Chapter 4

Back inside my quiet apartment, I called my grandfather.

We talked for hours about his health, the family estate, and what my parents had been up to. The old man sounded like he had a lifetime of stories saved up just for me.

It was past midnight when my mother gently took the phone, telling me Grandpa had fallen asleep mid-sentence. She gave me a few sweet words of encouragement before hanging up.

I took a deep, grounding breath. Just as I climbed into bed, Scarlett's best friend called me.

"Logan! Scarlett got completely wasted at Gus's diner! You better get down here and pick her up right now!"

Right after the call, Gus sent me a short video clip.

It was clearly filmed from behind a pillar.

In the clip, Scarlett was practically draped over Trevor's lap, whispering in his ear with flushed cheeks while Trevor grinned like a kid in a candy store.

Scarlett's best friend had always looked down on me.

She believed someone as gorgeous as Scarlett was wasted on a "greasy street vendor" like me. In her eyes, Trevor—a corporate climber—was the perfect match for Scarlett.

She wasn't calling out of concern. She was setting a trap to humiliate me.

Before I could reply, Scarlett's drunken screech cut through the background of the call:

"Tell him I'm not going home with him tonight!"

"I'm going back to Trevor's place!"

"He wants to break up with me?! I'll make him regret it for the rest of his life!"

Her friend chuckled with mocking sweetness into the receiver. "Hear that, Logan? If you don't hurry, Scarlett's sleeping in Trevor's bed tonight."

I yawned softly into the mic. "Sounds great. Tell them I wish them a happy life together."

I hung up and drifted straight off to sleep.

Around three in the morning, a loud crash woke me from a deep slumber.

I blinked open my eyes to see a silhouette standing right beside my bed in the pale moonlight.

Her hair was a messy nest; her mascara was smeared. She looked like a vengeful ghost from a horror movie.

A cold shiver ran down my spine before I realized who it was.

The ghost spoke.

"Logan! How can you be this cold-blooded?! I went out for drinks with Trevor, got drunk, and told you to pick me up, and you didn't even show up?!"

"Aren't you terrified that he actually took me home and slept with me?!"

My brain was still half-asleep. Was I having a nightmare?

In the past, whenever she partied late with her friends and I worriedly showed up to bring her home, she would publicly humiliate me:

"Logan! Do I not even have the freedom to hang out with my friends?!"

"Why are you so controlling and insecure?!"

Her friends' mocking laughter still echoed in my memory.

Now, when I actually let her have her fun, she broke into my room to scream at me?

I rubbed my tired eyes. "Scarlett, we are broken up. What you do with your body is your own business."

"You're a grown woman. Face the consequences of your own choices."

Scarlett froze. Then, a triumphant smirk crept onto her face.

"Ha! I knew it. You're jealous."

"I knew Gus was filming us. I made sure he did."

"I staged the whole thing just to get a reaction out of you."

"And look at you—still the same petty little boy you've always been."

I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 3:15 AM.

Scarlett crawled onto my mattress, swaying from the alcohol. She ran a hand along her leg, adjusting her stocking.

"What? Are you still mad because I let Trevor touch my leg today?"

"Fine. You can touch it as much as you want tonight."

"From now on, whenever I go out for drinks, I'll even let you tag along."

Her cold, clammy hands reached out greedily toward my bare chest.

I flinched and shoved her off immediately.

Scarlett scowled in frustration. "What more do you want?!"

"Do you expect me to cut Trevor out of my life entirely?"

"How am I supposed to work with him at the office?!"

"I don't give a damn what you do at the office," I snapped, sitting up. "I just want to sleep."

I took a deep breath. "I believe you're pure and innocent, okay? Happy? Can you get the hell out so I can sleep?"

A flicker of hurt and confusion flashed in her drunken eyes.

I pulled the blanket over my head, ignoring her.

A second later, she violently yanked the duvet off my body, exposing me to the freezing room air.

"Scarlett, are you insane?!" I yelled. "If you don't want to sleep, fine, but leave me alone!"

Suddenly, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around me. The stench of stale alcohol hit my nose as she pressed her face into my neck, her voice cracking.

"Logan... please. You never used to treat me like this. If you're still upset, you can have me tonight. Take whatever you want..."

Her hands began snaking down my torso, her drunken breath warm against my throat.

Months ago, I would have been over the moon.

Now, all I felt was absolute revulsion.

I grabbed her wrists, peeled her off me, and shoved her right off the bed onto the rug.

"I'm tired, and I have hygiene standards."

"If you're that horny, go call Trevor."

Scarlett stared up at me in disbelief. Within seconds, her face contorted in rage, and she lunged at me like a feral cat, screaming curses.

"You bastard! How dare you?!"

I had zero patience left for her tantrums. I locked her arms behind her back, dragged her out into the hallway, shoved her out of the bedroom, and slammed the deadbolt shut.

She kicked the heavy wooden door several times, screaming at the top of her lungs, before silence fell.

A minute later, the front door slammed shut downstairs.

She was gone.

In the past, whenever she pulled this walk-out trick at night, I would run through the dark streets in panic, terrified for her safety, practically begging on my knees for her to come home.

Now? Sleeping was way more important.

With that manic energy of hers, she wasn't in any danger.