He Gave His Secretary Two Hours Every Day Until Our Wedding. So I Left Chapter 04

He Gave His Secretary Two Hours Every Day Until Our Wedding. So I Left Chapter 04

Back in my room, I plugged in my phone.

As it powered on, Nathaniel’s messages appeared. Sent after he’d finished with Lydia and found me gone.

If you come back now, I’ll let you deduct ten times the time from those two hours.

Elena, I’m giving you this one chance. Miss it, and it’s gone.

Reading them, I laughed until tears came.

Nathaniel knew how much I valued those hours. I’d argued over seconds.

I’d believed marriage would end those daily two hours. That the remaining 586 would stop growing.

Now I knew. There would be no end. No stopping.

What difference did a little more or less make?

I opened my social feed.

The top post was Nathaniel’s, uploaded minutes ago.

I was stunned. In three years, Nathaniel had never posted. He barely scrolled.

Yet there his name was.

Weekends are private. Do not disturb.

I knew it was for me.

I’d just learned of Lydia, and he posted that. Anyone could see it was aimed at me.

I dialed a number.

“Hello? Elena? It’s late. Everything all right?”

I bit my lip and forced the words out. “Could you check Nathaniel’s latest post? Tell me what it says.”

A pause. Then his voice returned. “What post? He hasn’t posted anything.”

The voice sounded distant, as if speaking to others. “Hey, check Nathaniel’s profile. What’s on it?”

Faintly, I heard them.

“Nothing there.”

“Don’t see a thing.”

“Nope. Sure you’ve got the right account?”

So Nathaniel had made it visible only to me.

He hadn’t needed to do that.

He really hadn’t.

My friend Owen Fletcher realized his mistake and faltered.

“I know about Lydia,” I said.

Hearing her name, Owen sounded relieved.

“When I introduced you, I only knew his secretary was hurt because of him. I didn’t know it would become

this.”

“Elena, Nathaniel treats you differently. It’s only two hours a day. You can endure it.”

I said nothing.

I’d endured three years. I knew exactly what it cost.

I didn’t want to be seventy, still balancing Nathaniel’s accounts.

With my agreement, my parents visited the Prescotts the next day and ended the engagement. Nathaniel’s parents consented.

The families announced the cancellation soon after.

Owen called as I stood at the airport.

“Elena, don’t act rashly. I spoke out of turn last night-Nathaniel didn’t know. If you leave, he’ll have my head!”

“Wait for him. I’m already at the hot springs looking for him. Meet him. Talk, please?”

I smiled and said nothing. I pushed my suitcase forward.

Without a backward glance, I stepped onto a new journey.