Chapter 3

I checked into the first hotel I found for the night. Once I'd drafted my resignation letter, I made another call.

"I'm accepting the position you offered me. I'll be landing in Moranta tomorrow."

The person on the other end was delighted and agreed immediately.

Four hours after I booked my flight, my phone lit up with a call from Julian.

I hesitated, then answered.

He sounded tired. "Yara, you left the group chat?"

Before I could respond, he continued, "Stop making a fuss. I talked to Nora, and she said you can come back. You'll have to handle the cooking and cleaning, though."

A humorless laugh escaped me. "Julian Pierce, do you people seriously think I'm your housekeeper?"

"Don't say that. You know what Nora's going through." His tone made it clear he thought I was the unreasonable one. "Just do as you're told. She's having everyone over for dinner tomorrow and already made a list. Pick up the groceries and be home on time."

A long shopping list appeared in our chat.

Cola-glazed wings for Nora. Barbecue ribs for Julian. Yvette's favorite juice. Yale's favorite chips.

The list went on for dozens of lines.

Not one thing on it was for me.

Once again, there were the four of them, and then there was me.

That was the moment whatever hope I had left finally died.

Whatever I still had left to say died right there. I hung up and blocked Julian's number.

The next morning, I took my resignation letter and headed to the office. I hadn't even made it through the doors when Nora came storming toward me with a crowd of reporters at her back.

Before I could react, she slapped me across the face.

A journal landed open at my feet.

I recognized it immediately. It was the one I'd thrown away the night before, the journal Julian had written for me over the course of our relationship.

"Yara Lane! I knew there had to be a reason you kept hanging around my home with Julian and refusing to leave!" Nora shouted. "So you've been filling a diary with fantasies about my husband this whole time? We're supposed to be best friends. How could you do something this disgusting?"

The slap had left my ears ringing, and before I could fully recover, the reporters surged forward. Cameras and microphones crowded into my face from every direction.

"Ms. Lane, we've heard you spent six years as Mr. Pierce's secretary even though other companies offered you much higher-paying executive positions. Did you stay because you were hoping to turn your relationship with your boss into something more?"

"Have you been refusing to leave Ms. Sinclair's marital home these past few months because you were trying to steal her husband and become the other woman?"

Camera flashes burst so rapidly that I could barely keep my eyes open. Passersby stopped to watch, and accusations came at me from every direction until the whole world seemed to tilt beneath my feet.

I'd had enough.

"I didn't write that journal. Julian Pierce wrote it for me!"

The crowd went quiet for a fraction of a second, and I forced the rest out before anyone could cut me off.

"Nora lost her memory. She's the one who mistook Julian for her boyfriend.

"Julian was supposed to marry me."