When Berenice saw the way Michelle carried herself, she was stunned into silence. After stammering for a long time, she finally squeezed out a line.
“Hey! I’m warning you, the most you’re getting is five million. And after you take the money, you must leave the country and cut all ties with my son.”
Michelle couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh. Without hesitation, she turned and filled out the check for five million.
This was what Stuart owed her. Why shouldn’t she take it?
Even if Berenice refused to pay, Stuart had been the one to breach the contract first, destroying Michelle’s career in the process. He still owed her this sum.
As for leaving the country and severing ties? That suited her just fine. In fact, staying in the States had only left her reputation in ruins because of Stuart.
After sending Berenice off cleanly and decisively, Michelle finally turned on her phone for the first time in days.
Among the many missed calls and vicious text messages cursing her entire family, she spotted a few calls from Stuart and several scattered messages.
She skipped over them without a second thought, and with deliberate motions, she blocked his number, deleted his messages, and wiped him off her contact list everywhere.
Just as she finished, a message arrived from Leo.
[Dr. Burnell, your contract with Mr. Huggett has now expired. Your resignation has also been signed by him. This is an official notice.]
Michelle stared at that message for a long time—so long that her eyes grew hot and misty.
‘At last. I have endured to the very end.’
Once her emotions had settled, she immediately called her landlord to terminate the lease and booked the earliest flight out that very day.
While packing, she was surprised to find how many of Stuart’s things were still scattered around her place. Bit by bit, she filled several large trash bags with them.
All that remained was a thick stack of treatment logs. After some thought, she decided to deliver them to her mentor.
Even now, she didn’t want Alfred to feel disappointed in her. After all, he was one of the very few people in her first twenty-some years of life who had ever truly treated her well.
Once she made up her mind, Michelle finally stepped outside again.
It should have been such a beautiful day, yet the city was pouring with heavy rain.
Fortunately, this time she had brought an umbrella.
The day went smoothly—she redeemed the check at the bank, and then she dropped the treatment logs off to her mentor.
On the way to the airport, her car happened to pass by the grand venue where Stuart and Janet’s wedding was to be held the next day.
Dusk was falling, and the night was closing in, yet the lights there blazed so bright they were almost blinding.
For the first time, Michelle sincerely offered them her blessing.
‘Stuart, Janet… may you spend your lives together. And may you never again know true love.’
The plane picked up speed along the runway, the world outside rushing past in a blur.
Michelle leaned toward the window, gazing downward as if all the memories of the past were vanishing with the receding lights.
“Our memories drift away like clouds on the horizon. From this parting forward, I hope we’ll never meet again...”
Meanwhile, at the wedding venue, Janet still had Stuart tied up, fussing over trivial details of the ceremony.
Normally, Stuart could muster a patient front, pretending to indulge her. But tonight, for some reason, he felt restless, unable to stop himself from checking his phone again and again.
‘How many days has it been since Michelle replied to me?’
With that thought, he opened their chat thread once more.
It used to always be her waiting for his response. Now, the roles had reversed. He was the one chasing, looking like a lovesick fool.
‘Forget it,’ he told himself. ‘She has been through a lot lately. I’ll take the initiative this time—just think of it as coaxing her.’
As though grasping at a justification, he finally convinced himself. Breaking his habit, he sent her a message first.
[Still mad? Don’t worry. I’ll help you later.]
But instead of her reply, what appeared was a cold system notification—along with a glaring red exclamation mark.
Stuart froze, staring at the screen, his brows knitted tightly in disbelief.
At that moment, Janet’s temper flared.
“Stuart! I’ve called you several times already! What are you doing?!”
This time, he couldn’t even be bothered to play along. Without sparing her a glance, he picked up the phone and called his assistant.
“Dr. Burnell?” Leo repeated on the other end. “Her contract has expired. She already resigned. You personally signed the paperwork, sir, didn’t you?”
