All Chapters of What the Sea Wind Took: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Professor Harris, about the position you've been holding for me. I've decided to accept it."I held my phone, standing on the empty deck at the stern of the yacht. The sea wind pressed my hair flat against the side of my face, but my voice was calmer than I had expected.The line went quiet for a few seconds."Evelyn, are you sure?" Professor Harris's tone carried both surprise and caution. "Two months ago you told me your partner was in New York and that you wanted to stay there. The lab kept this opportunity open because I believe in your ability, but once you sign the appointment papers this time, you can't back out again for personal reasons."I looked down at my hands.The pair of dark blue cufflinks had pressed two deep red marks into my palm. On the inside of each cufflink, a tiny line of engraved text: From nothing, to side by side.Those were words Alex had said to me ten years ago, when he was first starting his company.Back then, he couldn't afford an office, so we squeeze

Chapter 2

I pushed open the apartment door. Inside, everything was dark.On the living room coffee table sat the pot of soup I had made that afternoon. Alex had a weak stomach and hadn't eaten before the party. Worried he'd come home in pain, I had poured the soup into a thermos to keep it warm.I walked over, twisted off the lid, and poured every drop down the kitchen sink.The faint smell of herbs was washed away by the cold water.I went back to the bedroom and dragged a dust-covered suitcase from the bottom of the closet.Ten years sounded like a long time, but the things that truly belonged to me amounted to pathetically little.The closet was full of dresses, handbags, and coats Alex had sent over. Every time he broke a promise, denied our relationship in public, or left me sitting alone in a restaurant because of a phone call from Lillian, he would have his assistant deliver an expensive gift.I used to read those gifts as apologies.Now I understood they were just the price he paid for m

Chapter 3

The next morning, just past dawn, I was woken by my phone buzzing.Alex's name flashed on the screen.I answered but didn't speak.His voice came through the speaker, tired from staying up all night but still self-righteous. "Evelyn, you up? Lillian's craving the crab cakes from that little spot in Brooklyn. I've got an international video call at eight that I can't get out of. Go pick up an order and bring it to her hotel. Make sure they put it in an insulated bag. She doesn't eat anything cold."His tone was as casual as if he were giving instructions to a personal assistant, as if last night's argument had never happened.He had always been like this, used to being taken care of, used to putting the damage he did to me on hold for later.I looked at the apartment key I had already set down on the coffee table and cut him off calmly. "Alex, we're done."For a few seconds, the other end of the line was silent.Then he let out a cold laugh, barely containing his anger. "What's gotten i

Chapter 4

Three days later. Boston.I sat on a bench by the Charles River, flipping through the project files the lab had sent over."You're allowed to take a break, you know."A steaming cup of coffee appeared in front of me.I looked up into Daniel's warm, smiling eyes. He had been a few years ahead of me in college and was now the project lead on Professor Harris's team. When I gave up my position ten years ago, he was already working in Boston. Seeing me again now, he didn't ask why I had lost all those years and didn't look me over with pity."Thanks." I took the coffee."Warm, no ice." He sat at the other end of the bench, deliberately leaving a comfortable distance between us. "The professor mentioned you have a sensitive stomach. I figured something too strong wouldn't sit well after a long flight."Alex had lived with me for ten years and never once remembered that I couldn't drink iced coffee on an empty stomach. When he had his assistant order drinks, the only preference he ever remem

Chapter 5

Alex rushed up to me and reached for my wrist out of habit. "Come back to New York with me."As always, it wasn't a request. It was an order.Before he could touch me, Daniel stood and placed himself squarely between us. "Sir, step back. She didn't say you could touch her."Alex narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down, a sneer curling the corner of his mouth. "Who do you think you are, butting into our business?"He turned to me, his eyes blazing with the fury of someone who felt betrayed. "So this is the next one? You went through all this trouble to come to Boston just to be with him? You'd throw away ten years over one party?"Even now, he still thought I was jealous, still thought this was all a ploy to make him cave.I stepped out from behind Daniel and looked him straight in the eye. "Mr. Grant, we've already broken up."The unfamiliar formality landed hard. Alex's eyes narrowed sharply, and a muscle in his jaw jumped."Broken up?" He lowered his voice. "Did I agree to that?

Chapter 6

Winter arrived early in Boston.I threw myself entirely into the lab. During the day, I processed cell samples and data. At night, I caught up on the papers I had missed over the years. A ten-year gap couldn't be closed in a matter of days, and I often worked late into the night. But that exhaustion felt nothing like before.Before, I was tired because I was cleaning up Alex's never-ending messes. Now, I was tired because I was rebuilding my own life.No more late-night social calls, no more last-minute canceled dinners, and no woman who could summon him away from me with a single "I'm scared."Former colleagues occasionally forwarded me news from New York.Alex had stayed in Boston for only two days before an urgent call from the board pulled him back.After I left, Lillian had joined the company as "Head of Brand and Strategy," stepping directly into the role I had actually performed for years but had never been officially recognized for.She didn't understand the core business and r

Chapter 7

The following spring, our team's new diagnostic technology received its patent approval.As a core researcher, I delivered my first public presentation at an academic forum. The video was picked up by industry media, and many people who had known me before finally realized that the woman who had stood behind Alex all those years was not some jobless partner living off a rich man.The ability had been mine all along. I had simply hidden myself away for ten years over a promise.I heard that Alex saw the video during his company's restructuring hearing.In the footage, I stood on stage in a black suit, fielding questions from a panel of experts. Daniel sat in the front row, his gaze calm and attentive.Meanwhile, Alex sat among a group of creditors and board members who were demanding he liquidate assets and step down from management.From that day on, packages started arriving at my apartment.The first was a rare, out-of-print medical atlas. Five years ago, I had lingered over it in a

Chapter 8

Boston was hit by a rare blizzard.Flights were grounded, the T was running behind, and the entire city was buried in white.I didn't expect Alex to show up outside my apartment building in weather like this.That evening, the building manager called to tell me a man was pacing outside the entrance and refusing to leave. He didn't have an appointment, wasn't a resident, and kept insisting that security tell me to come downstairs.I pulled back the curtain and saw Alex standing under a streetlamp.He had no umbrella, just a black overcoat. Snow had piled thick on his shoulders and in his hair, his face was blue with cold, yet he kept his head tilted up, staring at my window.He was using the pity play that had always worked best on me.In the past, all it took was a stomachache, getting caught in the rain, or standing outside my door for ten minutes, and I would cave. He must have been certain that if he humbled himself enough to endure one night in the snow, I would rush downstairs and

Chapter 9

Once the restraining order took effect, Alex was finally, completely shut out.New York's circles were small, and people still occasionally forwarded me updates about him.Grant Biotechnologies didn't survive the winter. A major contract breach, triggered financing covenants, and a regulatory investigation all hit at once, and the company entered bankruptcy restructuring. Multiple properties and vehicles under Alex's name were frozen by the court, and the board voted him out.When Lillian saw him fall, she cleaned out the cash and a few collectibles from his private safe, then left for Europe with a trust-fund heir.Alex chased her all the way to the private terminal, but the other man's security blocked him at the gate. He collapsed on the ground, and Lillian didn't even roll down her window.A friend sent me a voice message, her voice caught between pity and disbelief. "You haven't seen what he looks like now. He moved back to that little apartment he rented when he first started the

Chapter 10

Three years later, the Global Biomedical Summit was held in New York.I returned as an invited research specialist to the city where I had lived for ten years, bringing my team's latest findings. Daniel, now both my husband and my research partner, came with me for the whole trip.When the conference ended, autumn rain was falling over New York.We walked side by side through the glass doors of the venue. Daniel opened a long black umbrella and tilted most of it over me without a word."Tired?" he asked, glancing down. "Rest at the hotel first, or head straight to dinner?""Dinner first." I looped my arm through his. "All I had for lunch was a cup of coffee.""I figured." He shook his head with a rueful smile. "I already had the restaurant swap out everything on the menu you can't eat."As we headed down the steps, I caught a figure at the edge of my vision, just beyond the barricades.A man in a worn jacket, clutching a rain-soaked summit brochure.Alex.Three years, and he had aged s

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