Forty-Eight Hours Until I Disappear From His Life Chapter 06

Forty-Eight Hours Until I Disappear From His Life Chapter 06

By the time I landed, it was afternoon in Saudi Arabia.

A car from Meridian was waiting outside the airport.

A coworker helped load my luggage into the trunk and smiled. “Long flight. You exhausted?”

“I’m okay.”

“Daniel said you turned down two overseas assignments before. What made you suddenly change your mind this time?”

I looked out the window.

Unfamiliar streets. Unfamiliar buildings. Even the air coming through the window felt hot and

foreign.

“Once there was nothing left I couldn’t bear to leave behind, the decision got easy.”

On the way to the project office, my new phone rang.

The number was from the States.

I thought it might be about one of my deliveries, so I answered.

The other end was silent.

A few seconds passed before Ethan spoke.

“You landed?”

“I did.”

“When are you coming back?”

I almost laughed.

He still didn’t ask whether I was okay or whether the trip had gone smoothly.

He simply assumed that, sooner or later, I was supposed to come back.

“The contract is very clear. Three years.”

“Don’t hide behind a contract. If you want something, just tell me.”

“Is there another expense I haven’t paid you back for?”

Ethan’s breathing grew heavier.

“I’m not calling to settle accounts with you.”

“But accounts are all we have left.”

I opened my banking app and transferred my share of the month’s common charges.

“I lived there twelve days this month. I’ve transferred my share. I returned the keys and the access fob too. If there’s nothing else, don’t contact me again.”

“You’re really just leaving like this?”

For the first time, real emotion broke through his voice.

“Ethan, you’re the one who told me to stop pretending.”

“Now that I’m not pretending anymore, you’re the one who can’t handle it?”

I heard Sloane’s voice on his end.

“Ethan, put her on speaker. Let her talk. Don’t let her play you.”

I closed my eyes.

So she was still there.

Ethan didn’t put me on speaker, but he didn’t tell her to shut up either.

Sloane raised her voice.

“Ask her this: if she really doesn’t want to come back, why did she answer? She’s waiting for you to coax her back.”

I hung up.

When Ethan called again, I didn’t answer.

He tried from three different numbers.

I blocked every one of them.

Finally, Daniel messaged me.

[Ethan Whitmore contacted me. He wants to know when your assignment ends.]

I replied: [I’m following the contract. I won’t be ending it early.]

Back at the Manhattan club, Ethan stared at the disconnected call, his face grim.

Sloane was still smiling.

“See? She answered. That means she still cares. She was just acting cold before.”

Ethan looked up.

“She blocked me.”

“That’s to make you panic.”

“She paid me back for everything.”

“That’s for show.”

“She went overseas.”

“She’ll come back eventually.”

Ethan suddenly gave a short laugh.

“Sloane, what exactly would she have to do before you’d believe she really doesn’t want me?”

Sloane opened her mouth.

The others lowered their heads. No one answered.

Noah walked in at that moment carrying two old documents.

“Mr. Whitmore, these are Ms. Bennett’s two previous overseas assignment applications.”

Ethan took them.

Both applications had been approved.

One was dated two years earlier, the other the year before.

The final reason for withdrawing was identical on both.

Personal reasons. Voluntarily chose to remain in current role.

Ethan’s brows pulled together.

“Why did she withdraw?”

Noah hesitated.

“The first time, you were hospitalized with a stomach bleed. She stayed to take care of you.”

“And the second?”

“You told her you wouldn’t do a long–distance relationship.”

Ethan stared at the two documents as the color slowly drained from his face.