He Thought I’d Beg, Until I Cancelled Our Engagement Chapter 09

The first to come looking for me in Pittsburgh was Ethan’s sister.

she waited in the coffee shop downstairs from the branch office with a bag of pastries from the

Whitmore.

“Claire, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt you on Thanksgiving.” Her eyes were red.

I looked down and stirred my coffee without a word.

“It was Ethan. He said you were softhearted. That even if you got hurt, a few gifts would smooth

things over.”

“And you thought that, too?”

“I know I was wrong. Claire, he’s falling apart. Couldn’t you…”

I pushed the pastries back toward her.

“You haven’t suddenly realized you were wrong. You were just counting on me not being able to

walk away.”

She lowered her head, covered her face, and ran out of the coffee shop crying.

My sister was next.

She didn’t come in person. She sent a voice message that ran for most of a minute.

“Claire, Ethan knows he was wrong. Stop making him chase you. We’re family. We’re still going to

see each other.”

“You saw the Thanksgiving seating chart in the group text, too.”

“It was one seat. You’re still holding on to that?”

“My whole life, whenever you had to pick a side, you never picked mine.”

“Then you told me it was for my own good.”

I blocked her before I finished listening to the rest of her messages.

Third came a phone call from Ethan’s mother.

“Claire, Ethan can’t eat. He can’t sleep. I told Nat off, too. If you won’t do it for me, think about the five years you spent together.”

“Mrs. Cole, you saw the Thanksgiving seating chart.”

“I… I wasn’t thinking. I thought you were understanding…”

“When Ethan’s company almost went under, you hid out in the country and said you had no money.

worked two jobs and emptied my wedding savings to keep his business alive.”

The other end went quiet.

“Every time, you choose sorneone else. Then you turn around and tell me you didn’t mean to hurt

me.”

I hung up and blocked her.

In Chicago, Ethan sold the condo we planned to live in after the wedding. To sell it quickly, he cut the price by forty thousand dollars.

Then he pushed through a transfer of twenty percent of his company shares into my name.

That same day, I hired a lawyer and gave the shares back without taking a cent.

Ethan flew to Pittsburgh that night.

He stood outside my apartment building, his suit jacket flapping in the early winter wind.

I ran into him when I came downstairs, the manila envelope in my arms.

His eyes lit up for a second.

“Claire. The ledger… You kept it.”

“I was going to take it to the recycling center,” I said. “I changed my mind.”

“It’s proof of how blind I was when I was young,”

“And those four words on the last page: [I’ll never fail you.]”

I borrowed a lighter from the doorman.

The flame flared, swallowing the yellowed pages, the dense rows of figures, and those final four

words.

“Burning it is cleaner.”

Ethan stood frozen.

“Claire, I know how badly I messed up.” His voice shook. “I’ll change. You can have the whole

company. I’ll do whatever you say…”

“Ethan, I don’t care what changes you make anymore.”

He reached for me, then stopped and let his hand drop.

“What do you care about now?”

“Tomorrow’s international video conference.”

“Besides work?”

“Going home and taking a hot bath.”

“What else?”

I thought about it.

“Nothing.”

The last hope drained from his face.

His legs gave out, and he crumpled onto the asphalt.

He stared at the ashes, covered his face with both hands, and sobbed uncontrollably.

I turned and walked into my building without stopping.

The last words to vanish into the ashes were [I’ll never fail you.]