Chapter 3

### Chapter 3

I choked on the words as I spoke into the phone.

"Julian Harding... I don't want to get married anymore..."

On the other end, he was quiet for a moment, then said, "I told you a long time ago that Felix Barnes wasn't reliable. Look at you. You had a perfectly good life as the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, and you threw it away to be some hard-luck sweetheart building a life from nothing with him. Secretary, they call you. I'd say you've turned into his nanny..."

Back then I loved him with everything I had, foolish enough to believe we'd grow old together. Looking at it now, this whole thing was a one-woman play, start to finish.

"Leila." He let the old argument drop. "If you're unhappy, I'll come bring you home tomorrow."

The heart that had gone cold all night warmed a little at that. I said softly,

"Okay."

After I hung up, I went to the office to submit my resignation.

Back when I first got together with Felix, Julian had been dead set against it. I'd said a lot of harsh things to him over it, and I refused to see him on holidays.

Looking at it now, I was wrong beyond words.

Olive hadn't thought much of Felix at first either. To her, a man with no background was exactly the kind of ordinary person who only wanted the Harding money, with nothing good in mind.

And Felix couldn't stand the way she stirred up trouble.

Then one day the power tripped in the apartment where Olive lived, and she called me while I was out of town, so I sent Felix over to her place.

After that, Olive's little "help me" calls started coming to Felix now and then.

At first I didn't think anything of it. Not until Felix bailed on our plans, over and over, to go help Olive. Not until I saw that stack of delivery receipts. Not until now, when everyone thinks the two of them are the real couple.

It wasn't that I never made a scene about it.

But every time, Felix had some reason ready to throw back at me.

"Leila, I saw with my own eyes how much it destroyed you when your mother passed. Olive is your sister. It's too dangerous for her out there on her own. I can't even imagine how you'd fall apart if something happened to her."

"Everything I'm doing is for you. I don't want you sinking back into that pain."

Every time, it was for me.

But Felix, what makes you think I wouldn't be hurt while you use excuses like that to appoint yourself Olive's "guardian angel"?

Now all I feel is my beating heart being held over an open flame every waking moment, scorched raw, until I can't catch my breath from the pain.

To protect Olive, he handpicked a dozen bodyguards for her. Even when she only scraped the skin on her arm by accident, Felix flew into a rage, cursing that pack of bodyguards as useless, said they couldn't even keep one girl safe.

Yet he'd been the one to say he liked a partner who was independent, not some pampered little thing who wailed to the heavens over a scratch.

To protect Olive, he personally took her on vacation to the Aegean Sea. That was where I'd planned to hold our wedding, and he'd turned me down, saying the trip was too far and a waste of time.

That was the first time he missed our appointment to get the marriage license. I waited alone at the county clerk's office for the whole day.

There were plenty more things like that. So many that I hated myself for remembering every single one of them down to the bone.

I patted my own cheeks, forcing myself to stop remembering.

When I got to the office, Felix wasn't in.

Because of the peculiar nature of my position, HR didn't dare make the call for the boss.

So they phoned Felix.

But the moment they said my name, he cut them off in that cold voice.

"Haven't I already said that when I'm out of the office, she can sign the important contracts in my place? It's just one person leaving. I shouldn't have to teach you the paperwork for that."

My heart gave a jolt.

Felix had always been like this. Of everyone in the company, he trusted me most.

So when he wasn't there, I could make any decision in his place.

He trusted my love for him that much, certain that no matter what, I would never betray him, never leave him.

And it was exactly that trust that let him, again and again, brazenly play at being another woman's partner under the lie of "helping out."

Just as I stood there not knowing what to say, his voice came through again.

This time, it wasn't for me.

Under the seemingly angry tone, there was nothing but concern.

"Didn't I tell you to rest? The doctor said your fetal heartbeat is unstable right now. Why are you running around barefoot?"

Then came Olive's sugary voice.

"It's a call from the company, though. I didn't want it to hold up your work, so I grabbed the phone and hurried to find you..."

After that, I took the phone from HR and pressed to hang up.

In that moment, it felt like an invisible hand closed hard around my chest.

I stood frozen where I was, the noise around me blurring into a muddy backdrop, a ringing in my ears, cold spreading through my whole body.

Olive was pregnant!

So it turned out that his putting off the marriage license, all his fretting over his sister, had nothing to do with caring about a future sister-in-law. He'd already made a child of love with her.

HR opened their mouth to say something more, but I'd already picked up the company seal and stamped it straight onto the resignation.

I left without a backward glance.

Whatever happened to Felix had nothing to do with me anymore.