After Three Losses, I Stopped Looking Back Chapter 02

After Three Losses, I Stopped Looking Back Chapter 02

The doctor’s brows drew together the moment she saw me.

“I remember you. You were glowing when you got the news a few weeks ago. What changed?”

My face went still. The bitterness rose so fast I could taste it.

A month ago, while Julian was away on business, I’d started feeling off. The test came back positive. I didn’t tell him. I was saving it — a wedding-day surprise.

I never got the chance. Audrey came back.

He bolted from our ceremony and left me standing there, a punchline in a white dress. I was still in the gown. Every rustle of fabric reminded me.

“I finally woke up. Please make the appointment.”

The doctor sighed. “All right. Tomorrow morning, nine AM, room one. Just check in at the desk.”

I nodded and went back to my dad’s room.

I checked my phone. The group chat I shared with Julian’s friends was blowing up. He’d added Audrey.

[Welcome back, Audrey! I always knew you two would find your way back to each other.]

[This is how it was always supposed to be! She’s one of us!]

[Um… Clara’s still in here, guys.]

The chat went dead. I could practically hear them cringing.

They’d only ever tolerated me because of Julian. None of them had ever actually given a damn.

A notification slid across my screen before I could even close the app. [Julian removed you from the group.]

The blood drained from my face.

His message came right after. [I’ll add you back in a few weeks. Just sit tight.]

I stared at it for two seconds and didn’t reply. After tomorrow, none of this would matter.

Dad woke up a couple of days later. By then, the procedure was over. I went back to Sterling Corp with my resignation letter ready to submit.

I’d barely sat down at my desk when the elevator doors opened. Julian and Audrey stepped out together.

He stopped in front of me.

“How’s your dad? Blood pressure under control?”

My fists tightened under the desk. “Couldn’t be better. Thanks for asking, Mr. Sterling.”

Julian’s jaw tightened. He didn’t like the edge in my voice. He was used to me being pleasant. Compliant.

He turned away from me, and the second his eyes found Audrey, his whole face changed — soft, warm, almost tender.

“You’ll start as the Lead Executive Assistant to the CEO. Once you’re up to speed, I’ll move you into the project department.”

Audrey’s eyes slid to me.

“Sure. I’m still new, so I don’t really know how things work yet. Julian, just have Ms. Hayes show me the ropes.”

My head jerked up. I bit down on the fury before it could reach my mouth.

“No.”

Audrey didn’t even blink. She just waited, perfectly still, for Julian to handle it.

And there it was. His voice landed like a fist.

“You don’t get to say no. This is an office, Clara. Not a playground. Your feelings aren’t part of the equation.”

He gave me one last look — flat, dismissive — and walked Audrey into his office.

My hands went numb. The sky had been clear all morning, but now the rain had started up again, and a gust of cold air cut through the open window.

I sank into my chair. Around me, the other secretaries laughed — low, cruel, not even trying to hide it.

That afternoon, I’d just signed my resignation letter when Julian called me into his office. His face was dark. He threw a contract at my feet.

“Tell me you didn’t actually submit this, Clara. You put three hundred million on a thirty-million-dollar project. The entire team is scrambling to fix what you did.”

I picked it up. The number on the page hit me like ice water.

“That’s not what I submitted.”

I’d checked that figure a dozen times. There was no way I’d gotten it wrong.

My eyes drifted to Audrey, standing off to the side. She was smiling. Just barely — but enough.

“It was you.”

That’s why she’d been so eager to shadow me all morning. She’d been right next to me for hours. Getting my password would’ve been nothing.

“Clara.” Julian’s voice cut through the room like a blade. His face was stone.

“You’re really going to stand there and blame this on someone else?”

I breathed in. Held it. Forced my voice steady.

“Then let’s pull up the security footage. And Ms. Miller? She probably didn’t know that the little desk ornament has a camera in it.”