After Three Losses, I Stopped Looking Back Chapter 03

After Three Losses, I Stopped Looking Back Chapter 03

Her face went still — just for a second — but I caught it. Julian pressed his mouth into a thin line.

I saw him hesitate, and something in my chest dropped. Before he could say a word, I grabbed Audrey by the arm and hauled her out of the office.

A crowd had already gathered outside.

“Clara—”

Julian called after me, but I didn’t stop. I pulled up the surveillance footage right there, in front of everyone.

Timestamp: 12:23 PM. The office was empty. Audrey walked straight to my computer. The footage caught every move — her opening the file, changing the number, saving it.

Julian’s face went dark. Gasps rippled through the crowd.

“Wait — that’s actually Audrey? Why would she do that?”

“Come on, Audrey’s his ex. This is the ex sabotaging the bride. The only question is whose side he picks.”

“My money’s on Audrey. You new people have no idea how intense those two were back in the day.”

My spine locked. I fought to keep my face neutral, fought not to look at Julian and read his silence for what it was.

Then Audrey smiled at me. It came out of nowhere, and my stomach dropped.

She turned to Julian without a shred of guilt and said it like it was nothing.

“I did it. I set her up. So fire me.”

She held his gaze, unflinching. “Go ahead, Julian. Fire me.”

I looked up. He had to fire her. The footage was right there. She’d confessed.

There was no other way this could end. I held my breath and watched him, waiting.

The silence stretched.

Julian broke eye contact with Audrey first. “We’re done here. Whatever fallout comes from this, I’ll handle it personally.”

Audrey’s smile widened. Her eyes found mine, and the triumph in them was suffocating.

The room erupted around me. The humiliation hit so hard my vision blurred, and grief swallowed everything else.

“Why?” My voice came out shaking, and I couldn’t stop it.

Julian looked at me like the answer was obvious.

“She’s with me. She made a bad call, and I’m going to take responsibility for it. That’s what you do.”

A laugh ripped out of me before I could stop it. “With you.”

“Julian, we signed the papers. I’m legally your wife. She’s the other woman—”

“Clara.” His voice dropped to ice. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

I stared at the floor. Now I understood. Audrey could do anything she wanted because Julian would always cover for her.

I was done fighting. “Fine. She’s not.”

He cleared the room. Then he stepped closer, pulled me in, and when he spoke again, his voice was soft.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I told you, Clara. Just give me a few weeks. That’s all I’m asking. And then it’s just us. I swear.”

My nails dug into my palms hard enough to sting. I smiled at him.

“Okay. I believe you. Actually, there are a few contracts here that need your signature.”

I’d slipped my resignation letter and the annulment papers in with the stack. I handed him all of it.

The pivot was smooth enough that he didn’t catch it. He looked at me for a beat — searching — but my face gave him nothing. He relaxed.

He signed without reading a single page.

Back at my desk, I sent the signed annulment papers to my lawyer and dropped the resignation letter with HR.

I waited out the rest of the day in silence. When the light turned gold through the windows, I took one last look at the office I’d spent five years in and left my badge on my chair.

Audrey was waiting by my car in the parking garage. I would’ve walked right past her, but she spoke first.

“See? I told you. The second I came back, you were done.”

“If you had any self-respect, you’d let him go yourself. Why cling to a man who doesn’t love you?”

I stopped walking. When I turned, my voice was pure venom.

“Funny. Because until those papers go through, you’re still the side piece, Audrey. And everyone knows it.”

Her palm cracked across my face before I even saw it coming. “You bitch.”

But Julian had just walked up behind us. And he saw everything.