I stepped forward, fury rising through me.
"Take it off."
Winifred flinched and shrank back, her eyes reddening even more.
"Mrs. Sanchez, what are you doing..."
I stared at the necklace, every word deliberate.
"Taking what isn't yours without asking is stealing."
Her face went white. She clutched the necklace, lips trembling like she was about to cry.
"Mr. Sanchez gave this to me. I didn't steal it. If you like it so much, here, just take it."
She yanked it hard. The chain snapped, and a thin line of blood rose across her neck.
Asher pulled Winifred behind him in one swift motion, shielding her like she was something precious.
He turned to me, brow furrowed, voice sharp.
"Aileen, are you done making a scene?"
"It's just a necklace. Was it really worth bullying a young woman over?"
I looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.
"Just a necklace?"
A laugh scraped out of me, hollow, my chest so tight it had gone numb.
"Asher, you know exactly what it means to me!"
Something shifted in his expression, but the moment Winifred's soft sobbing reached him, whatever hesitation he had vanished.
"She helped the company land a major deal. It was a reward for an outstanding employee. You're the boss's wife. Can't you show a little grace?"
I scoffed.
The secretary who tanked projects and flirted her way up the ladder. Outstanding employee.
"Since when does a secretary get my things handed out as a bonus?"
The crowd around us fell silent, then the murmuring started, rippling outward.
Passersby recognized me, whispering among themselves.
"Isn't that the Pruitt heiress? Why is she fighting with Mr. Sanchez?"
"They'll work it out. She was crazy about him back in the day. And let's be honest, without the Pruitt family, he wouldn't be where he is now, so..."
Asher's face cycled between white and livid. His eyes snapped to mine, cold and foreign.
"Aileen, don't push it! Without me, you're nothing!"
The words hit like a physical blow. My ears rang.
I stared at him, unable to process what I'd just heard.
When he had nothing, I married him against my family's wishes and told him I believed in him.
Later, my parents overruled every objection to back him, placing all of Pruitt Group in his hands.
When my parents died in the car accident, I cried myself hollow for days, and he held me and choked out a promise.
"Aileen, I'll be the one you lean on for the rest of your life. I'll protect you the way your parents would have."
Now, he stood there and told me.
Without him, I was nothing.
He didn't look at me again. He wrapped his arm around Winifred's pale shoulders and walked away.
Every gaze around me landed at once. Mockery. Pity. Secondhand embarrassment.
I didn't shed a single tear. I picked up the broken necklace and left.
Because when love dies, there's nothing left to hurt.
