Left Me to Drown for Her？I’m Done with All Three of You！Chapter 05

Left Me to Drown for Her？I’m Done with All Three of You！Chapter 05

“I’m withdrawing from the show and going home.”

Graham stared at me. “What did you say?”

“I already talked to the showrunner.”

He crossed the hall in three quick strides and pressed a palm against my suitcase.

“Mara, don’t make a scene.”

There it was again.

Every disappointment I had was a tantrum waiting for him to soothe.

“What about the early–termination damages? What about the condo? We said we’d get married

after filming.”

“I don’t want the condo.”

“And I’m not marrying you.”

His grip tightened.

The motion light washed over him, catching the split second when he understood I meant it.

“Over one bad day on the river?”

“Did you know I can’t swim?”

His mouth opened.

Several seconds passed before he managed, “I remember you taking lessons.”

“Taking lessons doesn’t mean I can swim.”

“But you told me

“No one came with me that day. I didn’t want to ruin the mood for everyone else.”

The hallway went still.

Something finally reached him, but it wasn’t enough

“It was chaos out there,” Graham said. “Tess was right beside me. I had to help the person I could see.”

“What about me?”

“You were in the back. I didn’t see you.”

I tightened my hand around the suitcase handle. “And when the raft landed?”

I held his stare. “They counted heads, and you still didn’t notice I was gone.”

No answer came.

When I pulled the suitcase toward me, he kept his hand planted on it.

“I was wrong today. Give me one more chance.”

His words sped up. “I’ll tell the showrunner I’m skipping the caretaking challenge. I’ll stay

with you tomorrow.”

He offered it like a sacrifice.

Even now, he believed I wanted a small piece of the time he’d given Tessa.

Her door opened.

Tessa stood there in Graham’s jacket, one hand gripping the frame. “Mara, are you leaving?”

Nolan and Reid stepped into the hall behind her.

Nolan frowned first. “The rafting was an accident. No one meant for this. Rest for a couple of days if you’re sick, but don’t make it bigger than it is.”

Reid leaned against the doorframe. “You signed a contract. If you leave, the loss doesn’t stop

with you.”

They were afraid my exit would disrupt filming, cost them the bonus, and wreck the they had worked so hard to sell.

Not one of them asked whether my shoulder still hurt.

Tessa bit her lip. Tears spilled before she reached me.

“This is my fault. If I hadn’t panicked, you wouldn’t have gone overboard.”

personas

Her words broke apart. “Please don’t leave. I’ll sit out tomorrow. They can take care of you

instead, okay?”

Graham caught her elbow.

Nolan pulled the jacket tighter around her. Reid straightened, ready in case she collapsed.

Even while asking me to stay, they never stopped watching her.

“This isn’t on you,” told Tessa. “You don’t need to give me anything.”

If something belonged to me only when she offered it, I didn’t want it.

I peeled Graham’s hand off my suitcase.

“Being unreasonable has limits, Mara,” he said. “I came here for our future. If you walk out now, everything we’ve done was for nothing.”

“Was it for our future, or yours?”

I opened the bank app and showed him twelve days of charges.

His clothes. His gifts. Everything he’d needed for filming.

Even the limited–edition bracelet he’d given Tessa had come out of our joint savings account.

Most of the money in it was savings from years

of my

work.

“I transferred my share out.”

Graham’s expression changed sharply.

“That was the down payment!”

“$45,000 of it was mine.”

I locked the screen. “I didn’t touch a cent of yours.”

During five years together, I’d paid the rent on his startup office.

I’d cared for his mother when she was sick and emptied my savings into his hands when his business was failing.

He promised he’d give me a home someday.

The moment I took back what was mine, the money was the first thing that hurt him.

At eleven, a production van took me to Cedarfield Station.

Graham chased it to the gate.

“Mara, if you leave tonight, we’re really over.”

I kept walking

As the van door closed, Tessa appeared behind him.

She coughed softly.

Graham glanced back.

This time, I didn’t wait for him to turn around again.