He Exiled Me for Five Years to Make Room for His Mistress Chapter 01

He Exiled Me for Five Years to Make Room for His Mistress Chapter 01

After five years away on a field assignment, I walked out of the airport expecting Ethan Shaw to keep his promise and propose to me.

Instead, he simply stood there, his face cold and unreadable.

“Claire Harper, I’m sorry.”

Before I could even process the shock, he spoke again.

“I was the one who manipulated your transfer.”

“I deliberately sent you to that remote high-desert project in Nevada so Emily Lane and I would have space to be together.”

“She was pregnant back then. I didn’t have a choice.”

The silence stretched on until I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.

For five years, I had survived a wind-scoured high-desert field site in Nevada, with blinding dust, brutal heat, and sixteen-hour workdays that felt like hell.

All of it had been a cage he designed for me.

“You were forceful and impossible to reason with. I was afraid you’d hurt her.”

“I’m not telling you this because I expect forgiveness. I just want you to calm down before things get ugly.”

His voice was full of weary resignation.

I took a step back and avoided the hand he reached toward me. Tears blurred my smile.

“Ethan, you took something that could have ended with dignity and made that impossible.”

***

Ethan’s car followed the cab I was in and flashed its headlights twice.

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“Miss, that BMW behind us has been following for a while. Is he a friend?”

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.

“No.”

“Do you want me to lose him?”

“No. He knows where I’m going.”

The apartment building looked the same as ever, except for the new ads taped inside the elevator.

I dragged my suitcase to the door and took out my key.

The lock didn’t sound right when it turned.

Then the door opened from the inside.

Emily stood there in a silk nightgown, holding a little boy who looked about three or four.

She froze when she saw me, then smiled.

“You’re back.”

The boy had his arms around her neck and stared at me curiously.

“Mom, who’s that lady?”

“She’s the woman who used to live here.”

Emily patted his head, then looked at me.

“Do you want to come in and sit for a while? Ethan said you were coming back today, but I didn’t expect you this soon.”

I looked past her into the living room.

Their wedding portrait hung on the wall. The couch had been replaced, and children’s clothes were drying out on the balcony.

“This place…”

“It’s my home.”

Emily cut me off gently.

“It has been for five years. The moment Ethan got the keys, he had me move in.”

The wheel of my suitcase caught in the doorway.

“He said we’d get married once you were sent out to Nevada.”

The boy started getting restless and twisted in her arms, wanting to get down and play.

Emily set him on the floor, and he immediately ran toward the toy box in the living room.

She leaned against the doorframe and looked me up and down.

“You’ve lost so much weight. Was the desert that hard on you?”

I tightened my grip on the suitcase handle.

“Will Ethan be back soon?”

“I don’t know.”

She arched a brow.

“What do you need him for? Money, or are you here to demand answers?”

“I don’t want anything from him.”

“Then why did you come back?”

I looked at her well-kept face and suddenly felt sick.

“I came back,” I said as calmly as I could, “to get what belongs to me.”

Emily laughed.

“What could you possibly still have here? I threw out your clothes ages ago. Ethan said your books took up too much space, so he sold them. Oh, right. All those plants you kept died too.”

She paused, then added, “I stopped watering them on purpose.”

I turned and pressed the elevator button.

Her voice came from behind me.

“Claire, don’t make this uglier than it has to be. You have nothing left now. You can’t fight me.”

The elevator doors closed.

I leaned against the cold metal wall and shut my eyes.

Five years had passed.

I thought I had been climbing the ladder of my career, but it had only been their honeymoon period.

Chapter 2
The next day, I went to Shaw Group to complete my return-to-work paperwork.

When Linda Bennett from HR saw me, her expression turned complicated.

“Claire, your position…”

“I know. Emily took over.”

I set my suitcase in the corner.

“It’s fine. Just put me wherever there’s an opening.”

Linda sighed and pulled up my personnel file on her computer.

“Your file describes your five years in Nevada as a voluntary hardship assignment to a remote federal project site. It says you overcame severe conditions and completed the work successfully.”

“That’s what happened.”

“But,” she lowered her voice, “the three projects you led all list Emily as the lead author on the final reports.”

I froze.

“How is that possible? Those were my…”

“You signed off on it.”

Linda opened a file and turned the monitor toward me.

“Look. This is an agreement from five years ago. You signed it, agreeing that the project results would be credited to the team.”

The signature was mine.

But I had no memory of signing anything like that.

“You left in such a rush back then. Mr. Shaw handled a lot of the paperwork for you.”

Linda hesitated, as if there was more she wanted to say.

“Claire, some things… never mind. Go settle in at your desk first.”

My desk was in the corner beside the printer, piled with random office supplies.

Coworkers passed by me. Some pretended not to see me, while others gave me a brief nod as a greeting.

Only Karen Walsh came over and spoke in a low voice.

“Why did you come back?”

“The project ended.”

“Then you…”

She glanced toward Emily’s office.

“Be careful. Emily is your supervisor now, and Mr. Shaw is her husband.”

I set my bag down.

“I know.”

That afternoon, my phone rang.

It was Ethan.

I didn’t answer.

He called again, three times in a row.

On the fourth call, I picked up.

“Claire, we need to talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Emily is pregnant again. The doctor says it’s high-risk, and she can’t handle any stress right now.”

His voice sounded tired.

“Can you just stay away from us for a while?”

A child’s voice came through from his end of the line.

“Dad, Mom’s throwing up!”

“I’m coming.”

Ethan said hurriedly,

“Please, Claire. I’m begging you.”

The call ended.

I stared at the screen and thought back to five years ago.

The day the transfer notice came through, I called him in tears.

He said, “Wait for me. I’ll be right there.”

Then he held me and said, “Go. Think of it as a chance to build experience. I’ll wait for you to come back, and then we’ll get married.”

That day, there had been a faint trace of perfume on him, but it was not his usual cologne.

Now I knew.

It had been Emily’s scent.