Chapter 6

POV: Evelyn

The house was quiet when I stepped inside, I stood by the door with my hand still resting on the handle, letting my eyes move slowly across the familiar space.

Nothing had changed.

Everything was exactly where it had always been, from the polished floors to the carefully arranged furniture, but it didn’t feel the same anymore, and as I walked further into the foyer, I realized that the difference wasn’t the house.

It was me.

My heels made a soft sound against the floor as I moved toward the staircase, my steps steady and unhurried, because there was no reason to rush anymore, no reason to move quickly for a place that no longer belonged to me.

I didn’t call for the staff, and I didn’t look for anyone either, because I didn’t want an audience for what I was about to do.

I just wanted to leave.

When I pushed open the door to the bedroom, the air inside felt still, untouched, as if nothing had happened here at all, and for a brief moment, I simply stood there, looking at the bed, the dresser, the windows that I had spent so many nights staring out of while waiting for Arthur to come home.

That version of me felt distant now.

I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled it open, my hands moving automatically as I reached for my clothes, taking down only what I knew I would need and placing them neatly into the suitcase I had set on the bed.

I didn’t hesitate, and I didn’t linger over any of the jewellery pieces, even the ones I had once liked, because none of them held any meaning anymore. As I moved through the room, I ignored the jewelry box on the dresser and the expensive gifts that had been given to me over the years, because they were never really mine to begin with, and taking them now would feel like holding onto something that had already been taken away from me.

Instead, I focused on the important stuff instead. My documents, identification and the envelope from the clinic.

I paused for a second when I picked it up, my fingers tightening slightly around the paper before I placed it carefully into my bag, making sure it was secure before continuing.

Once the wardrobe was half empty, I moved to the drawer at the bottom and pulled it open, and that was when I saw them again.

My sketches.

They were stacked neatly where I had left them months ago, untouched and forgotten, the edges slightly worn from being handled too often in the past, and as I picked them up, I felt something shift quietly inside me.

There had been a time when these meant everything to me. When I thought this was what my life would be, but somewhere along the way, I had stopped drawing, stopped thinking about it, stopped being that person entirely without even realizing when it happened.

I ran my fingers lightly over the pages before placing them into my suitcase, not because I was sure of what I would do with them, but because leaving them behind didn’t feel right.

As I closed the drawer, the sound of footsteps outside the room made me pause, and before I could react, the door swung open without warning.

Rebecca stepped inside, her eyes moving quickly from me to the suitcase on the bed, and then back to my face, her lips curling into a familiar, mocking smile.

“So it’s finally happening,” she said, crossing her arms as she leaned against the doorframe, her voice filled with satisfaction. “I was starting to think you would drag this out longer just to be difficult.”

I didn’t respond immediately, and instead I turned back to the bed and continued packing, folding another piece of clothing and placing it neatly into the suitcase as if she wasn’t standing there at all.

“You really have no shame, do you,” she continued, pushing herself off the doorframe and walking further into the room, her heels clicking against the floor as she circled slightly closer. “Three billion dollars and a penthouse, and you still look like this is some kind of tragedy.”

I zipped one side of the suitcase before finally looking up at her, my expression calm and steady as I met her gaze.

“It’s not a tragedy,” I said quietly. 

She let out a short laugh, shaking her head as if she found that amusing. “Of course it’s over, it was over the moment Samantha came back, you just didn’t want to admit it because you were too comfortable living off our family.”

I didn’t react to that either, because arguing with her had never changed anything, and it wasn’t going to start now.

“I’ll be gone tonight,” I added simply, turning back to my suitcase.

Rebecca stopped moving for a second, clearly not expecting that answer, and when she spoke again, her tone was sharper. “Tonight? That’s faster than I expected. I guess even you know when you’re no longer welcome.”

I closed the suitcase halfway and adjusted the contents before responding, my voice still even. “I’ve known that for a long time.”

The room fell quiet after that, and for a moment, neither of us spoke as she watched me finish packing, her expression unreadable now, but I didn’t look at her again.

There was nothing left to say.

When I finally closed the suitcase completely, I placed it on the floor beside the bed before straightening up.

Rebecca scoffed softly, turning toward the door as if she had already lost interest. “Just make sure you don’t leave anything behind, I don’t want to have to deal with your leftovers after you’re gone.”

I didn’t answer her. I simply walked past her toward the door, my hand brushing lightly against the frame as I stepped out into the hallway, and this time, I didn’t stop or look back.

There was nothing in that room worth staying for. As I moved down the hallway, my phone vibrated in my hand again, and I paused briefly to look at the screen, already knowing who it was before I even read the message.

“Don’t delay. They’re already moving.”

My fingers tightened slightly around the phone, and for a moment, I stood there in silence, letting the words settle in my mind as the quiet of the house pressed in around me. Then I slipped the phone back into my  

Good riddance to fucking bad rubbish.