Even though I'd already decided to end things, hearing those words still felt like a wad of cotton had been stuffed into my chest.
Suffocating. Unbearable.
Yolanda didn't like me showing my face in public, and she refused to eat food from restaurants. So I'd willingly become the man behind her, content to stay in the shadows.
Four years of genuine devotion, and in her eyes, I was nothing but a parasite leeching off her money.
She had no idea that those papers weren't some gift registry.
They were share-transfer documents worth over a hundred million dollars.
I looked at her quietly.
"Yolanda, you know exactly what that jade pendant represents. It's the symbol of the Morton family patriarch."
"And you gave it to Nathan. What does that make me?"
Yolanda let out a derisive laugh, one brow arching high.
"Nathan's work is outstanding. He's my right hand at the company. He deserves it."
"You're nothing but a deadbeat who lives off a woman's money. The fact that I even agreed to get engaged to you should've been enough. You should've been grateful."
"Clement, I'm telling you to quit while you're ahead. Walk through the ceremony like a good boy. If you want a jade pendant so badly, I'll pick one up for you at an antique auction. But if you keep throwing a tantrum, don't blame me when I cut you loose for good."
She still didn't understand.
It was never about the object. It was about what it meant.
Or maybe, in her mind, my feelings had never mattered at all.
"Is that so? Be my guest."
I said it calmly, then turned to leave.
But at the door, several bodyguards blocked my path. They stood shoulder to shoulder like a wall across the exit.
Yolanda drained the last of the wine in her glass, her tone languid and unhurried.
"Clement, since you insist on breaking up, shouldn't you return what belongs to me?"
"Don't forget. That suit you're wearing? I paid for it."
Her gaze carried a thin edge of cruelty.
"So. Take it off."
I froze.
I'd come straight here in the suit. I hadn't brought a change of clothes.
And Yolanda knew that.
Looking at that familiar face, I suddenly found it laughable. I must have been blind back then to have ever fallen for someone like her.
Someone nearby couldn't bear it and spoke up. "Ms. Morton, there are so many guests watching. Why not let Mr. Delgado keep a little dignity?"
Yolanda crossed one leg over the other, unmoved.
"That's exactly the problem. I gave him too much dignity in the past, and it spoiled him rotten. Made him think he could act however he pleased. It's time he learned to behave."
"Clement, if you don't want to strip, fine. Admit you were wrong. Promise you'll never make trouble for Nathan again. Then we can carry on with the engagement banquet."
Nathan draped his arm around her shoulder and covered his mouth with a laugh.
"Come on, Clement. She's giving you an out. Why fight it?"
"Don't worry, nobody here will judge you for going back on your word. After all, we've all seen plenty of gold diggers like you."
Yolanda pressed a tender kiss to Nathan's fingertips, clearly pleased by the way he'd put me in my place.
The gawking stares of the crowd burned against my skin like open flame.
A thick, choking wave of humiliation rose inside me.
This was exactly what Yolanda wanted.
She wanted me to understand that I was nothing more than a plaything tethered to her. She could grant me dignity, and she could crush it underfoot whenever she pleased.
Just when everyone expected me to cave, I unfastened the suit without a flicker of expression, pulled it off, and tossed it into the trash can beside me.
I walked out of the hotel without looking back, ignoring the shock frozen in Yolanda's eyes.
Outside, it was raining.
I thought about hailing a cab, but my phone was already dead. My ID was still back at the villa, so all I could do was walk through the downpour.
My shorts clung to my skin, soaked through, drawing sidelong glances from passersby.
By the time I neared the villa district, it was already eleven at night. The world around me was silent.
