Getting Over You

Chapter 2: The Midnight Flight

The human memory is a dangerous entity, capable of romanticizing a corporate prison and making it look like a sanctuary simply because you have lived within its thick, suffocating walls for too long [ skills:travel ].

As Chloe stood in the exact center of her dark apartment at two o'clock in the morning, she felt the heavy, pressure of nostalgia trying to pull her back down to her knees. This room was a living archive filled with five years of Liam Vance’s overwhelming presence. The oversized grey cashmere hoodie draped carelessly over the wooden kitchen chair belonged to him, left behind after a late night corporate crisis meeting where he had crashed on her sofa.

The box of expensive organic green tea in the cabinet was bought specifically to soothe his frequent morning headaches. Even the very air of the room a faint, lingering mixture of fresh rain and his premium sandalwood cologne belonged entirely to the man she was desperately trying to escape.

Every single corner of this studio apartment held a ghost of her absolute submission to his lifestyle. There were folders on the counter from mergers that occurred two winters ago, documents she had stayed up forty eight hours straight to finalize while Liam was out drinking with his high society friends.

He had taken her labor, her peace, and her youth, and he had repackaged it all to present to the board of directors as his own personal genius. And she had allowed it, blinded by a quiet, desperate love that had ultimately led to her receiving a gold foiled wedding invitation."No more, Chloe whispered to the deafening silence of the empty room, her voice hardening with an iron resolve.

No more living as a placeholder."She turned her back on the memories, hardening her heart as she focused on the three large, leather suitcases resting by the front door. She had deliberately chosen not to pack much.

She left behind the expensive designer dresses Liam had carelessly bought her for high society corporate galas so she would look presentable by his side. She left behind the diamond jewelry he had gifted her on her birthdays, always picked out by a personal shopper with a detached card.

She kept only what was truly, unconditionally hers: her everyday clothes, her personal journals, and her remaining dignity.Sitting at her small dining table, she opened her laptop, the white light reflecting off her determined emerald eyes. Her fingers flew across the keyboard with clinical precision, typing out a single, devastating email addressed to the Vance Group Human Resources Department, with Liam carbon copied.

Subject: Immediate Resignation

— Chloe Albright

To the Department of Human Resources,

Please accept this email as formal notification that I am resigning from my position as Executive Assistant to the Vice President, effective immediately. Due to urgent personal reasons, I am unable to provide the traditional two week notice. My corporate keys, laptop, and security badge have been left on my desk in the executive suite. Thank you for the opportunities during my time with the company.

Sincerely,

Chloe Albright

She didn't add a personal note for Liam. She didn't offer a final explanation or an emotional goodbye. She simply hit Send, closed the laptop with a firm click, and slid it into her bag.An hour later, Chloe was sitting in the quiet, drafty terminal of the central train station. The heavy rain outside was drumming a fierce, rhythmic beat against the glass dome roof as she waited for the 4:00 AM express train to Capital Port a bustling, cutthroat metropolis two hundred miles away, entirely outside the Vance family's financial and social sphere of influence.

She watched the electronic departure board flicker in the dim station light, each destination representing a life she could have chosen if she hadn't spent her twenties protecting a boy who didn't care about her worth.As the massive train smoothly pulled into the station, hissing with steam, Chloe took a deep, freezing breath of the morning air. She boarded the train, found a quiet window seat, and rested her forehead against the cool glass.

As the locomotive roared to life and the city skyline began to slowly recede into the dark mists, a single tear escaped her eye. It was the last tear she would ever shed for Liam Vance . At precisely nine o'clock that morning, the executive floor of the Vance Group headquarters descended into a state of absolute, unmitigated chaos.

Liam Vance marched out of the private elevator, his tailored suit jacket unbuttoned, his silk tie slightly crooked, and his face dark with an unreadable fury. He had spent the entire night trying to call Chloe from his personal phone, his work phone, and even his private driver's phone.

Every single call went straight to an automated recording: The number you have dialed is no longer in service.” Where is she?" Liam roared as he stormed past the glass reception desk, causing the young receptionist to flinch violently and drop her papers. "Where the hell is Chloe? Tell her to get into my office right now! We are late for the Vienna brief! M-Mr. Vance," the receptionist stammered, her face turning entirely pale as she held up a printed document with trembling hands. "Miss Albright... she isn't here, sir. Human Resources received an automated email at 2:14 AM.

She resigned, sir. Effective immediately."Liam stopped dead in his tracks, the blood rushing out of his face. His chest heaved with disbelief as he snatched the paper from the girl's hand. His eyes scanned the cold, clinical words of the resignation email over and over again."Resigned?" Liam laughed, a sharp, humorless sound that echoed coldly off the glass partitions. "She can't just resign. She doesn't have the authority to leave this company without my permission!

She is my assistant! He pushed past the glass doors of his private suite and slammed them shut behind him, the noise vibrating through the corridor. He spun around, fully expecting to see Chloe sitting at her usual desk, organizing his files, or holding his morning espresso with that quiet, comforting smile she always wore to soothe his anger.

But the desk was completely bare. The computer was shut down. Resting on the polished black surface was her silver corporate security badge, her office keys, and her company issued phone. Everything was arranged with meticulous, heartbreaking neatness.Liam’s hand brushed against a small, velvet box hidden at the very back of Chloe's empty desk drawer. He pulled it out, his heart doing a strange, uncomfortable contraction as he opened it. Inside was a simple, cheap silver fountain pen. Attached to it was a small, hand written sticky note that read: “Happy 5th Work Anniversary, Liam. Thank you for letting me stand by your side.” It was dated just two weeks ago.

He remembered the day she had tried to hand it to him; he had been too busy screaming at a regional manager over a logistics delay, carelessly waving his hand to dismiss her from his office without even letting her speak. He had told her to throw whatever she was holding into the trash because he didn't have time for non essential administrative matters.

Chloe had quietly tucked the box back into her drawer, her expression calm, her eyes dropping to the floor. She had carried that rejection in silence, just like she had carried a thousand others, until the weight of his continuous disregard finally broke her capacity to care.Liam Vance realized he didn't know how to look at his own database passwords, access his primary corporate encryption keys, or fix a single server glitch without her standing outside his door. He had always assumed she was a baseline setting of his universe, a permanent shield he could abuse without consequence.

The panic in his chest only grew louder, and the ghost of her absence began to choke him. He stood in the absolute silence of his massive, empty office, staring down at her empty desk, realizing for the first time in his life that his permanent safety net had vanished into thin air, and his perfect world was starting to bleed out from within.