After He Bought His Intern a $100K Bracelet Chapter 01

After He Bought His Intern a $100K Bracelet Chapter 01 One Last Chance
My voice cracked as I called my brother Ethan Calloway and asked him to come help me move out in three days.
Ethan froze for a beat, then his voice shot up with excitement. “Moving out? Why the sudden move? You’re finally dumping that manager boyfriend of yours, aren’t you? Oh, thank God. Now I’ve finally got something to tell Sebastian.”
I still didn’t get why Ethan felt he owed my boss, his old buddy Sebastian Locke, any kind of explanation.
Even so, tears running down my face, I kept going. “Besides moving, I want to start dating again. Ethan, you know everyone. Could you keep an eye out for someone decent for me?”
Ethan only got more worked up.
“Do I ever. I’ve got the perfect guy. There’s a man who’s been waiting ten years for you.”
A puzzled sound slipped out of me.
Ethan seemed to catch that he’d said too much and rushed to cover it. “When are you free? I’ll set something up.”
My eyes drifted to the photo of Grayson and me on the desk. My name is Ivy Calloway.
Grayson Reed and I were an office couple.
Fresh out of college, my overprotective older brother, Ethan, had pulled strings to get me hired at his best friend’s company.
He said he’d rest easier knowing someone there had my back.
By my first month on the job, I’d fallen hard for Grayson.
I loved how sharp he was, how driven.
I chased him relentlessly, and at one of the company retreats we quietly became a couple.
By the second year, we’d even moved in together.
But four years in, not a single soul knew we were together.
Word around the office was that the owner couldn’t stand workplace romances.
So for years, Grayson and I lived under the same roof.
Yet he never once brought me around to meet his friends.
He wouldn’t meet mine either.
Even our dates had to be secret trips out of town or somewhere on the outskirts.
To keep anyone from suspecting us, he’d joked with coworkers, over and over, that they should set me up with a boyfriend.
He’d tease that I was getting old and plain, that a never-married guy would be tough for me to land.
He told them to keep an eye out for divorced men for me instead.
Sure, he’d said it all as a joke at a department outing.
But the words still hit like a fist to the chest.
So every so often, I’d beg Grayson to go public with us, even if it meant I had to quit.
And every time, Grayson promised he would.
But when the moment came, he’d brush me off with one excuse after another.
He was about to land a huge deal, so this wasn’t the time.
He was in line for a promotion, so it would have to wait.
Even HR being pregnant and moody somehow became a reason to keep us hidden.
And so the stalling dragged on for four solid years.
Everyone at the company knew I was his right hand, the person he trusted most.
But not one of them knew I was his girlfriend.
Swallowing the sting in my chest, I kept my voice level and told Ethan, “Three days from now.”
I’d picked three days for a reason.
Three days out marked four years since Grayson and I first got together.
Over the holidays, he’d made me a solemn promise.
This year, on our fourth anniversary, he’d come home with me to meet my parents.
This year, he’d finally tell every coworker that I was his girlfriend.
Deep down, I already knew the truth.
Grayson would never follow through.
Still, some stubborn part of me wanted to give him one last chance.
Besides, this place was full of little relics of us, and I needed to clear them out.