The office door was thrown open without warning.Sera Hayes, wearing sunglasses and a hat, dressed entirely in black, strode directly in. Liam Reed trailed dutifully behind her.“Mr. Thorne,” Chloe Green, my assistant, startled, sprang to his feet, instinctively stepping in front of me.“Leave us,” I said, looking at Sera, my voice utterly flat, devoid of any emotion.My assistant gave me a worried glance but still retreated, closing the door behind him.Only the three of us remained in the office.“What are you doing here?”
I asked.Sera took off her sunglasses. Her eyes had a network of red veins, but her face was perfectly calm.“To discuss terminating my contract,” she said, pulling Liam down onto the sofa opposite me and tossing a document onto the table. “I hope we can part ways amicably. It’ll be better for the company, and for you.”“Amicable parting?” I laughed as if she’d told the biggest joke. “Sera Hayes, you call last night’s meticulously planned betrayal ‘amicable’?”“You didn’t just ruin a proposal. You destroyed a commercial project worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the core of our company’s plans for the second half of the year. You know that better than anyone!”
She scoffed, leaning back, an expression of unreasonable defiance on her face.“Business, business, your mind is always on business! I’m sick of it! I’m not your money-making tool!”Liam tried to come to her rescue. “Mr. Thorne, don’t blame Sera… it’s all my fault, we truly love each other…”“You shut up,” I said, sweeping a cold glance over him. “You don’t get a say here!”Liam’s face paled, and he said no more.This scene completely enraged Sera. She shot up, glaring at me.“Alex Thorne! That’s enough! You’re always so high and mighty! Who do you think you are? My savior?”
“I’m telling you, every day I spent with you suffocated me! You sold your house, you drank with people until you bled—that wasn’t for me, that was for your ambition! For your investment! I was just your most successful investment case!”Every word she spoke twisted the knife, hitting every one of my raw nerves, brazenly.“So, five years of our relationship—that was an investment too? Me eating instant ramen and sleeping on the floor with you—an investment? Me staying up all night outside the ER—was that an investment too?!”
I lifted my head, meeting her gaze, asking each word slowly, deliberately.She stuttered for a moment, avoiding my gaze.I smiled, but my eyes burned, tears threatening to fall.“Sera Hayes, I’ll ask you just one thing,” I took a deep breath. “What exactly were these five years to you?”She was silent for a moment, a look of hardened resolve appearing on her face.“Consider it… paid back.”She paused, then a mocking smile twisted her lips.
“Oh, right, I forgot to tell you.”She reached out and put her arm around Liam’s shoulder, her palm gently resting on her still-flat stomach.“I’m pregnant. I have to be responsible for him, and for our child.”Pregnant. So that was it.The last thread of my sanity, snapped.It turned out, I had simply set the stage for a cheating lover and his bastard child.
