He Took Her to Europe With My Money Chapter 10

He Took Her to Europe With My Money Chapter 10

Three days later, I walked out of the main hall carrying several heavy anatomy atlases.

Darien was already waiting.

He pulled a velvet jewelry box from his pocket and opened it.

Inside was a simple silver necklace with a hollow star pendant.

It looked identical to the one he had given me during freshman year.

“I had it custom-made,” he said, unable to hide the pride in his voice.

“I didn’t ask Leona to return the old one. I threw it away.”

“This one is brand-new. It was made for you.”

I took the box from his hand and dropped it into the nearest trash can.

His expression hardened.

I brushed my palms together.

“I don’t need it anymore.”

“Anything that comes from you is worthless to me.”

At that moment, his phone buzzed.

Leona had tagged him in the class group chat.

[@Darien, are you picking me up after work? I bought your favorite corn dogs.]

—

The group chat immediately erupted.

[Whoa, Darien. That’s bold.]

[Leona works at your company now? Talk about having the perfect in.]

[When’s the wedding?]

Darien’s jaw tightened as he read the messages.

He looked at me, then back at the screen.

His fingers moved quickly.

[Stop joking. Leona and I are not together.]

The chat went silent for a moment.

Leona responded almost immediately with a voice message.

Her tone was sweet but wounded.

[Darien, you told me I looked great in that burgundy dress yesterday. Why are you pretending now?]

The tone of the chat shifted immediately.

Darien’s expression turned cold.

He typed another message.

[I’ll say this once. There is nothing going on between Leona and me.]

[The only person I have ever considered my girlfriend is Camille Wallace.]

—

[We have been together for three years. I kept our relationship private because I claimed I was protecting her.]

[Anyone who continues spreading rumors about me and another woman is out of my life.]

Leona clearly had not expected him to humiliate her publicly.

She began typing furiously.

[Did someone hack your account? We obviously…]

Darien did not let her finish.

He called HR directly.

“Terminate Leona Hayes, effective immediately.”

Less than two minutes later, HR emailed him confirmation that her employment had been terminated.

He took a screenshot and forwarded it to the group chat.

[Leona Hayes’s employment has been terminated, effective immediately.]

The group chat went wild.

[Holy shit. Camille was the real girlfriend?]

[Then what was Leona? The other woman?]

[They were always all over each other. I genuinely thought Leona and Darien were together.]

Darien held his phone up to me like a child showing off a trophy.

—

“See?”

“I fired her.”

“I admitted everything in front of everyone.”

“Camille, come home.”

I did not blink.

“Who you date and what you do no longer matter to me.”

I walked away without looking back at his frozen expression.

—

I could feel his stare burning into my back as I walked down the path. But I didn’t slow down. I didn’t turn around.

By the time I reached the library steps, my phone buzzed.

Evan: [You okay? I saw the chat. That was intense.]

I smiled and typed back.

[I’m fine. First time in years, actually.]

Evan: [Good. Same place tonight? Lab talk only, I swear.]

I hesitated for half a second. Then I typed:

[I’ll be there.]

I pocketed my phone and pushed open the library door.

The building smelled like old paper and coffee. Students hunched over laptops, whispering in the corners. It was ordinary. Safe. Perfect.

I found my usual seat by the window and opened my textbook.

But instead of reading, I looked out at the campus—at the trees turning gold, the students crossing the lawn, the sky fading to dusk.

Fourteen years. I had given fourteen years of my life to a man who made me small.

And it had taken me leaving to realize I was never small to begin with.

I had just forgotten how to stand tall.

But I was remembering now.

I opened my notebook and started writing.

Research notes. Ideas. Plans for the future.

The future that was finally, completely, my own.