The Last Free Pass
[Free pass for letting Bianca hurt Jenna: 1 remaining.]
That was the pinned memo in the phone of Dylan Nelson, my fiance. We had been together for five years.
Bianca Shelly was his mentor’s daughter.
He had quantified every slight Jenna suffered into a spendable allowance.
Three days into our silent standoff, he took my engagement ring from the nightstand.
I tried to stop him. “That ring was registered in my name for life.”
He checked the note on his phone. His voice turned cold. “Bianca got rejected by the guy she was set up with. She’s been crying all day. She’s just borrowing it for a photo. Stop making this difficult.”
An hour later, I received an alteration alert from the jeweler’s app.
[Original recipient: Jenna Vogel. Recipient changed to: Bianca Shelly. Ownership status: Finalized and irreversible.]
I finally recalled the small print at the bottom of his note.
[If Jenna ends the relationship first, all free passes will automatically reset.]
From the beginning, he had planned to sacrifice me over and over again.
It was not that he did not understand what the ring meant. He was simply certain that I would never muster up the courage to leave him.
That evening, Dylan texted to ask whether I was done being angry.
I did not reply. I simply changed his contact name from “Babe” back to “Dylan Nelson”.
I thought. “Dylan, that was your last free pass. This time, there will be no reset.”