Chapter 2 -Terms and Conditions
1032 Words
*Elara – pov*
My phone didn’t stop.
Calls. Texts. Voicemails.
At first, Ethan sounded desperate, then angry, then vindictive. Like every mask he had ever worn was slipping one by one.
---
Please just talk to me.
You’re overreacting.
This doesn’t have to end like this.
Then—
You’ll have nothing without me.
I stared at that message for a long moment before locking my screen again.
The irony almost made me laugh.
I had built my career before him. Built his confidence. Built parts of his success and somewhere along the way, he had convinced himself he built me.
That was his first mistake.
Underestimating me would be his second.
---
Claire called just after nine.
“He’s been served,” she said immediately.
I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear while fastening the clasp on my watch.
“And?”
“He requested a meeting.”
Of course he did.
Ethan hated losing control.
“What’s the angle?” I asked.
“Damage control,” she replied dryly. “Mostly for himself.”
I hummed softly.
Predictable.
“He’s also asking for an NDA.” That made me pause.
“A non-disclosure agreement?”
“Mhm.”
I almost admired the audacity.
Almost!
“He wants to silence the cheating scandal before it reaches investors.”
Of course he did.
Not because he cared about me, because he cared about perception, about image, about power.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Cool blue eyes.
Sharp cheekbones.
Long platinum hair falling over one shoulder.
For the first time in years I didn’t look exhausted.
I looked dangerous.
Good.
“That meeting still at eleven?” I asked.
Claire laughed softly.
“Oh, now I’m excited.”
---
I rarely shopped for myself.
Most days I lived in scrubs, practical clothes, tied-back hair and exhaustion.
Today was different. Today I needed armour.
The black leather pencil skirt fit like it had been designed for war. The cream camisole softened nothing.
I finished my armour with classic Louis Vuitton heels.
I looked sharp enough to make a statement before I even opened my mouth.
By the time I reached Claire’s office, she took one look at me and whistled.
“Well,” she said, leaning back in her chair, “someone finally remembered she’s terrifying.”
I rolled my eyes lightly.
“You’re so dramatic.”
“No,” she corrected. “You’ve just spent years pretending to be smaller than you are.”
That landed harder than she probably intended.
Claire looked exactly the same as she had in university.
Dark auburn curls. Sharp eyeliner. Sharper tongue.
Fiercely brilliant.
While other people chased relationships and status, Claire chased court victories and impossible negotiations and usually won both.
She slid a folder across the desk toward me.
“Their demands,” she said.
I opened it.
Property disputes.
Asset protection.
Confidentiality clauses.
Control disguised as legal language.
My mouth flattened slightly.
Claire slid another file toward me.
“My counter.”
I opened that one next.
Simple.
Clean.
I take nothing.
I give nothing.
No prolonged battle.
No emotional leverage.
No dependency.
Perfect.
Less mess.
“I love you,” I muttered.
“I know.”
She stood, smoothing her blazer.
“Ready?”
I closed the folder.
“Yes.”
---
Ethan stood the moment I walked into the boardroom.
His eyes widened.
Not just because of the outfit or because of me.
Because I looked like someone he no longer controlled.
“Elara—”
He started toward me immediately.
His lawyer physically stopped him with one hand against his arm.
“Sit down.”
I almost smiled.
Claire and I took our seats across from them.
Ethan kept staring.
Trying to find something familiar in my face.
Something soft.
Something willing to bend.
He wasn’t going to find it.
His lawyer cleared his throat professionally.
“Mrs Hale—”
“Not for much longer,” Claire interrupted pleasantly.
A twitch hit the man’s jaw.
Good.
He continued anyway.
“We’d like to keep this process as respectful and private as possible.”
Translation:
Quiet.
He began listing terms.
Properties Ethan would retain.
Investments he refused to split.
Assets he considered protected.
I barely listened.
Then he slid another document toward me.
“The NDA,” he said carefully. “To avoid unnecessary reputational damage.”
I looked down at it.
A contract designed to buy my silence.
Not because Ethan was ashamed but because exposure threatened his image.
Beside me, Claire radiated fury so intensely I could practically feel the heat of it.
She remained silent.
Waiting.
I leaned forward slowly and opened the folder Claire prepared.
Signed the papers without hesitation and slid the folder calmly across the table.
“I do not want anything from you,” I said evenly.
Ethan blinked.
His lawyer looked confused.
I met Ethan’s gaze directly.
“You lost the right to demand anything from me the moment I caught you.”
Silence.
Sharp.
Cutting.
I tapped the folder lightly.
“Sign the papers,” I continued calmly, “or our next steps become significantly messier for you.”
Ethan exploded upward from his chair.
“You think you can threaten me?” he snapped. “After everything I gave you?”
Claire didn’t even flinch.
Neither did I.
“You’re nothing without me,” he continued, voice rising. “Do you understand that? Nothing.”
The old version of me might have shrunk under that. Might have apologised. Might have tried to soothe his anger before it escalated further.
But sitting here now, watching him unravel in front of lawyers and contracts and polished boardroom glass…
All I felt was clarity.
How had I loved this man?
How had I twisted pieces of myself smaller and smaller just to fit inside his approval?
No wonder I had been exhausted all the time.
I had been carrying the weight of someone else’s ego.
Never again.
Ethan was still shouting when I stood.
Claire gathered the folders calmly beside me.
I looked at him one final time.
Not angry.
Not heartbroken.
Just finished.
Then I turned and walked out.
- Writer
