“Ms. Henson, your grandmother's account balance is running low. Could you top it up in the next couple of days for next quarter's fees?”
“Of course. I'll transfer it right away.”
I hung up and stared at my mobile banking balance.
Gavin had been generous over the years, but most of what he gave me had been swallowed by Grandma Stella's medical bills—a pit that never filled. The rest I'd set aside, bit by bit, for exactly a day like this.
Now, with a baby on the way, the expenses would only grow.
I was still running the numbers in my head when a red Ferrari pulled up beside me.
The window slid down, revealing Connor Harding's irreverent grin.
“Well, well. If it isn't our very own Secretary Henson. What are you doing out here alone?”
Connor pulled off his sunglasses, and his gaze dropped to the hand I'd pressed over my lower belly without thinking. The playfulness left his eyes in an instant.
“Are you sick?”
Connor and I had been high school classmates. Back then he was the school's resident troublemaker, and I was the scholarship kid who did nothing but study.
Neither of us would have guessed we'd cross paths again years later in circles like these.
“No, just visiting a friend.”
I shoved the lab report deeper into my bag.
Connor clearly didn't buy it. He pushed the door open and stepped out, his tall frame casting a shadow over me.
“Eudora, you can't even look at me when you lie.”
He moved closer. He smelled faintly of tobacco, though it wasn't unpleasant.
“Did that bastard Gavin do something to you?”
The mention of Gavin's name sent a small, sharp tremor through my chest.
“No.”
“Get in.” Connor pulled the passenger door open without waiting for an answer.
“Cabs don't come through here. I'll give you a ride.”
I couldn't argue my way out of it, so I got in.
In the car, Connor kept up what sounded like casual conversation, but his eyes never really left me.
“Heard that green tea Lauren is back. Has Gavin lost his mind? He'd throw away someone like you just to crawl back to an old flame?”
I watched the scenery blur past the window and said quietly：
“He never wanted me to begin with.”
Connor slammed the brakes. The car jerked to a stop at the curb.
He turned to face me, staring hard, eyes full of the kind of frustrated anger that has nowhere to go.
“Eudora! What is it you even want from him? His money? Name a number, I'll cover it. Him? His heart is made of stone. You spent five years trying to warm it and it's still cold. How is that not enough?”
I lowered my head, heat prickling behind my eyes.
Five years.
I'd told myself that if I was obedient enough, considerate enough, one day he'd finally see me.
But the moment Lauren came back, I knew. A stand-in is always a stand-in.
“Connor, I'm leaving.”
My voice was barely above a whisper.
Connor froze. The anger drained from his face, and something close to raw, unguarded relief took its place.
“Where to? I'll take you.”
“I haven't decided yet, but……as far away as possible.”
Connor held my gaze for a long moment, then put the car back in gear.
“Done. Wherever you want to go, end of the earth, I've got you.”
By the time I got back to Hillside Manor, it was already dark.
Gavin sat on the living room sofa with a laptop open in front of him, his expression cold and remote.
He didn't look up when the door opened.
“Oh, so you can bear to come home. I thought you were spending the night out.”
Every word dripped with a sneer that scraped.
I changed my shoes and said nothing. I didn't want to fight with him.
“Go make dinner. Lauren wants sweet and sour ribs.”
He closed the laptop and issued the order like a man accustomed to being waited on.
My feet stopped mid-step.
I was his secretary, not his housekeeper.
Before, I'd done it willingly, because I loved him, because I wanted to take care of him.
But now……
