CHAPTER 20
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“When I gave up my Yale acceptance to follow you to Stanford because you wanted it, you promised you’d always treat me well and never disappoint me,” I said with a cold sneer. “But later, you called me a desperate, clingy puppy behind my back…” “When I gave up a $300,000 job to help start your company, you promised to make me Vice President with an even higher salary. Years later, I was still your $8,000–a- month assistant. So I was paid like an assistant while doing a VP’s work and carrying a VP’s stress. Only you would pull something like that, Griffin.” “When I stayed up revising business plans and drank until my stomach bled to secure investors, you promised me your family’s heirloom bracelet and said you’d marry me. Yet Chloe, who did nothing, received that bracelet. You played me for a fool, lying to my face while planning to marry her. How cruel.” }
As I listed his offenses one by one, Griffin couldn’t believe his ears.
How could he have done so many terrible things to someone who had loved him for twelve years?
Seeing his body tremble and his face grow increasingly pale, I felt a rush of vindication.
“You and your so–called friends repeatedly used me as the subject of your bets, treating my love like a poker chip, enjoying my humiliation and discomfort. When they insulted and belittled me, you stood by in silence or worse–joined in…” “Oh, and what was it you said on the phone that night? I remember now.” I repeated his words deliberately: “You called me your ‘free housekeeper.‘ Interesting how twelve years of devotion amounts to unpaid domestic labor.”
Watching Griffin’s shattered expression, I continued coldly: “So tell me, after doing all this, what gives you the right to show your face to me? How dare you claim to love me? Don’t insult the word ‘love.”
“You’re only here because you discovered Chloe wasn’t what you imagined, divorced her, and now want me to fawn over you and sacrifice for you again. That’s the only reason you came looking for me.”
“No, Tessa, I truly love you-”
“Enough!” I snapped in disgust. “Stop saying you love me. It makes me sick. If you have even a shred of remorse, you’ll leave me alone. Seeing you only brings back memories I’d rather forget.”
“Let’s go our separate ways and never meet again. That’s the best ending for both of us.”
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12:24 PM Mon 12 May
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20
Overwhelming panic engulfed Griffin as the last glimmer of hope in his eyes extinguished.
With tears streaming from his reddened eyes, he begged: “Tessa, please, don’t be so cruel.”
“Hit me, curse at me, do whatever you want if it helps you feel better. But please, I can’t bear being strangers with you.”
Before I could respond, the sound of an approaching car interrupted us.
The man who stepped out was every bit as handsome and distinguished as when Griffin first saw him.
By comparison, Griffin looked downright pathetic.
His sleepless journey had left his suit wrinkled and clinging to him like a dishrag. Stubble darkened his jaw, and his bloodshot eyes betrayed his exhaustion. Kneeling on the ground, he looked exactly like the begging dog he’d pretended to be–completely stripped of dignity.
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