My Boyfriend’s “Just a Friend” Became the Reason I Walked Away Chapter 08

My Boyfriend’s “Just a Friend” Became the Reason I Walked Away Chapter 08

Vanessa scoffed.

“Who exactly do you think you are, Claire? Does Sterling Properties belong to your family? Do you

honestly think you get to make the final decision?”

She crossed her arms and looked at me mockingly.

“Don’t forget, you’re just a receptionist who can’t even read a basic set of plans.”

The general counsel finally lost his patience.

He rose to his feet, his voice carrying across the conference room.

“Ms. Claire Sterling is not only the Design Director at Sterling Properties. She is also the only

daughter of the chairman of the Sterling Group.”

“If her decision doesn’t carry weight here, whose does?”

The contemptuous smile froze on Vanessa’s face.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at me.

Ethan’s head snapped up, and he looked just as stunned.

It made sense that they had never suspected anything.

In college, I had worn inexpensive T-shirts and drugstore makeup. Whenever I helped Ethan build his models, my clothes were usually covered in glue and plaster dust.

After graduation, I had willingly faded into the background. I accepted a receptionist’s salary,

brought him coffee, and handled whatever minor task he gave me.

No one would have guessed that I was the heiress to one of the city’s most prominent real estate

groups.

What they didn’t know was that, in college, I had lived modestly to protect Ethan’s fragile pride.

Later, I stayed out of the spotlight because I didn’t want him to feel pressured by my family.

When I graduated, my father had proudly asked me to return to the group and take over the design

division.

I had laughed it off and talked him into giving me a few years to prove myself on my own.

“Dad, let me gain a few years of experience on my own first.”

Later, when Ethan’s firm needed a major client, I secretly called my father and begged him to award

the contract to the firm.

I had believed I was quietly supporting him from behind the scenes.

I had never imagined that it would end with us sitting on opposite sides of a conference table in

such a bitter confrontation.

The meeting ended without a deal.

After the meeting, I gathered my documents and prepared to leave.

Ethan quickly caught up and blocked my path.

He looked at me, his voice so soft it almost trembled.

“Claire, does your arm… still hurt?”

My hand instinctively moved toward the cut on my arm, which still hadn’t fully healed.

Even now, he didn’t understand.

The cut on my arm had never been the worst of it. What hurt was knowing that the man I loved had

used me as a shield without a second thought.

But even that pain was gone now.

I regarded him with cool indifference.

“Was there something else?”

He faltered, perhaps because he had never seen me look at him with such complete detachment.

“If not, you know the way out.”

I stepped around him and left the conference room.

He remained where he was, staring after me.

Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

For years,

I had stayed in the background for his sake. Now he was finally seeing what I had always

been capable of.

Vanessa walked over, unconcerned.

“So we lost Sterling Properties. There are plenty of other companies out there. With our reputation

in the industry, there’s no reason we can’t land another major project.”

For once, Ethan felt no pride in those words.

He turned and looked at her seriously.

“Vanessa, do you remember why we chose architecture in the first place?”

Vanessa fell silent.