You Left Me to Freeze, So I Left You

Chapter 4

Liam had cut off my supplementary credit card as punishment. He was dead certain I'd come crawling back to him once I realized I couldn't even afford a hotel room. What he didn't know was that I'd moved all my personal savings to a separate bank account ages ago.

That afternoon, Liam's mom called me.

"I heard you cut up the wedding dress?" Her voice dripped with the icy, condescending authority of someone who thought she held all the cards. "Liam has spoiled you rotten all these years, letting you get away with acting so entitled and reckless. Wendy's had such a hard life. What's the big deal about her borrowing your dress once?"

I said nothing.

"Since you're so determined to act like a spoiled brat, you can forget about getting the wedding house." She gave a cold, sharp hmph. "Wendy loves that house, actually, so I already told Liam to transfer the ownership to her name. You can step foot in the Drake family's door again only when you've learned how to behave properly."

"Okay." I hung up the phone, completely calm.

Five minutes later, texts from Liam popped up on my screen.

Liam: I gave the house to Wendy. Don't blame my mom, you brought this on yourself. Wendy's welcome party for her new job is at 8 tonight. Come over and apologize, and we'll let the wedding dress thing slide.

I sat in the coffee shop, watching as my phone screen went dark. Across the table sat a man in a perfectly tailored dark gray suit.

Damien Clinton.

He'd been my senior back in college, and now he was one of the top architects in the entire industry.

He slid a partnership agreement across the table to me. "Cindy, welcome to the team."

I picked up the pen and scrawled my signature across the bottom of the page. "Thank you, Mr. Clinton."

Damien's eyes flicked to my deathly pale face. "Do you need any help? You don't look so good."

"No, I'm fine." I handed the signed agreement back to him, then pulled a small velvet box out of my bag.

It was the box of the engagement ring Liam had given me when he'd proposed. I slipped the ring off my finger, dropped it gently into the box, and closed the lid. Then I ordered a same-city courier, and put down the address of the hotel where Wendy's welcome party was being held as the delivery location.

*****

8 p.m. that night.

The largest revolving restaurant in North City was buzzing with nonstop chatter and noise. Liam sat in the seat of honor, glancing repeatedly at his watch, while Wendy poured a glass of champagne and handed the first one to him.

"Liam, do you think Cindy might not show up?" she asked.

"Relax, she'll come." Liam smiled, utterly confident. "I cut off her card. She's got no money. Where else is she gonna go except back to me?"

Before the words were fully out of his mouth, a waiter walked into the private room.

"Mr. Drake, there's a same-city delivery for you, sent by Ms. Logan."

Everyone around the table exchanged knowing looks and snickered.

The smirk on Liam's face grew wider, his eyes glinting with smug, arrogant certainty. He was convinced it was an apology gift, me trying to save his pride while crawling back to him.

He took the box, and flipped the lid open right in front of all the curious onlookers.

Inside, the engagement ring lay perfectly still. Tucked underneath it was a slip of paper that read: Ring returned. Engagement is off.

The smug grin was wiped off Liam's face so fast it was like someone had sucked all the color right out of him, leaving him deathly pale.

The raucous chatter cut off abruptly. Everyone in the room exchanged stunned, awkward glances.

He scrambled to dial my number right away. But instead of my voice, a cold, robotic female voice came through the receiver.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service."

Liam stared at his phone screen, his hand frozen midair.

Wendy leaned over, her gaze fixed on the ring, and a tiny, sneaky spark of glee flitted across her eyes. "Liam, what's Cindy trying to say here? She doesn't even want the ring anymore?"

Liam slammed the box shut so hard it made a sharp c***k, his chest heaving with barely contained rage. "Shut up."

That was the first time he'd ever spoken to Wendy like that, sharp and cold.

Wendy went rigid, and her eyes flooded with tears instantly.

Liam didn't even spare her a glance. He grabbed his coat and stormed out of the private room.

Once he was in his car, he yanked open f*******:, pulled up my profile, and fired off a voice message, "What the hell kind of game are you pulling this time?"

A bright red exclamation mark popped up on the screen right away: This person has enabled friend verification. You are not currently her friend.

Liam's breath immediately turned sharp and ragged, his chest heaving so hard he could barely breathe.