Chapter 3

I didn't go to the industry gala that weekend.

Instead, I spent those two days listing more than half of my belongings on Facebook Marketplace.

The coffee machine I'd carefully picked out.

The row of thriving succulents on the balcony.

The expensive ergonomic chair I'd bought for the home office.

Anything I couldn't take with me, I sold cheap.

Buyers came by one after another to pick things up.

Luckily, Ethan wasn't home, which saved me from having to explain anything.

As the once-cozy, crowded apartment slowly emptied out, I felt lighter than I had in years.

On Monday afternoon, an urgent legal contract came up that required Ethan's signature.

My company had an ongoing project with his architecture firm, and the contract was currently moving through legal review.

So I had no choice but to go to his office myself.

The moment I stepped into the lobby, I sensed something was off.

The receptionist avoided my eyes, her expression strangely uncomfortable.

"Ms. Mitchell, you're here to see Ethan? He's... he's in the conference room upstairs."

She handed me a visitor badge.

I nodded, took the documents, and headed straight for the second floor.

The upstairs conference room had floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

The moment I rounded the corner, I stopped.

Ethan stood in front of the projector with a laser pointer in his hand, explaining the plans displayed on the screen.

And sitting directly in front of him, in the most prominent seat at the table, was Sophie.

A pile of scattered documents lay in front of her as she rubbed her hair in frustration.

Ethan stopped speaking, walked over, and pulled the pencil from her hand.

His tone was stern, but there was unmistakable affection underneath it.

"This is the third time you've gotten this calculation wrong. I told you yesterday, you can't just eyeball the load-bearing wall thickness. Redo it. No cutting corners."

Sophie pouted and looked up at him.

"I was up past midnight revising the drawings. My brain's fried. Can't you just do it for me?"

Ethan kept a straight face and lightly tapped her forehead with his knuckles.

"No. Your project, your responsibility. You don't get it done, you're not leaving tonight."

But despite what he said, he pulled out the chair beside Sophie and sat down.

Then he took a sheet of scratch paper and walked her through the calculations step by step.

Sunlight fell across his profile.

He looked so gentle.

I'd never seen Ethan look that gentle before.

I stood outside the glass wall and watched them quietly.

I wasn't jealous anymore.

I was just tired of auditioning for a role that was never mine.

My fiancé was playing both mentor and protector for another woman.

Meanwhile, as Ethan's fiancée, I couldn't even get basic concern from him.

A few designers passing nearby noticed me and started whispering.

"That's Ethan's fiancée, right? Looks intense. No wonder he never brings her up."

"Sophie's more his type, don't you think? Sweet, soft-spoken. You can tell he actually cares about her. He's practically mentoring her one-on-one."

"I mean, everyone knows Sophie's the one that got away. If she hadn't left for London, there wouldn't even be a Grace Mitchell in the picture."

I heard every word.

I didn't storm into the room and cause a scene.

I didn't turn around and run either.

I straightened my collar, pushed open the conference room door, and walked in without hesitation.

The door swung open with a bang, cutting through the low conversation.

Ethan looked up.

The second he saw me, his brows pulled together, and he instinctively shifted away from Sophie.

"What are you doing here? This is a work area. Who told you that you could just walk in?"

I approached the table and dropped the contract in front of him.

Not loudly.

But firmly enough to demand attention.

"Legal needs your signature urgently. You weren't answering your phone, so I had to bring it over myself. Mr. Holloway, please review it and sign if everything looks good. I'm in a hurry."

Ethan glanced at the contract, his expression souring.

He pulled out his phone.

Sure enough, several missed calls from me were on the screen.

Sophie spoke from beside him.

"Grace, don't blame Ethan. He was helping me with the data just now and had his phone on silent. It's my fault, really. I'm so slow, I held him up."

I turned toward her.

I gave her a cold smile.

"Sophie, you are quite slow, aren't you? Load-bearing wall calculations—that's freshman-year stuff. And you still need the head of this firm to walk you through it step by step."

I paused.

"I have to say, the hiring standards here really have dropped."

Sophie's face went white.

Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

Ethan shot to his feet and stepped in front of her.

"Grace Mitchell! What the hell are you saying? You don't know the first thing about this work! Get out!"

I watched him scream at me to defend another woman.

And the last trace of bitterness inside me disappeared.

I didn't even want to cry.

Because I didn't care about Ethan anymore.

I held out the pen, my voice perfectly flat.

"Sign it, and I'll leave."

Ethan glared at me before angrily scrawling his signature across the page.

I gathered the documents and walked out of the conference room without another word.

The gossip continued behind me in the hallway.

I didn't care anymore.