He Made Me Give Up My Dog, I Left Him

Chapter 3

I walked past the guest room, its door hanging half-open.

Audrey was perched on the edge of the bed. The cat in her arms had sprawled across my pillow, its claws snagged in my brand-new silk duvet cover.

Milo stood right in front of her, his voice lowered to a soft murmur.

"Don't be scared. Nora just has a short temper. She'll calm down on her own in a couple of days."

Audrey sniffled. "Mr. Zachery, I hate that you two are fighting because of me. Ms. Morgan accused me of stealing her proposal in front of the whole office today. She even said I deleted all the files on my computer."

I froze mid-step.

The East Lake project proposal? I'd worked on it for 2 straight weeks.

Yesterday morning, right before I was supposed to present it in the conference room, my laptop suddenly crashed. Every folder on my desktop had been wiped clean.

I'd assumed it was just some random system glitch.

But that afternoon, Audrey had stood up in the department meeting with a proposal almost identical to mine, and Milo had heaped praise on her for it.

I'd immediately objected.

Milo had told me to stop disrupting the meeting and said we'd talk about it later in private.

So this was what he meant by "talking later."

He'd simply been giving Audrey time to put on a full victim act for him first.

I shoved the door open.

"Audrey, where did you get the proposal on your computer?"

The cat startled, let out a small mrrp, and leaped off the bed, scrambling between Milo's legs.

The color drained from Audrey's face as she shrank back behind him.

"Ms. Morgan, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I sent the first draft of the East Lake project to the client for confirmation last Friday. The email timestamp, the original draft, and every version in the edit history are all saved. The version you presented yesterday afternoon didn't even change the Pier Seven survey data. The exact numbers from my draft are still there."

I pulled out my phone and opened my email.

"Want me to pull it up and show everyone right now?"

Audrey bit her lip so hard it went white, and fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Mr. Zachery, I really didn't steal anything from Ms. Morgan! I just saw how overworked she'd been lately, so I wanted to lighten her load a little. It's fine if she doesn't appreciate it, but why does she have to drag my name through the mud like this?"

Milo's brows drew together in a deep scowl.

"Nora, that's enough."

I stared straight at him.

"Have you even looked at my original draft?"

"Audrey handles so much of the grunt work for you. Why do you always have to be so hostile toward her?"

"So you haven't even bothered to look at it, have you? She stole my proposal, then turned around and lied that I deleted her files. You haven't even checked the evidence, yet you automatically assume I'm picking on her?"

Milo's face darkened, his jaw tightening with irritation.

"It's just one stupid proposal. Do you really have to make such a huge fuss over it? She's fresh out of college and just trying to prove herself. Using someone else's work as a reference is normal. Can't you, as her senior, cut her some slack?"

My throat tightened until it hurt.

To secure that project, I'd made 7 separate trips to the site, walking around in heels until my feet were covered in blisters.

Audrey had stolen the fruits of all my hard work without breaking a sweat.

And Milo was telling me to be the open-minded person?

"Reference?"

I held my phone up right in front of his face.

"She even copied a punctuation mistake I made. You're calling that 'reference'? And there's something else. Audrey logged into the client's backend using my account and canceled my presentation slot for yesterday afternoon. Only the project lead and general manager have that level of access. She's just an assistant. Where the hell would she get that kind of permission?"

Milo fell silent for a few seconds.

Audrey sobbed harder. "Mr. Zachery, I didn't do any of that. Ms. Morgan's probably just too upset right now. She already gave Copper away, and now she's threatening to break up with you. I never should've moved in here, and I never should've touched the company project."

She scooped the cat into her arms and pretended to leave.

Milo reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'll find somewhere else to stay. I don't want to make Ms. Morgan angry."

"It's so late. Where would you even go with that cat?"

He spun around to face me, his voice dropping to an icy command.

"Nora, apologize to Audrey right now."

I froze, stunned.

"You want me to apologize to her?"

"You called her out in front of the whole company today, and you threw her things out when you got home. She's suffered enough."

"She's suffered enough?"

I jabbed a finger toward the litter box sitting on the floor.

"She moved into my home, sleeps in my bed, stole my project, and now my own fiancé is taking her side. Tell me, Milo, what exactly has she suffered through?"

"Do you have to be this mean?"

"I'm the mean one?"

I reeled back, a sharp, throbbing ache flaring in my chest until the whole area went numb.

For 6 years, Milo had praised me for being sensible, considerate, and always willing to put his needs first.

It turned out those compliments had only ever come when I was willing to let things slide.

I'd let it go when he made me give up my dog.

I'd let it slide when another woman moved into my home.

I'd swallowed my anger when my hard work was stolen right out from under me.

And now he still thought I wasn't being generous enough?

I grabbed my suitcase and hauled it into the living room.

"Milo, we're done. I put down 70% of the down payment on this house, and I paid for all the renovations and appliances. I'll have a lawyer sort out the finances tomorrow. Now you, Audrey, and her cat can get the hell out of my house."

Milo's face twisted into an ugly scowl.

"Pulling the breakup card on me again? Is throwing a fit the only thing you're good for?"