Chapter 4

Once I'd steadied myself, I said my goodbyes to the university and walked straight out the gate.

I didn't go digging into the girl's history with Reuben. The betrayal had already happened. Knowing more would only add to the grief.

I drove alone to the Newgarden Villa. Inside it were the furniture and little pieces I'd bought only days ago, giddy with happiness, and I'd sooner throw every bit of it in the trash than let someone else profit from it.

But my car was stopped at the entrance. "I'm sorry, miss. Your vehicle isn't registered in our system. We'll need to verify your identity."

I pulled out my ID. "I'm the owner of Building 3."

Reuben had bought it, and I'd gone with him. He'd signed on the spot, and I'd seen my own name printed on the deed with my own eyes.

"One moment, please."

A short while later the manager handed my ID back. "I'm sorry, Miss Lawson, but none of the units already sold are in your name."

Something dropped in my chest. I pulled up a photo of Reuben's ID. "What about this person?"

The manager looked down and checked. "I'm sorry, Miss Lawson. There's no record of this gentleman either."

I stood there frozen. After a long moment, I fished out my phone and called a friend. "That Newgarden development your company just finished, do me a favor and check if there's an owner listed named Penelope Fox."

Something in me already knew. Reuben had given the girl our house.

I'd barely hung up when the manager stepped forward, holding out a tablet respectfully.

The information on the screen was almost too glaring to look at.

Building 3, owner changed from Reuben Greer to Penelope Fox.

Time of change: thirty minutes ago.

Thirty minutes ago was right after Reuben took that call and slipped away.

So it was to comfort the girl? An apology gift for answering her call late?

I bit down hard, and thought of the first year we were together, when he'd missed my call because of a lab experiment.

Back then he'd cried until his eyes were red, then pulled out money he'd been saving for ages and bought me a necklace as an apology.

Now that he had money, the apology gift had gone from a fifteen-hundred-dollar silver necklace to a villa worth millions.

Ding!

A text jumped onto my screen.

【Sis, I really can't live without him. Please, please give my dear Reuben back to me.】

The words were meek, but every photo that followed had my face plastered with one insulting label after another.

The last few were intimate shots of Penelope and Reuben in bed.

I'm not a child. Those photos were more than enough to show exactly what had happened between them.

I didn't reply. I just screenshotted them and sent them to Reuben.

Then I called Betty. "Move my flight to the earliest one you can get. We're going to the company now to finish the last of the handover."

After I hung up, Reuben went more than ten minutes without a reply for the first time. Was the girl keeping him tied up? Or did he think that as long as he explained, all of this would blow over?

I laughed at myself, and my nose stung, and I couldn't stop the tears from wanting to fall.

I liked to think I could pick things up and set them down. But who can ever get a grip on matters of the heart.

Five years together, and I'd always believed my love for him was something I could hold up without shame.

I taught him how to carry himself with people, how to handle company affairs, how to work his way out of a corner.

But now there was one last lesson left to teach him: once you make a choice, you accept what comes with it.

I used my friend's access to have the manager cancel all the furniture I'd bought, then turned and headed to the company.

I buried myself in the paperwork, racing the clock through company business.

Since I'd decided on Ashford City, everything here had to be wrapped up and handed over as fast as possible.

By eleven that night I finally lifted my aching, stiff neck and picked up my phone to order myself some delivery.

The moment I opened it I saw the 99+ notification, all of it from Reuben.

I called him back. He picked up in an instant. "...Sabrina."

"Did you see the messages?" My voice was flat. "I went to Newgarden today. The manager told me I'm not the owner. Reuben, tell me, who stole my house?"

"Sabrina, let me explain! Penny grew up passed from home to home, she's got no sense of security, I only wanted to comfort her, that's why—"

"Don't fool yourself too. There's no shortage of houses out there. A whole CEO can't scrape together a million? You had to give away our wedding home?"

"Oh—I forgot. Mr. Greer sank all his cash into a water park, so of course his pockets are empty. Then you should've asked to borrow from me. I'm not the stingy type, am I?"

I couldn't hold back the malice churning in me. "Mr. Greer, the upper class isn't a cake just anyone gets a slice of."

I hung up and drove straight to a hotel to rest.

Early the next morning I went back to the house. Reuben wasn't there.

I gathered up my documents and got ready to leave in a hurry.

At the door I turned and looked back at the little home I'd lived in for years.

The succulents on the balcony we'd picked out together. The tablecloth on the dining table we'd sewn together. The faint gardenia scent in the air came from the little gardenia tree we'd bought the year we fell in love.

Now the things were still here, but the person was gone.

I shut the door and drove to the airport.