He Said It Was A Bet, I Made It His Last One Chapter 09

He Said It Was A Bet, I Made It His Last One Chapter 09

Callum didn’t give up.

Every morning, he waited outside my office before I even arrived.

Every day before my lunch break, he left a meal for me at reception.

After a few days, my coworkers started noticing him too.

One of them nodded toward the lobby.

“Boyfriend?”

Then she smiled.

“He’s so worried about whether you’re eating, you’d think you never got a lunch break around here.”

I shook my head and tossed the meal he’d left into the trash.

“Ex-boyfriend.”

“We broke up a while ago.”

“He just won’t stop.”

After that, nobody asked again.

Callum didn’t stop either.

Weeks passed.

Eventually, I’d had enough.

One afternoon, I left work early and caught him in the lobby just as he was dropping off another lunch at

reception.

“Callum.”

He turned.

I crossed my arms.

“Does doing all this make you feel better about yourself?”

“You could bring me lunch every day for the next year.”

I held his gaze.

“I’m still not forgiving you.”

His shoulders slumped.

“I just wanted to make things easier for you.”

“If I bring you lunch, you don’t have to spend your break going out to get something.”

His gaze lingered on my face.

“You’ve had dark circles under your eyes lately.”

“You’re obviously not sleeping enough.”

A few months ago, that kind of concern from him would have moved me.

Now, I just laughed.

“Except you’re not making anything easier.”

“You’re wasting my time every single day.”

His expression faltered.

He looked down at the container in his hands.

“Wasting it?”

“I made this myself.”

I stared at him.

“And because you made it, I’m supposed to treasure it?”

“Am I supposed to be grateful?”

Then I gave him a cold smile.

“Besides, how do I know you didn’t put mustard in it?”

“I’m not stupid enough to eat anything you bring me.”

I had made countless things for Callum over the years.

He’d never appreciated any of them either.

If Tamsin thought something was cute, she took it.

Whatever she didn’t want usually ended up forgotten or thrown away.

He’d treated everything I gave him like it meant nothing. I didn’t feel guilty doing the same now.

The color drained even further from Callum’s face.

“I know you’re allergic to mustard.”

His voice was low.

“I’d never put it in your food.”

“Tamsin knew too.”

I looked at him..

“And you still let her do it.”

His mouth tightened.

“I’m sorry.”

I’d heard those words too many times.

They meant nothing now.

“If you’re actually sorry, leave.”

My voice was flat.

“Go home and don’t ever come near me again.”

Maybe he finally listened.

After that day, Callum stopped coming.

A month later, a friend back in Bellweather called me with news.

“You are not going to believe what happened to Tamsin.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“What?”

“You know how she was obsessed with accusing everyone else of being somebody’s mistress?”

My friend sounded delighted.

“Well, this time someone showed up accusing her of being the mistress.”

I let out a cold laugh.

“Karma.”

After years of branding other women mistresses, she’d finally been accused of being one herself.

She deserved it.

“And that’s not even the craziest part.”

My friend dropped her voice for dramatic effect.

“The woman who showed up at Tamsin’s workplace was her sister-in-law.”

I frowned.

“Her what?”

“Apparently Brennan’s wife had caught him secretly meeting Tamsin several times and started wondering

what was going on.”

My friend paused.

“And once she started digging, guess who suddenly turned out to be alive?”

I sat up straighter.

“Brennan?”

“Exactly.”

She laughed.

“Turns out Brennan wasn’t dead at all.”

“Apparently he faked the whole thing.”

“Callum absolutely lost it when he found out.”

My friend sounded almost breathless from excitement.

“Supposedly he threatened to kill both of them on the spot.”

“I need to know what makes somebody fake their death for fifteen years.”

“If I don’t get the rest of this story, I’m not sleeping tonight.”

I went still.

Then I remembered what Callum had told me.

Brennan Vale had died saving him.

That was why he’d spent all those years taking care of Tamsin.

Only now had he discovered that Brennan and Tamsin had been lying to him all along.

He had to be furious.

The thought suddenly made me laugh.

Callum was probably back in Bellweather confronting both of them.

But none of it mattered to me anymore.

That life was over.

From now on, I was moving forward with my own life.