No Longer Yours
1173 Words
The first thing I noticed was the laughter—not the sound itself, but the wrongness behind it.
Because I knew Ethan’s laugh. I knew the way it softened when he was happy and the quiet breath he made when something amused him.
I had spent five years memorizing everything about him, which was why the sound coming from our bedroom felt like a knife.
I stood outside the door, unable to move, my hand hovering over the handle.
A part of me—the stupid, hopeful part—wanted to walk away. Maybe I had misunderstood. Maybe there was an explanation. Maybe the man I loved was not the same man destroying me.
But hope was a dangerous thing, especially when reality was waiting on the other side of a door.
I pushed it open.
And my world ended quietly.
Ethan was not alone.
The woman beside him looked nothing like me. She was beautiful in a way that made people notice, with perfect hair, perfect makeup, and perfect confidence. She looked like the kind of woman whose life had never demanded more from her than a smile.
Ethan looked at me, and in that single moment, I saw everything I needed to know.
Not love. Not regret.
Fear.
“Claire…”
My name sounded wrong coming from him.
The woman beside him did not even look embarrassed. Instead, she sighed and glanced at Ethan.
“Seriously? I thought you said you were handling this.”
Handling this.
Like I was a problem. Like five years of my life was something inconvenient he needed to remove.
Ethan sat there, speechless.
That was the moment I understood.
The worst part was not the cheating.
It was realizing he had already chosen.
He had chosen her before I ever walked through that door.
“How long?”
My voice barely came out.
Neither of them answered, and I laughed softly, the sound broken.
“Right.”
I picked up my bag.
“I guess that’s my answer.”
He reached toward me but stopped halfway.
“Claire, wait.”
I stopped because some foolish part of me still wanted him to fight for me.
“I can explain.”
I turned around.
“Can you?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
Because there was nothing to explain.
Only excuses.
And he proved that a second later.
“This is your fault.”
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
“What did you say?”
Ethan stood up.
“I didn’t want things to end this way.”
My fingers tightened around my bag.
“But they did because you stopped being the person I fell in love with.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“You mean because I became someone with responsibilities?”
“Because everything became a problem,” he said, his voice rising. “Your family. The debts. Your obsession with fixing everything.”
I could not believe what I was hearing.
“You cheated on me because my life wasn’t convenient enough?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I cheated because I was tired.”
Tired.
That was his reason.
Five years together, and that was what I was worth.
The woman finally stood and adjusted Ethan’s shirt around his body.
“I think this conversation is over.”
I looked at her.
“Who are you?”
She smiled.
“Sophie.”
There was no apology or shame in her expression, only confidence.
“I know about you,” she said.
My stomach tightened.
“Oh?”
“You’re the famous assistant.” She tilted her head. “Damon Cross’s secretary.”
Correction.
Ex-secretary.
Her smile sharpened.
“Interesting how someone can work beside a billionaire and still not afford to fix her own problems.”
“Sophie,” Ethan warned.
But his warning lacked any real conviction.
She continued.
“Debt. Family problems. Do you ever get tired of dragging everyone down with you?”
I stopped breathing, not because her words hurt, but because she had touched the one place I never allowed anyone to touch: my family, the reason I kept fighting.
Before I realized what was happening, my hand moved.
The sound echoed through the room as Sophie stumbled back, shocked.
So was I.
Pain spread across my knuckles, but beneath it was something else, something I had not felt in years.
Control.
“Leave,” Ethan said.
His voice was cold.
I looked at him, and suddenly I understood. I was not losing him that night; I had lost him long before.
I walked out.
---
I cried through the entire drive home.
Not only because Ethan had cheated.
I cried because I had spent years building my future around someone who had never truly been standing beside me.
The moment I entered my apartment, I called Tori.
She answered immediately.
“Claire? What’s wrong?”
I could not speak.
Then she heard me cry.
“Oh no.” Her voice changed. “What happened?”
I whispered one word.
“Ethan.”
And she understood.
Two hours later, she was sitting beside me with a bottle of whiskey and the expression of someone preparing for war.
“He cheated?”
I nodded.
She stared at me.
“That idiot.”
A weak laugh escaped me.
“I quit my job too.”
Her expression changed.
“You did what?”
“I couldn’t stay at Cross Enterprises anymore.” I looked down at my hands. “I thought leaving would give me a chance to breathe.”
“But now?”
I swallowed.
“Now I have no job, no boyfriend, and a mountain of problems waiting for me.”
Tori reached for my hand.
“Claire.”
I looked at her.
“You survived Damon Cross.”
I rolled my eyes.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Yes.” She handed me the bottle. “Because that man destroys confidence for breakfast.”
I laughed, a real laugh, small but genuine.
“Your family has made it through because of you,” Tori said. “You are not a burden.”
I looked away.
“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”
“Maybe that’s okay.”
She smiled at me.
“Maybe you don’t need to know tonight.”
For the first time, I stopped trying to solve everything.
I just sat there with my best friend and a bottle of whiskey.
Tomorrow could wait.
Unfortunately, tomorrow did not wait.
---
The sound of my phone pulled me out of sleep.
I groaned and reached for it, my head feeling as though it had been hit by a truck.
“Turn it off,” Tori mumbled beneath the blanket.
I grabbed my glasses.
Then I saw the screen.
The nickname I had saved three years ago.
A nickname that somehow felt more terrifying than his real name.
Devil Boss.
My heart stopped.
Because Damon Cross was calling.
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