Chapter 3

The project wrapped up beautifully, and the boss, understanding how hard the team had worked, gave us a few extra days off to rest after we finished the final touches.

I had been completely exhausted, so I was sound asleep at home when a sudden knocking at the door startled me awake.

I opened it to find Zachary standing there.

His eyes were bloodshot, his face flushed, and the strong smell of alcohol hit me as he leaned against the doorframe, looking down at me with a crooked smile. "Ava, long time no see."

I eyed him warily. "What are you doing here?"

Zach didn’t answer. Instead, he tried to step inside, but he was too drunk, his whole body slack like a pile of dead weight. Without hesitation, I kicked him right out the door.

I slammed it shut behind him.

From outside, I could hear Zach’s voice, hoarse and repetitive, like a dog barking. He kept yelling, begging me to open the door, to talk to him, to give him another chance.

People show their true selves when they’re drunk, and Zach, who had always seemed like the quiet, decent type, was really just a player at heart.

I couldn't help but feel thankful that I got out when I did.

It was 11:30 p.m., and all my neighbors were probably asleep. Zach’s raspy voice echoed down the hall, shattering the peace.

“If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the cops!” I shouted through the door.

There was a brief silence, followed by a dismissive scoff. “Ha! I don’t believe you.”

Fifteen minutes later, the police arrived.

By the time Bella showed up to collect him, Zach had sobered up enough to be quiet, his head hanging in shame.

Bella, on the other hand, glared at me with open hatred, her voice dripping with disdain. “Ava, are you some kind of witch? Why can’t you leave my boyfriend alone? Why do you keep haunting us?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. "If your boyfriend wasn’t showing up at my door in the middle of the night, begging me to take him back, do you think we’d be in this situation?"

"You...!"

Bella’s lips trembled as she shot Zach a disappointed look, then turned back to me with venom in her eyes. “Don’t kid yourself. He’s only here because you took so much money from him, and he came to get it back!”

I froze for a second.

The police officer raised an eyebrow. "Took money?"

Bella snatched Zach’s phone from his hand and scrolled through the messages and transactions. She shoved the phone in my face, showing a list of all the money Zach had spent on me over the past six months: holiday gifts, dinner tabs, plane tickets, hotel bookings—every little thing.

"Ava, now that you and Zach are over, don’t you think you should return everything he bought for you? Stop mooching off my boyfriend!"

The officer’s expression was hard to read, somewhere between sympathy and disbelief. He looked at me, unsure whether to feel sorry for me or relieved that I’d dodged a bullet.

I shook my head with a wry smile. Then, I pulled out my own receipts—fancy belts, watches, wallets, and more that I’d bought for Zach.

"Fine, let’s settle this, then. We’ll add everything up."

The comparison didn’t even require a calculator. It was obvious who had spent more on whom.

Bella was livid, especially when she realized Zach was still wearing the suit and shoes I had bought him. Her face flushed an angry, deep red.

She exhaled sharply and sneered, “So, you’ve been paying for him all along?”

Finally, Zach spoke up, nodding in my direction with a defeated look. "Yeah, she paid for everything."

At that moment, I had no interest in continuing this ridiculous conversation. Looking at them was like looking at a disaster waiting to happen. I didn’t want to waste any more energy. I accepted the officer’s suggestion for mediation and, before leaving, requested a copy of the police report.

As I stepped out into the early morning light, the streetlights were already starting to dim, and the night sky was giving way to dawn.

Bella had thrown Zach’s shoes and jacket into a nearby trash can. He stood there on the curb, shivering in his socks and shirt, waiting for a ride. As I walked past, I heard Bella muttering under her breath, all of her words aimed at me.

It was clear that Zach had come to me on his own, yet somehow, Bella twisted everything to make me the villain. Whether she was fooling herself or completely clueless, I had no idea.