The Group Chat Without Me That Decided Everything Chapter 05

The Group Chat Without Me That Decided Everything Chapter 05

Back in Miami, Ethan stared blankly at his phone screen, unable to reach me.

Six that evening.

The hotel lobby.

The four of them waited half an hour without a sign of Claire Bennett.

“Does she know what time it is? Even when she’s sulking, she needs to know when to stop.”

Lucas checked his watch, irritated.

Ethan’s face darkened as he dialed the familiar number again.

The same automated voice answered: “The person you are calling is unavailable.”

“She blocked me.”

Ethan laughed coldly and tossed his phone onto the couch.

“Look at her. Now she thinks she can block me.”

Anna said quietly, “Ethan, do you think Claire found out our tickets are actually for tomorrow morning? Is that why she’s mad?”

“Mad? What right does she have to be mad?”

Nathan frowned.

“Every time we go away, she’s either sulking or ruining the mood. If Anna hadn’t wanted to

come to Miami, I wouldn’t have bothered with her. Come on. We’re not waiting. Let’s get

seafood. She can sit around this lousy hotel by herself.”

They took it for granted that I was simply being childish to get their attention.

They took their time checking out the next morning. Only when they learned I’d already left the day before did Ethan’s composure begin to crack.

“What did you say? She already checked out yesterday?”

The receptionist kept her professional smile.

“Yes, sir. Ms. Bennett has settled all her charges.”

On the flight home, an unsettling silence settled over the four of them.

Ethan stared out the window, his inexplicable unease growing.

Before, no matter how they shut me out, the worst I’d done was go quiet. I’d never left early or

blocked every one of them.

“She probably went home early to complain about us.

Lucas broke the silence.

“Just wait. She’ll be playing the victim when we get back.”

Ethan didn’t answer.

A few hours later, they opened the front door.

There was no resentful look waiting for them. No hot meal.

Just a cold, empty house.

Ethan stopped halfway through changing his shoes.

He stared at the entryway. The flats that always sat beside his dress shoes were gone.

He rushed into the bedroom.

The closet door stood half open. My side was empty.

Not even a strand of hair remained on the vanity.

“What’s going on?”

Nathan and Lucas, following behind him, froze too.

Anna pointed at the dining table, her voice trembling.

“Ethan… There’s something on the table.”

He strode over.

Two documents lay there, their words stark against the white paper.

The first: “Notice of Separation.”

My signature at the bottom was clean and decisive, without a trace of hesitation.

The second: “Notice of Withdrawal from the Family Trust.”

A crisp notary’s seal marked the page.

“This can’t be happening…

Ethan picked up the separation notice, the veins standing out on the back of his hand.

“What does she think this is? A game? She thinks some stupid piece of paper means she can dump me?”

Nathan picked up the other notice and went white.

“She withdrew from, the trust… When did she do all this?”

Lucas snatched it from him, his voice pitching higher.

“This was notarized two weeks ago… So she was already planning to leave before we even talked about Labor Day?”

Two weeks earlier.

That was when Anna had returned from abroad and moved into the Bennett house, and Ethan had begun missing our anniversary celebrations because he was supposedly “working late.”

Ethan stared at the key and access card on the table. His chest felt as though he’d taken a hard punch; he could barely breathe.

“Find her! Call her right now!”

He frantically pulled out his phone, then switched to Anha’s to try calling me.

He still couldn’t get through.

Nathan and Lucas panicked too, repeatedly dialing my number and contacting our mutual friends.

The answers were remarkably consistent:

“Claire? She hasn’t contacted me.”

“What? She quit? She finished her exit paperwork last week. You didn’t know?”

Ethan sank onto the couch, drained.

Looking at all the traces of Anna around the house, he suddenly understood something

terrifying.

I wasn’t sulking.

I really didn’t want him anymore.