He Promised Me Every Flight, Gave Her Every One Chapter 04

He Promised Me Every Flight, Gave Her Every One Chapter 04

Emily’s face darkened the moment she saw me. “Eleanor, so you finally decided to come back?”

Grant’s younger brother, Blake Sterling, sat in the living room.

An open bridal garment bag lay across the coffee table.

The wedding gown stained with lipstick had been tossed onto the couch.

Blake glanced up at me with a mocking smile. “Come on, Ellie. Quit being dramatic. You know what a catch Grant is.”

“Lydia was his childhood sweetheart. If she’d wanted him, do you think you ever would’ve had a chance?”

Emily slammed the platinum diamond engagement ring onto the coffee table. “Put it back on. We already sent out the invitations.”

“You can’t just call off the wedding and humiliate Grant in front of everyone.”

The crystal chandelier’s glare made my eyes sting.

We’d planned the engagement party in this same room.

Grant had sat beside me, holding my hand as he spoke to everyone. “Ellie is shy. From now on, I’ll handle anything involving the Sterlings for her.”

Eventually, everything involving the Sterlings fell on me.

While Grant flew, I took Emily to her follow-up appointments.

While he entertained clients, I cleaned up the mess after Blake’s DUI.

When he forgot family dinners, I smoothed things over with both families alone.

Somewhere along the way, I became the one shielding everyone else.

Emily kept talking, “Lydia’s always been delicate. What’s wrong with her flying with Grant for a few days?”

“You’re his fiancée. You can’t be this petty.”

Blake piled on. “If you don’t marry him, my mother gets the short end of the deal.”

“Who else would’ve taken on the Miller family’s debt back then?”

I pulled a document from my bag and placed it on the table. “My lawyer drafted this settlement agreement.”

Emily froze.

The smile vanished from Blake’s face.

I continued, “The wedding is canceled. All wedding funds will be returned to whoever paid them. The penthouse isn’t mine. I’m only here for my personal belongings.”

Emily shot to her feet. “Don’t you dare!”

Her phone rang at that exact moment.

One glance at the caller ID changed her tone instantly.

“Grant, you need to deal with her. She brought legal papers here just to cause a scene!”

She switched on the speaker.

Grant’s voice came through, tired and impatient. “Eleanor, do you really have to pull this while I’m away for work?”

My eyes moved to the wedding gown. “Your flights have nothing to do with me anymore.”

The words seemed to strike a nerve.

His voice turned cold. “Take the agreement and leave. I’ll speak to you myself when I get back.”

“I’ve already signed it.”

A chair scraped across the floor on his end.

Lydia cried out in alarm. “Grant, don’t get up. You just landed, and you haven’t even rested.”

Emily heard her and immediately shouted at me, “Did you hear that? Lydia knows how to care about him. All you do is pressure him!”

Grant held back his anger. “Eleanor, don’t disappoint me.”

I bent down and opened the storage cabinet beside the couch.

Inside were my skincare products and several photo albums.

The top photo showed Grant and me at our first air show. He’d placed his captain’s hat on my head.

His handwriting covered the back: [My Ellie fly on every plane I captain.]

Blake snatched the album from my hands and flipped through a few pages.

“You still want this junk?”

The next second, he tossed it into the nearby trash can. Photos scattered across the floor.

Emily didn’t stop him.

Grant said nothing over the phone.

In the dead silence, Lydia spoke softly, “Ms. Miller’s probably just angry. Don’t hold it against her, Grant.”

Grant finally spoke, “Pick them up.”

Three words. A verdict.

I crouched down.

The smiling faces in the photos were stained with tea and dust.

My fingertips had just touched the bottom photo when someone pounded on the door.

The Sterling family driver stood outside, struggling to catch his breath. “Mrs. Sterling, Captain Sterling asked me to bring something back.”

He held out a black passport wallet. “He said Ms. Miller is always misplacing her documents, so he kept them here for safekeeping.”

“Now that she’s throwing a fit, he said to return them.”

Emily took the wallet and tossed it at my feet. “Take your things. Don’t claim later that the Sterlings withheld your documents.”

The wallet struck the floor.

My passport slid out.

A deep crease ran across its cover.

I picked it up and pressed my thumb against the damaged spot.

So he knew.

I hadn’t been late.

I hadn’t been throwing a tantrum.

He knew I’d been stranded outside security.

He knew exactly why his flight had left without me.

Grant’s voice remained calm over the phone. “Ellie, when you’re done, go to the bedroom and think about what you’ve done.”

“The wedding will go ahead as planned in seven days.”

I picked up the final photo beside the trash can.

Then I slowly raised my head toward the glowing phone on speaker.

The settlement agreement in my hand still needed Grant’s signature.