They Voted Me Out After Fifteen Years Together Chapter 03

They Voted Me Out After Fifteen Years Together Chapter 03

I didn’t look at Dax again. I stepped around the balloons and the gifts and walked toward the door.

Bree chased me and grabbed my arm.

“Sable, where the hell are you going?”

“We flew back from Vireo Island. Didn’t even eat. Just to give you a birthday do-over. What more do you want?”

Her nails scraped my wrist. Sharp and stinging.

I shook her off and shoved the door open.

As it swung shut, I heard someone mutter inside.

“Just a wedding. Is this really worth flipping out over?”

The elevator dropped.

In the mirrored walls, my face was ghost white. The necklace had left a red mark on my throat.

I blocked Dax. Blocked Bree. Blocked every mutual friend.

When I got to the office, the receptionist did a double take.

“Sable? I thought you were off today.”

I said, “Something came up.”

I went straight to Reed Calder’s office.

He slid the overseas assignment confirmation across the desk.

“The Southbay project is urgent. Sign and you leave next week.”

I gripped the pen. My fingers were still trembling.

The last stroke of my signature tore a thin line through the paper.

I stared at that rip and exhaled.

In the afternoon, I started handing off my work.

My phone kept buzzing in my bag.

I didn’t look.

Not until my assistant, Tess, came in holding coffee. She stopped at the door like she was afraid to come closer.

“Sable. You might want to see what’s going on online.”

She handed me her phone.

On the screen. A new post from the same blogger who’d posted the Vireo Island wedding video.

[Dream Wedding Update: Bride Brought to Tears by Groom’s Psycho Ex Who Wouldn’t Let Go for Fifteen Years.]

The video showed Willa Marsh in her wedding dress. Eyes red. Leaning into Dax’s chest.

The voiceover was dripping with outrage.

“We’ve heard the groom once took care of an ex out of obligation. Someone with no parents.”

“This woman refused to let go for years. Continued harassing them even after the wedding.”

The comments were thick:

[Having no parents isn’t a free pass to steal someone’s husband.]

[Crazy ex needs to get a grip.]

My fingers went cold. I couldn’t even scroll.

Below the video was Bree’s repost:

[I’ve known her for years. All I can say is, some people really know how to weaponize other people’s kindness.]

Daphne posted too:

[Dax’s too soft-hearted. That’s the only reason this has dragged on so long. I hope a certain someone finally lets two people who truly love each other be together.]

My stomach seized.

I bolted to the bathroom and heaved over the sink.

In the mirror. My eyes were swollen red. My lips had no color left.

Voices drifted in from outside.

“That’s her, right? Sable from management.”

“She seemed so normal. How do you even cling to someone for fifteen years?”

I cranked the faucet. Let the water drown them out.

Didn’t matter. Every word still drilled into my skull.

I pulled myself together and got back to the conference room to finish the handoff.

But when I got to page three, my voice just stopped.

Tess slid a cup of water toward me.

The rim hit my teeth with a small clink.

I swallowed. Kept going.

Could not stop.

After the meeting, Reed called me into his office.

He had a few anonymous emails pulled up on his screen.

“Sable. The Southbay project team received a complaint.”

“Someone says you’re emotionally unstable. That your personal life is a liability. That you’re not fit for an overseas assignment.”

I stood there. The cold crept all the way down to my fingertips.

My phone lit up.

A text from an unknown number:

[Sable. Stop this.]

[See? Without me, you have nothing.]