Chapter 4

JADE

I waited outside the hotel for nearly three hours.

People came and went, and a few guests looked at me as they passed. Some seemed to recognize me. Others simply stared at my tear-stained face before looking away.

I didn't care anymore.

I kept calling Julian, but my calls weren't going through. Sometimes the phone rang once before going silent. Other times, it went straight to voicemail.

I sent him message after message and still got no response. Eventually, a hotel employee approached me and asked whether I was waiting for someone.

"Yes," I said. "My boyfriend is inside."

The man looked uncomfortable.

"Miss, I'm afraid you'll have to leave. Some guests have complained."

I stared at him. "Complained about what?"

"You've been here for hours, and we can't have you waiting around the entrance."

I wanted to explain that I'd been with Julian for seven years, that he had invited me to the event, and that I wasn't some stranger trying to get his attention.

But I was too tired to argue.

I left the hotel and went straight to his apartment.

I didn't go home first. I couldn't bear the thought of sitting alone in my bedroom while the whole world celebrated his engagement.

When I reached his door, I used my key, but it didn't turn. I tried again, thinking I might have been using the wrong key.

Nothing.

I pressed my forehead against the door and let out a bitter laugh.

He had changed the locks.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

For a while, I couldn't even cry. I was too exhausted, and my head hurt from all the tears I'd already shed.

I waited.

It was stupid, but I waited because I didn't know what else to do.

Nearly an hour later, the elevator opened and Julian stepped out, holding his phone and car keys. He looked at me with guilt, then sighed.

"Jade. What are you doing here?"

I stood so quickly that my handbag fell from my shoulder.

"What am I doing here? I've been calling you for hours! Why did you change the locks?”

"Can we talk inside?"

I followed him into the apartment.

Everything looked the same. His shoes were beside the door, his laptop was on the counter, and the photograph from the opening of his first office was still on the shelf.

I looked at it before turning back to him.

"Why did you do that?" I asked. "Why did you announce your engagement to Vanessa like that? Why did you let security throw me out? What the hell is happening?"

Julian loosened his tie.

"I didn't want things to happen that way."

He rubbed his forehead, looking upset.

"Jade, I've been thinking about us for a while. Things have changed."

My blood went cold. "What things?"

"My life. The company. Everything."

I stared at him.

“What are you saying?"

He sighed again.

"I appreciate everything you've done for me. I do. But I need to move forward, and I can't keep holding on to a relationship just because we've been together for a while."

My mouth fell open.

"You're talking as if we've been dating for a few months. We've been together for seven years, Julian."

"I know." He answered calmly, which annoyed me.

Why was he so calm when I was falling apart?

"I helped you build this company!" I shouted.

"And I'm grateful."

"Grateful?" I laughed, but my eyes were already filling with tears. "Is that all I am to you now? Someone you're grateful to?"

He looked away.

"I can arrange a payment for you. We can discuss what you're owed, and I'll make sure you don't leave with nothing."

I stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing. I scoffed and fisted my hands in my hair.

"You're trying to pay me off? Seriously? After all we've been through together?"

"I'm trying to be fair."

"Fair?" My voice rose. "You slept with a woman I introduced to you as an investor. You lied to me, brought her to the event, and announced that you were marrying her. And now you're offering me money as if I am some employee you've decided to let go?"

His expression tightened.

"Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be."

I stepped closer.

"Please, Julian. Don't do this to me. We can talk about this. We can fix things. I'm not asking you to marry me tomorrow. I just need you to tell me that the last seven years meant something to you."

He looked at me for a long time.

Then he said, "They did. But that doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I need to grow bigger. I still have potential."

I wanted to ask him if he thought I didn't have potential but I didn't. I felt my chest tighten.

He checked his phone.

"Vanessa will be here soon. I don't want her walking into a scene."

I stared at him.

"She's coming here?"

"Yes."

I shook my head slowly.

"Another woman. Your fiancée is coming to the apartment I helped you furnish. The bed I slept in last weekend. The home I thought we were building together." My breath shook.

“Why are you letting another woman reap what I have spent years sowing?” I yelled as more tears fell.

"Jade, please."

"Don't tell me to calm down! You told me you ended things with her."

My voice cracked and I pressed a hand over my mouth, trying to hold back the sob that was rising in my throat.

He looked toward the door.

"Security will take you downstairs."

I stared at him in shock.

"You're throwing me out?"

"You need to leave."

I refused to move.

A few minutes later, two security guards arrived. Julian told them to escort me out, and they took my arms when I wouldn't go willingly.

I kept looking back at him as they led me toward the elevator.

He didn't follow.

When I reached the building entrance, I saw a car pull up and Vanessa stepped out.

She glanced at me, then walked past me toward the doors.

I stood there, watching the woman I'd introduced to Julian enter the building as if she'd always belonged there. Then the doors closed behind her.

I walked away with a shattered heart, nowhere to go and no idea what I was going to do next.