He Secretly Used Our Down Payment to Buy Her a Luxury Bag Chapter 06

He Secretly Used Our Down Payment to Buy Her a Luxury Bag Chapter 06

Before I knew it, I had already been overseas for three months.

To my surprise, the job was remarkably easy. I did not have to report to an office or clock in every day. I only needed to provide technical support whenever the local partner company ran into a problem.

At first, I could not adjust to that kind of schedule.

I still found myself going to the office every day to see whether anyone needed my help.

When one of my closest friends back home found out, she was speechless.

“Are you addicted to working yourself to death?” she demanded. “If you can’t handle a job this easy, quit and let me take it.”

I laughed.

She was not entirely wrong.

But I was not addicted to working myself to death. I was simply used to it.

My parents were both terrible people.

My father was an alcoholic. My mother was a compulsive gambler.

From the moment I was old enough to understand what kind of people they were, I knew that if I

wanted to avoid becoming like them, I would have to work a hundred times harder than everyone

else.

Fortunately, I was smart.

I earned the top score on a competitive entrance exam and won a full scholarship to an elite private

prep school. My tuition was fully covered, and I received additional scholarship money as well.

Later, I was admitted to a top university.

After graduation, I joined my current company and earned a good salary.

But I still did not feel I had the luxury of resting, because I had met Elliot.

The first time we crossed paths, my parents had tricked me into coming home because they planned to hand me over to the people they owed in exchange for wiping out their gambling debts.

I escaped and, in my panic, jumped into Elliot’s car.

He saved me.

He even helped put both of my parents in prison.

Eventually, we fell in love.

He said he wanted to buy a house and marry me.

I wanted a loving family so badly that I worked even harder and saved alongside him.

In the end, Elliot had played me for a fool.

“Stella.”

My friend’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. She sounded hesitant.

I came back to myself and smiled. “Just say it. You don’t have to hold back with me.’

She took a deep breath. “Your boyfriend came looking for me. He asked where you were. Of course I didn’t tell him. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I’m on your side.”

She paused.

“But something about him felt wrong. He was calm, but in a way that made him seem completely unhinged. It was scary. I’m worried someone else might crack under the pressure and tell him

where you went.”

I fell silent.

I had not told anyone why Elliot and I had broken up.

It was too humiliating.

I knew I had flaws. I was proud, sensitive, and unable to face the way people might look at me once they knew the truth.

I had a habit of running away when things got difficult.

That was one of the reasons I had accepted the overseas assignment.

No one here knew me. It gave me the time and space I needed to put myself back together.

After thinking for a moment, I said, “It’s fine. Whatever’s coming will come eventually.”

I simply had not expected it to happen so soon.

Elliot represented the client on a project for the company I had been assigned to support.

As the technical specialist stationed overseas, I had to go onsite and provide a technical briefing.

Throughout the presentation, I kept my eyes forward and focused entirely on my work.

Even so, I could not ignore the searing gaze fixed on me from behind.

An hour passed quickly, and my throat was dry from talking.

An assistant offered me a bottle of water.

Just as I reached for it, another hand extended toward me, long-fingered and holding an ivory-colored thermos.

Elliot’s strained voice came from above me.

“Drink this. It’s warm honey-lemon tea with ginger. It’ll soothe your throat.

I paused.

My throat had always been sensitive. The constant fear and stress of my childhood had left me prone to recurring throat inflammation, and my parents had barely looked after me, so I never

received timely treatment.

It left me with chronic throat problems.

After Elliot and I got together, he’d asked an experienced herbalist for a throat-soothing tea recipe.

He made me a fresh thermos of it every day.

I drank it for three years, and my throat had almost completely recovered.

I looked at the thermos in his hand. “No, thank you.”

Then I avoided his outstretched hand and took the bottle of water instead.

Elliot stared at me, his hand suspended in midair.

It took him a long time to lower it.