet.“I’m sorry,” I said, much too quickly. “I did not know you were coming in. I am sorry, Thalia.”She said nothing at all. She crossed the room in three fast steps, snatched her brush from the dresser, and I heard her breath shake before the door closed behind her, not slammed, but shut with a care that was somehow worse.I stood where I was for a full minute with a glass of water I had forgotten I was holding.My plan had been simple. I w
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 208
CHAPTER 208THALIAI woke up warm, which was the first red flag.Gray light was leaking through the curtains, and somewhere outside a bird was screaming about something. There was a heavy weight across my waist, warm breath stirred the back of my neck, and under my cheek, instead of a pillow, was a shoulder that smelled like cedar and oud.Oh no. No, no, no.My back was glued to his chest like we’d been custom made for each other, his arm was wrapped around me, my hand was tucked under his, and our fingers were laced. I had gone to bed on top of the covers, a whole foot away, with a cardigan and a firm moral code, and now I was under the blanket, and my moral code was nowhere to be found. Somebody had moved in the night, and I really didn’t want to know who.I lay there for one stupid second, listening to his heartbeat, which was slow and steady and unfairly comforting, while his breath moved against my hair and I let myself pretend I was in some other life where this was allowed. The
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 207
CHAPTER 207THALIA"Brandon, you need to wake up."I shook his shoulder, and he did not stir, except to turn his face toward the pillow, away from the lamp I had switched on. The heat coming off him was like standing near an oven. I did not stop to think. I went down the stairs two at a time in my bare feet, and the house was a long dark tunnel around me.In the kitchen I tore open the drawer where Dr. Evans's sheet lay under the tray. Signs of infection: fever, swelling, heat at the wound. Begin antibiotics at once. If the temperature passes 39, call. I read it twice with my hands shaking and then I filled a basin with cool water, grabbed a stack of clean towels, the thermometer, the saucer with its forgotten tablet, and a glass, and ran back up.The thermometer read 39.4."Fool," I said, in a voice that was nearly a sob. "Stubborn, impossible fool."I sat on the edge of the bed and lifted his head with one arm. His hair was damp and stuck to my wrist. His eyes opened a crack, glass
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 206
CHAPTER 206THALIA“Understood,” Brandon said at last.That was all. He swallowed the tablets one by one, set the glass down with great care, and walked out of the kitchen. I listened to his steps on the stairs, steady and unhurried, and a door closing at the top.I had said exactly what I meant, in exactly the voice I had planned. There was no reason for my hands to be shaking.He kept to my terms with a precision I found, by the next morning, almost unbearable.“Shall I look at the window, or at the wall?” he asked, in the study, as I peeled back the edge of his dressing with the door wide open.“At whatever you like.”“Then the window. You said I was not to look at you the way I did yesterday, and I am not certain how else I look at you, so I have decided to look at nothing.”“That’s very mature.”“I thought so.”I dabbed the cut, and the skin at its edge was warm under my fingers, warmer than it should have been. “This feels hot.”“The heater is on.”“The heater is across the room
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 205
CHAPTER 205THALIANobody moved.The rain ticked against the glass. Catherine stood with the spoon still lifted over the pot, and a drop of soup fell from it and landed on the stove with a tiny hiss that sounded enormous. Brandon had not picked up his crayon. He sat with his hand open on the table, looking at his nephew, and I could not read a single thing in his face.“Leo,” Catherine said at last, very gently. “Sweetheart, what made you say that?”“Because it’s true.” Leo looked from one adult to the next, puzzled that no one was nodding. “Uncle Brandon laughs when Thalia’s here. He doesn’t laugh at home. And Mommy makes him do the quiet face.”“The quiet face,” Catherine repeated faintly.“The one he does when he’s not happy.” Leo picked up a purple crayon and went back to his stegosaurus, as if the matter were settled. “I’m only saying.”I wanted the floor to open. I stared at the teapot, and I felt Brandon’s eyes come to me, slowly, and stay. I did not look up. If I looked up, I
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON 204
CHAPTER 204THALIAIt rang twice, bright and cheerful, and I jumped. Brandon went rigid. He pushed back his chair and walked down the hall with a stiffness in his shoulders I had never seen for anyone else at the door, and I followed, tugging my cardigan closed, my face burning.Catherine stood on the step under a black umbrella, a bag of groceries on one arm. Beside her, in a yellow raincoat two sizes too big, Leo hopped from foot to foot with the stegosaurus blanket in both fists.“Uncle Brandon! Thalia!”He shot past his uncle’s legs and hit me at the waist, and I caught him, grateful for something to do with my arms.“Leo.” Brandon’s voice was level and a shade colder than I liked. “Why are you not in school?”I glanced up. He never sounded like that with Leo, and I found it oddly unsettling.“It’s the weekend,” Leo informed him, with the weary patience of a child explaining the obvious. “There’s no school. Grandma brought me.”“And soup,” Catherine said, lifting the bag. She look
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON TWO
THALIABy the time the car rolled through the iron gates of the estate, the tightness in my chest had already become hard to ignore.Thomas stopped in front of the entrance and stepped out to open my door.“Welcome home, ma’am.”I nodded faintly and walked inside.The house was quiet. Too quiet.Wi
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON ONE
THALIAShopping for sexy nightwear alone should have felt embarrassing.Instead, I found myself smiling.My fingers drifted over rows of silk and lace as I moved slowly through the boutique. Black lace sets, satin slips, delicate babydolls—each piece more daring than the last.Tonight was special.J
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON FIFTY
THALIAI stood just behind the stage entrance, my hands resting lightly against each other as I adjusted my grip, then released it again when I realized I was doing too much.“You’re good,” the event coordinator said quietly as she passed me. “It’s almost your turn.”I nodded once without respondin
I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON SIX
THALIAAcross the city, my new apartment still smelled faintly of fresh paint.Freedom had a strange scent.I stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the half-opened boxes scattered everywhere. The place wasn’t nearly as large as the Langford estate, but it felt lighter somehow. The sile
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