His ‘Love Coach’ Planned Every Step of Our Relationship, She Also Planned Its End Chapter 03

His ‘Love Coach’ Planned Every Step of Our Relationship, She Also Planned Its End Chapter 03

I walked back to my apartment in a daze, intent on packing my things before I left for good.

A text from Logan lit up my screen.

[Babe, my screen glitching out earlier. I accidentally ordered those gourmet cupcakes you love. Ready to forgive me yet?]

It had always been like this over the years. When Darcy was in a good mood, she would ghostwrite a few high-EQ, sweet responses to coax me back into his good graces on Logan’s behalf.

When she was in a bad mood, she would use the excuse of “giving me a sense of urgency” to hurl insults my way. It wasn’t that I couldn’t tell Darcy was the one behind the screen; I had simply chosen to see it as Logan swallowing his pride, taking the easy way out to make peace.

But now, imagining her smug face on the other side of the screen, completely convinced she was pulling the strings of my emotions, only made me sick.

Darcy, do you honestly think you’re some kind of relationship genius?

I shot the reply back, ignored whatever came next, and focused entirely on packing my bags.

As it turned out, aside from a few changes of clothes, I had nothing else to pack. For years, Darcy had been brainwashing Logan with her toxic rules: [The better you treat a girl, the less she values you.]

[Money is meant to show off to women, not to be wasted on them.]

Because of that, Logan had rarely bought me so much as a single flower in five years. And so, everything I owned fit neatly into a single suitcase—a clean, easy break.

A sudden knock on the door broke my train of thought.

It was Darcy. She stood on the threshold, a smirk plastering her face, flaunting a neck heavily patterned with fresh hickeys.

“You just had to keep throwing your little tantrums, didn’t you?” she gloated, her eyes dripping with malice. “As his relationship coach, I had to step in and personally help him blow off some steam.”

I thought I had completely detached from this relationship, that I wouldn’t feel a thing.

But looking at the dark marks blooming across her skin, a familiar, suffocating tightness gripped my chest. Forcing down the sharp sting of pain, I threw her humiliation right back in her face.

“What’s the point of throwing yourself at him like a desperate homewrecker?” I scoffed. “It’s not like he ever chose you to be his actual girlfriend.”

The words sliced right through her armor, hitting her exactly where it hurt. Her composure instantly shattered, and she shoved me hard.

“Logan and I were practically together until you slid your way into his life!” she hissed, her face contorting. “You’re the real homewrecker here! Your mother was a homewrecker, and a side-chick’s daughter will only ever be a side-chick!”

Hearing her spit such venomous insults at my mother sparked a blinding rage inside me. Unable to hold back the hatred boiling in my blood, I swung my hand across her face.

Slap!

The sharp, crisp sound echoed through the room, but the blow landed squarely on Logan’s face.

Realizing Logan had stepped in to take the hit for her, Darcy instantly forced a sob into her voice.

“I only came here because I knew she was upset and wanted to apologize,” she whimpered, tears pooling on cue. “Sylvia, what did I ever do to make you hate me this much?”

Logan shielded her with his body, the disgust in his eyes nearly suffocating as he glared at me.

I looked at him, completely unblinking, and enunciated every single word. “She called my mother a homewrecker. She deserved it.”

Driven entirely mad by Darcy’s soft whimpering, Logan completely lost his mind and snapped back.

“You’ll make up absolutely any lie just to slander Darcy, won’t you?” he spat. “Your mother ran around doing shady, shameful things behind closed doors—is it a crime for people to speak the truth?”

In that exact fraction of a second, a piercing, absolute chill seeped into my bones.

My mother’s past was a secret I had shared with Logan, and Logan alone. He knew perfectly well that my mother only found out my biological father had a secret family after she gave birth to me.

He knew perfectly well that she had been forced to drag that toxic “homewrecker” label around, attempting to take her own life more times than I could count.

Yet he had taken our deepest, most agonizing trauma, turned it into casual gossip for Darcy, and used it to humiliate both my mother and me.

It felt as though my soul had been entirely hollowed out. I stood frozen, watching him blankly as hot tears ran silently down my face.

Belatedly realizing the damage of what he’d just thrown out, Logan reached out, trying to pull me into his arms.

I shifted back seamlessly, avoiding his touch.

I looked up at the man standing before me, now a complete and utter stranger. My mind drifted back to a stormy night years ago, when he had knelt out in the torrential rain for hours just to earn my mother’s blessing.

That night, he had fiercely guarded our vulnerabilities, making the most beautiful, solemn vow.

[Ma’am, if I ever break Sylvia’s heart, may I rot in hell. I swear to you, I will give both of you a real home.]

All of it was fake. Nothing but beautiful lies.

A hollow, broken smile traced my lips as I looked at Logan and whispered softly, “Logan. We are completely done.”

Hearing the finality in my voice, Logan stepped forward to try and salvage it.

But Darcy instantly cut in again. “Remember what I always told you? Whoever caves first loses the power dynamic. God, I can’t stand manipulative, toxic girls like her.”

Her words seemed to flick a switch in Logan’s head. He pulled back his reaching hand.

“Fine. Don’t crawl back crying when you regret this,” he snapped.

With that, he turned on his heel and walked out with Darcy, letting her voice ring out loudly as she discussed their plans for the next day.

“Isn’t tomorrow your five-year anniversary?” she asked, intentionally loud. “The boys and I will just celebrate at the high-end restaurant you booked. Let’s see who’s the one crawling back in regret.”

I pulled up my phone and opened the chat with Felix.

[The day you get back, I think I’m going to need a real, grand confession.]

And the location for that confession would be the exact same restaurant where I had spent the last five years celebrating our anniversary.

Regret was a dish I was done serving to myself.