The train tore through the dark, the lights outside blurring into a long ribbon of glow.
I leaned back against my seat and looked at the messages on my phone.
I'd finished the paperwork to leave the company yesterday. HR approved my resignation without any fuss.
My destination was Ashford, nearly two hundred miles away.
There was a design firm there where I'd just been hired. The pay was a little lower than before, but it came with housing.
I opened my phone, blocked Samuel Vance's contact, and deleted it.
Three days later, Ashford.
I was sitting at my new desk, sorting through the client files in front of me.
The screen lit up. An unknown local number.
I silenced it right away.
That made six unknown numbers today.
I knew who was behind them.
Because half an hour earlier, Patsy Baxter had sent me a text.
【Millie, stop hiding. Sam's back from his trip, and when he found you gone, he lost it.】
【Please just come home. He's thrown all my things out.】
Looking at that message, I could picture the exact look on Samuel's face right now.
Three days ago, he'd assumed I was just going to stay at a hotel for a few nights.
The next morning he'd flown out of town to close a deal.
He was certain that by the time he got back, I'd have come home on my own, meek as ever.
The phone buzzed again. This time it was Samuel's buddy, Maurice James.
I picked up.
"Where the hell did you go?" Maurice's voice was thick with worry.
"Sam's losing his mind. He turned the whole place upside down, and now he's searching everywhere for you."
I kept the phone tucked against my ear, my hands still tapping at the keyboard.
"I'm not his anything anymore, Maurice," I said flatly.
"No way, you're actually serious?" Maurice sucked in a sharp breath.
"Sam thought you just went to crash at a friend's for a few days. He even said once you cooled off, he'd buy you the newest bag out there."
"Come on, you know Sam. All bark, soft underneath. When he saw you'd taken the mint plant, his eyes went red."
"His eyes went red because Patsy Baxter got him worked up, more like."
I cut Maurice off.
"Maurice, do me a favor and pass this along. I left the key. I deleted my fingerprint. From now on, leave me alone."
I hung up and added Maurice's number to the block list too.
Samuel's panic had come too late, and it was too cheap.
After work, I walked the streets of Ashford alone.
Passing a flower shop, I bought a bunch of sunflowers.
Life without Samuel made even breathing come easier.
I no longer had to time my day around getting home to cook.
I no longer had to carefully step around Patsy Baxter's landmines.
And I no longer had to move myself to tears over an empty promise.
Back at my place, I put the sunflowers in a vase.
I was about to go shower when my phone lit up again.
This time it was an email.
Sender: Samuel Vance.
【Millie Harding, aren't you full of yourself now.】
【Quitting, changing your number, moving. You think that's enough to get away from me?】
【You have three days. Crawl back here. Otherwise, don't blame me for what happens next.】
I looked at that email, dripping with threat.
He was still up there looking down on everyone.
He thought he could do what he'd done for three years, bring me to heel with a few harsh words.
I didn't reply. I dragged the email straight into the trash.
Then I powered off the phone and went to sleep.
