He Gave His Assistant My Promotion, So I Left Him Forever Chapter 05

He Gave His Assistant My Promotion, So I Left Him Forever Chapter 05

“She what?”

His voice cracked through the empty hallway.

He didn’t move. Couldn’t.

“That’s not possible. She was home last night. She can’t just be gone.”

Dana, my former supervisor, watched him unravel. Something complicated crossed her face.

Adrian was above her on the org chart, but she’d been in my corner since day one. She’d watched me claw my way up from nothing.

Ten years of me showing up, giving everything, and getting nothing back.

She’d held her tongue long enough.

“Elena turned in her resignation yesterday and cleared out the same day.”

“You’re her boyfriend. And you had no idea?”

“Doesn’t that tell you something?”

Adrian looked at her like she was speaking a language he didn’t understand.

“There’s nothing wrong between us.”

“Outside of keeping things quiet at work, everything’s been fine…”

Dana cut him off.

“Fine? You handed every project she bled over to someone else and called it being impartial.”

“Every time she was one step from director, you shut it down. Too risky. People might talk.”

“She stood in the pouring rain outside this building while you walked your assistant to her car under your umbrella.”

“You lived with that woman for ten years and made her hide like she was something to be ashamed of.”

Each sentence landed like a blow, and Adrian had no guard up.

He’d told himself for years that distance was protection.

That he was shielding me. Giving me room to build rny own reputation.

He never considered that his protection was the thing cutting me deepest.

He’d been so busy seeing Camille’s talent that he’d gone blind to everything I’d given up.

The color drained from Adrian’s face. He opened his mouth, grasping for a defense.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Everything I did was for us.” But even in his own head, the words rang hollow.

A voice from the back of the room cut through.

“Wait, Adrian’s girlfriend is Associate Director Sullivan?”

One of the new interns. She wasn’t even trying to keep her voice down.

“Huh. I always thought he was dating Director Reeves. They come in together, leave together, eat together, stay late together… Aren’t they the couple?”

The office went dead silent.

Every head in the room turned.

The intern went white. Her hand flew to her mouth, but the damage was done.

She’d only said what everyone already knew.

From the day Camille arrived, Adrian’s attention had been obvious.

Lunch together. Late nights together. He drove her home. He fought her battles.

Meanwhile, I was the one he wouldn’t stand next to. To anyone watching, Camille was the girlfriend. I was the stranger.

Everyone had talked about it. Just never to his face.

Until now.

Adrian’s expression went flat. The kind of still that comes right before something breaks.

What he’d called professionalism, the entire office had called favoritism.

And the one person who’d stood by him for a decade hadn’t gotten any of it.

Camille appeared. She must have heard the noise.

“Adrian, hey, don’t let it get to you. She’s just an intern. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

She reached for his arm, casual, familiar, like she’d done it a hundred times.

The gesture was automatic. Intimate in a way that had nothing to do with work.

A day ago, Adrian would have stepped back quietly. Made space without making a scene.

But right now, her touch made his skin crawl.

He pulled away. Hard. In front of everyone.

When he looked at her, there was nothing warm left.

“Camille. We work together. That’s it. That’s all this has ever been.”

“Anything I did for you was strictly professional. Don’t make it into something it wasn’t.”

A murmur ripped through the room.

Camille’s face went blank. She stared at him like he’d slapped her.

She hadn’t expected him to gut her in front of the whole floor.

Adrian didn’t look at her again.

There was only one thought left. Elena.

He walked out without another word.