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بيت / The Christmas I Left / Chapter 9

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Chapter 9

مؤلف: Rui Rui
Two days after Christmas, and the holiday high was officially over.

I headed into the office like it was any other Tuesday.

The place was pretty dead, which gave me exactly the kind of quiet I needed.

I needed the silence to map out my next moves.

I knew Eric wouldn't just take the "L" and move on.

After my dad shut him down, his only move left was to show up at my job and cause a scene.

I'd already given the front desk and security a massive heads-up.

I gave them his description and a clear ord
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  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 21

    After Paris, life just settled into a perfect rhythm.Busy at work, thriving on the weekends.Everything was exactly where it should be.One evening, my mom called."Evelyn, Mrs. Patterson from the old building called. She said the Whitmores finally sold their apartment."That was Candace's neighbor who's tight with my mom."Oh?" I said, totally unbothered while I adjusted my face mask."Supposedly they needed the cash for Harold's medical bills. They barely cleared enough to pay off debts and cover a few months of hospital stays.""The whole family moved into some rental way out in the sticks. Sounds like a total dump with no grocery stores in sight."My mom didn't sound happy about it—just... indifferent. A "how the mighty have fallen" kind of vibe."Got it," I murmured."And... Eric actually showed up in town a few days ago.""He went to Mr. Henderson's house begging for a job recommendation. Henderson chewed him out and kicked him off the porch.""Word is he looks like hell. Totall

  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 20

    Time flies.Before I knew it, summer had hit.The condo was finished. After three months of airing it out, I finally moved in.Every single rug, lamp, and chair was hand-picked by me.The gardenias on the balcony were blooming, and the whole place smelled like a dream.I started a new job.Marketing Manager at a top-tier multinational. The paycheck was a massive upgrade.The team was great, and the office vibe was actually healthy.I'd cut out the old crowd completely. No more drama, no more gossip.Weekends weren't for cleaning and cooking for six people anymore.It was brunch with Rachel, solo trips to the Met, concerts, or just crushing it at the gym.I even signed up for French classes.Twice a week, starting from a very shaky "Bonjour."I'd gotten leaner, and my skin was actually glowing.Guys were starting to notice, too.A couple of clients, a trainer from the gym—everyone was hitting my DMs.I turned them all down. Politely, of course.I just wasn't ready to share my space yet.

  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 19

    The first thing I did after Eric left was call Rachel."He showed up.""Are you okay?! He didn't try anything, did he?!" Rachel's voice was instantly on edge."I'm fine. He's gone," I said, watching the city skyline soften in the twilight. "The guy is... totally broken. He's got no fight left."Rachel went quiet for a beat, then let out a sigh."Makes sense. After the one-two punch you delivered, even a man of steel would be a wreck.""Now, we just wait for his signature.""Don't worry. I'm all over it."I hung up and started a hot bath with essential oils and salts.I soaked in the warmth and just closed my eyes.Eric's face didn't haunt me anymore. Neither did the years of disrespect or rage.Instead, I was mentally decorating my new place.A cream-colored sectional for the living room, definitely a reclaimed wood coffee table.Gardenias and succulents all over the balcony.And the bedroom walls? My favorite shade of pale blue.I even started scrolling through West Elm for curtain id

  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 18

    Three days later, my phone buzzed with an unknown number.I knew it was him immediately.I didn't even hesitate.I picked up."I'm outside your new place," he said, his voice sounding like he'd been swallowing broken glass. "I heard about the new job. The new condo. God, you're good, Evelyn."The rage was gone. He sounded completely empty."Let's talk," he whispered. "One last time. Please."I thought about it for a beat. "Fine. Come up."Rachel told me I was crazy to meet him alone.But I knew he was done. He didn't have a fight left in him.He was a snake with no fangs.I needed this last showdown.I needed to put a period at the end of this sentence once and for all.A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.I opened it.I almost didn't recognize the man standing in the hall.He'd lost at least twenty pounds. His eyes were sunken into his skull, and his face was covered in a messy beard.That expensive coat of his hung off his frame like a wrinkled, ill-fitting costume.He stepped ins

  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 17

    Eric's POVThe last forty-eight hours had been a living hell for Eric.Ever since their walk of shame back from my hometown, the vibe in that apartment had been toxic.Candace was terrified to even crack the door open, convinced the neighbors were just waiting to tear her a new one.At the preschool, Brittany's coworkers were whispering behind her back about her "legendary" sister-in-law.And of course, every bit of that resentment was aimed straight at Eric.He'd finally resigned himself to the divorce.His lawyer basically told him he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell—the best-case scenario was an uncontested divorce where he walked away with nothing.But his ego wouldn't let him accept that.He was still delusional enough to think he could play the "pity card" and guilt me into cutting him a check for a hundred grand.Clinging to that fantasy, he walked into his office.The second he stepped through the door, he knew something was off.Every single person he passed was giving

  • The Christmas I Left   Chapter 16

    I met up with Rachel the next morning.She looked even more hyped than I was, her eyes practically glowing with malice.She dropped a heavy manila envelope onto the coffee table."It's all here. The full tea."I opened it up. It was a thick stack of high-quality dossiers.Everything was in crisp, clear color.Page one: a selfie of the girl.Long hair, white sundress... She really did look like a carbon copy of me from ten years ago.She had that sickeningly sweet smile.Below the photo was her bio: name, age, college, and major.Starting on page two were pages of bank statements.Two full years of thousand-dollar transfers from Eric's secondary card to her account.The memo line on every single one: "Living Expenses."Then came movie stubs, dinner receipts, and even reservation confirmations for a weekend at a spa resort.The paper trail was ironclad. Total slam dunk.I flipped through the pages slowly.My face was a mask.But inside, my skin was crawling.I wasn't jealous. I wasn't ev

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