He Took Her to Europe With My Money Chapter 07

He Took Her to Europe With My Money Chapter 07

The next morning at ten, I finished an experiment and stepped through the glass laboratory doors.

Darien was sitting in the corner of the lobby.

He stood as soon as he saw me.

“Did you get the thirteen thousand dollars?”

“The extra thousand should be enough for you to buy some decent clothes.”

I stopped.

“Yes. The original twelve thousand is back in my account.”

“I returned the extra thousand.”

“I don’t want anything extra from you.”

His jaw tightened.

His eyes were bloodshot, making him look almost feral.

He was used to seeing me lower my head and apologize.

My indifference unsettled him.

“Camille Wallace, you think you’re impressive now?”

“You applied to Linden behind my back and left without saying a word.”

He stepped closer, his shadow falling over me.

—

“So what if you got into graduate school?”

“You think you can survive here without me?”

“With that timid, nervous personality of yours, people are going to tear you apart.”

I looked at his face, twisted with anger.

“Darien, I’m doing well.”

“I’m doing better than I have at any point in the last fourteen years.”

“Because you’re not here.”

He stared at me, then let out a harsh laugh.

“Doing well? Stop pretending.”

“Leona has moved out of my place. The two-month dare is finished.”

He reached for my wrist.

“Come back to Crestwood. Forget about graduate school. I’ll take care of you.”

I stepped away from his hand.

“The dare?”

“Was giving Leona the necklace you gave me part of the dare?”

“Was forcing me into the back row and putting her in the center of our graduation photo part of it too?”

His hand froze in midair.

—

His knuckles turned white.

He had not expected me to bring up everything he had done before the dare.

“That was because you’re not photogenic.”

“You would have ruined the whole picture if you’d stood in the center.”

He raised his voice, trying to cover the crack in his composure.

“She liked the necklace. It was cheap silver. I’ll buy you a diamond one. Is that good enough?”

I shook my head.

“Don’t bother.”

He shoved an orange Hermès shopping bag into my hands.

“It’s the latest release. Twelve thousand dollars. Happy now?”

During our three years together in college, he had never bought me a birthday cake.

Not even a ten-dollar one.

He always said romance was superficial and that real love did not need material proof.

I placed the bag on the steps between us.

“No, thanks.”

“I don’t want something Leona already had.”

—

“She posted an unboxing video of this exact bag yesterday.”

He dragged a hand through his hair.

“Why are you checking Leona’s feed all day? Can you stop being so petty?”

I walked past him toward the tree-lined path.

“Stop!”

His voice thundered behind me.

“Camille, don’t push me.”

“If you walk away now, don’t ever come begging me to take you back.”

“I won’t.”

I did not look back.

—

I walked until the sound of his voice faded behind me.

When I finally stopped, I realized my hands were trembling.

Not from fear.

From anger.

From relief.

From the sheer force of finally saying everything I had swallowed for fourteen years.

I leaned against a tree and took a slow, deep breath.

The campus was quiet. Students passed by in small groups, laughing and talking. The sun filtered through the leaves, dappling the path in gold.

I watched them and felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Hope.

I pulled out my phone and texted my advisor.

[Dr. Chen, I’m ready to work on the next phase of the project. Let me know when you have time to meet.]

Her reply came within minutes.

[Come by my office at 3. And Camille—welcome to Linden. I’m glad you’re here.]

I smiled and pocketed the phone.

Darien was still standing by the laboratory entrance when I glanced back. He was watching me, his hands shoved in his pockets, his expression unreadable.

I turned away and walked deeper into the campus.

Fourteen years was a long time to let someone make you feel small.

But I had the rest of my life to teach myself how to stand tall.