I Took His Pampering and Left Him Behind Chapter 06

Marcus finally lost his patience and texted Bonnie first.

[Come back once you’re done throwing your fit.]

[Bonnie, don’t make me worry.]

[Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.]

Not a single one of his messages got a reply. They vanished into silence.

At a business dinner, Marcus stared at Bonnie’s photo on his phone, lost in thought.

The CEO of another company, Mr. Hill, wandered over to greet him and caught a glimpse of

the screen. He looked surprised.

“Mr. Parker, you know Bonnie?”

Marcus, who’d sat quietly through most of the meal, finally spoke up.

“You know her?”

Mr. Hill chuckled, unmistakable admiration in his voice.

“Bonnie worked for me for half a year. Top university graduate, razor-sharp mind. She could do

the work of three people all by herself.”

“Burned herself out, though. Quit to rest up. I was sorry to see her go.”

Marcus’s gaze turned dark.

This woman they described was nothing like the Bonnie he knew.

When they first met, Bonnie had told him she’d dropped out of high school, abandoned by her family, forced to take odd jobs just to get by.

“Look into Bonnie. I want every detail about her.”

There was a heavy, suppressed edge to Marcus’s tone.

He’d never run a background check on Bonnie after bringing her home.

It wasn’t trust. It simply hadn’t mattered. Who bothered vetting a pet?

An hour later, a full file covering Bonnie’s first twenty years was laid out before him.

Marcus read every word. A hot, heavy iron seemed lodged in his chest.

He slammed the report down on the table. Every line proved the delicate pet he’d caged was nothing but a cunning liar.

Every day they’d spent together for the past year had been an elaborate performance.

Marcus thought back to their first “chance encounter.”

He’d been waiting for his car outside the club, and she’d stumbled into his arms in that white

sundress.

She’d looked up at him with teary eyes, her nose pink, like a fawn lost deep in the woods.

That night, for no clear reason, he’d offered to drive her home.

But the report said she’d lingered around the club for a full week beforehand.

She’d learned he visited Nightlight Club every/Wednesday night, noted what time he left, and

even scouted exactly which exit his car waited at.

Marcus closed his eyes and sat motionless in his chair for a long while.

Every little act Bonnie had put on right under his eyes replayed in his head.

He remembered her pretending she couldn’t unscrew a bottle cap, fumbling helplessly with shoelaces, and fastening her buttons wrong on purpose.

Once he’d found it endearing. Now his face burned, as if he’d been slapped again and again.

Marcus had believed he kept a fragile thing that couldn’t survive without him. Even the tears she’d shed in his arms had been carefully staged.

After a long stretch of silence, a low laugh echoed through the dim room, raw and jagged.

At thirty years old, Marcus-had been played for a fool for the first time in his life.

He grabbed his phone and opened their chat window. He typed and deleted, typed and deleted.

In the end, only one message sent.

[Bonnie, you’ve got guts!]

The notification popped up instantly: Message failed to send.

He had been blocked.