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Chapter 3

Auteur: Anonymous
I'd held onto every promise we'd ever made, every word she'd ever said to me. Somewhere along the way, all of it got swept up and buried under the flood of time, and Melissa's love went to someone else instead.

A rough cough tore out of me, my chest aching.

In all our years together, Melissa had given me exactly one gift: a stuffed doll. Not even a ring. She always said she hated empty gestures and wanted me to be more realistic about things. The truth was, she just couldn't be bothered to put in the effort.

That night, I set the doll on fire, the same one I'd held every night, patched and mended more times than I could count. The flames crackled and popped, burning away the last of my most naive feelings right along with it.

The next day, Melissa came home reeking of alcohol. She looked exhausted, her eyes faintly swollen and red. The moment she saw me, something impatient flickered through her dull, tired gaze.

"I was up all night taking care of Ezra. Had a drink just to stay awake, no other option. I'm going to go sleep for a bit. Can you handle dinner?"

Melissa ran a medical aesthetics company and was constantly closing deals over dinners and drinks. But out of everyone, she hated the smell of alcohol most. In her mind, business was business, and drinking only led to mistakes.

Especially with how packed her schedule always was, one careless slip could cost her everything. Alcohol clouded judgment, plain and simple, and made every risk worse. That was exactly why she'd never once let me drink at home, let alone come home smelling like a bar.

Love really was a strange thing. It could take someone who despised alcohol and have her lying about needing a drink to stay awake.

While I stood there, stunned into silence, Melissa seemed to remember something and rubbed at her eyes, looking guilty.

"I got so caught up looking after Ezra's injury yesterday that I didn't have time to get you anything. You know how busy I've been with the wedding; I barely had a second to think. Just don't get me anything either, okay?"

My eyes drifted to the bracelet on her wrist. No time to get me a gift, and yet somehow, in the middle of all that chaos, she'd found the time to design a one-of-a-kind bracelet just for the two of them.

"That's just something cheap I grabbed online..."

Melissa flinched and pulled her hand back, her expression turning unnatural.

"Ezra liked the look of it, so I just grabbed a couple online, nothing expensive. I'll make it up to you in a couple of days. It'll be something that costs way more than this, I promise.

"Don't be so hard on him. He's still recovering."

The old me would have picked a fight over this and never let it go. Now, I didn't even have it in me to argue.

"Melissa..." I opened my mouth, ready to tell her I was leaving.

We'd been a couple, after all, and I didn't want to vanish without a word. That would've been an insult to six years together.

But just as she turned to face me, her phone started buzzing nonstop in her pocket. "Hold that thought. I'll talk to you in a bit."

Melissa snatched up her phone and ran out onto the balcony, and I let my outstretched hand drop, all desire to say anything gone.

"Ezra just got up and fell again, and there's no one else to help him. I need to go check on him. Whatever you wanted to say can wait until I'm back."

She kicked off a pair of slippers I didn't even recognize, threw on a different outfit and shoes, and hurried out the door. Right as she stepped out, her foot caught the pot holding last night's burned doll, sending the ashes flying. The ash scattered through the air and settled into dust within seconds.

"What is this mess? Russell, remember to clean up while I'm out. Get whatever this filthy thing is out of the house. I want it spotless by the time I get back."

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  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 10

    "And you think you're a good match for him?" Once it registered, Melissa looked Catherine over with open disgust. "Look at yourself. You're damaged goods. Your face isn't even pretty anymore, and you're missing a hand. How exactly are you supposed to take care of Russell?"Besides, I'm the one Russell actually loves. You don't know anything about our history, about the promises we made to each other. What gives you the right to say I'm not good enough for him?"Catherine lowered her head, a shadow crossing her face. I reached out and took her hand, pulling her close against me. "Melissa, the past is the past. The second I got back, I blocked your number. You should understand what that means. We're both adults. Isn't it a little pathetic to keep dragging this out?"I'm telling you officially, right now, we're done. Please don't come near me or my family again."Whatever Melissa had been about to say caught in her throat. Her eyes went red, fixed on me, her fingers trembling.

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 9

    We looked at each other and smiled. The agency approved our request, and taking our physical condition into account, allowed us both to step back from active duty. Thankfully, during our time undercover, neither of us had used our real names. Which meant Catherine was still Catherine, and I was still myself.The moment my mother's name was finally cleared after all those years of wrongful accusation, tears streamed down my face, thick and fast. That was also when I saw my father again. He'd aged so much. The first thing he did the second he saw me was smack me hard on the head."You punk. Everyone thought Melissa broke your heart and you ran off to hide somewhere alone. Who would've guessed you were out there quietly doing something this huge."Thank you, son. You're the one who cleared your mother's name."The man in front of me had stayed strong through half a lifetime, and now he couldn't stop the tears.I hugged my father back, ready to introduce Catherine. The next moment

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 8

    After I left, every project at the company ground to a halt. The collagen partnership with the overseas firm took the worst hit. The moment their contact heard the point person had changed, he flipped, refusing to work with Melissa even if it meant losing money on the deal.Ezra tried pulling the same old tricks, flying overseas again and again to grovel, buy people dinner, beg forgiveness. But groveling had never been in his nature. One offhand comment from someone and he'd storm off to secretly call and complain, and he even got caught doing it once in a bathroom. The funniest part was that he'd been drinking water the whole time he was supposedly apologizing over drinks, not actual alcohol. He poured every ounce of his cleverness into these little schemes, and it cost them. Several overseas companies flat out swore they'd never work with them again.Melissa tried to salvage things by handing him other projects instead, and he ended up in a shouting match with a client, then tu

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 7

    After two weeks of crash training and adjusting to our new roles, Catherine and I took on our new identities and headed for the mission site. This time, I'd already made peace with the idea that I might not come back.Catherine, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease. She glanced at the weeds along the road and gave me a playful wink. "Honestly, neither of us is really scared, right? Because even without us, there'll always be someone else ready to step up and finish the job."Something in me stirred, that faint trace of conviction I still carried, and I nodded, serious. "Catherine, I want us both to make it out alive. But more than that, I want this mission to actually end."…Ten years later, the last drug den finally burned to the ground, thanks to everything Catherine and I had put into this. We held each other up and walked out of the flames, one step at a time.Ten years had changed Catherine completely. She was no longer the beautiful woman she'd once been. Two jagg

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 6

    The car kept driving until it finally stopped. And there, waiting for me, was my mentor. I hadn't seen him in years. This was the secret base hidden deep in the mountains, the place where countless heroes left from every year, and where just as many came back only as bones."Russell, my boy." My mentor took my hand, his own trembling, and made small talk as he introduced me around. Beside him stood a woman with delicate, striking features.I'd heard her name before. She was two years behind me, but a genuine ace when it came to solving cases. In just two years on the job, she'd cracked more cold cases than anyone, and people had started only half-jokingly calling her a real-life bloodhound. I'd read through her case files before. Whether it was sharpness of mind or speed of reaction, she was clearly one of the best. Not like me, who'd walked away right when it mattered most to go help Melissa run her company.A wave of shame washed over me. My mentor patted my shoulder and told ev

  • The Doormat Walks Away   Chapter 5

    Ezra shook the cream off himself, looking as pitiful and ridiculous as a clown."Russell, what do you think you're doing?" An angry shout rang out, and just as I turned to answer, a huge glob of cream slammed into me. Not satisfied with that, Melissa scraped up the mess of cream still clinging to Ezra and smeared it straight across my face.A sharp, burning itch spread over my skin instantly. I was allergic to chocolate. Even the slightest contact left me covered in hives, sometimes even swollen."If you have a problem, take it up with me directly. I'm the one who called off the wedding. Ezra has nothing to do with it. Honestly, I don't understand how anyone could be so petty over something this small."She swept off with Ezra, the two of them leaving in a hurry. I rushed into the bathroom to wash off the mess. I'd moved fast enough that only a faint red mark remained on my face.While I stood there, dazed, my mentor called. Someone would come for me first thing tomorrow morning

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