The Comments Begged Me to Believe He Loved Me, His Actions Had Already Convinced Me Otherwise Chapter 06

The Comments Begged Me to Believe He Loved Me, His Actions Had Already Convinced Me Otherwise Chapter 06

The next morning, my boss was by my cubicle before I’d even set my bag down. Nolan Grant leaned against the partition with a wide grin and slid the signed approval across my desk.

“The Apex Point Station assignment was always yours. Glad you finally came to your senses.”

I blinked, caught off guard. “That’s — you don’t have to hold it for me. I can put together a formal pitch and compete for it like everyone else.”

Stella wandered over while clocking in, already laughing. “Relax, Elena. The whole team voted to hold that spot for you. Nobody needs you to prove what we already know.”

“Seriously, just go. Some of us are trying to coast over here.”

Laughter rippled through the cubicles around me. I stood there, rooted, and realized for the first time how many people were looking back at me with real warmth.

Seven years. My entire youth. All of it spent on Silas — his career, his art, his moods. I’d buried my own talent so deep I almost lost it — and nearly failed every person in this room who’d believed in me.

Guilt and gratitude hit me at the same time. I swallowed hard and smiled.

“Okay, stop — you’re all going to make me cry. Dinner’s on me tonight.”

Nobody argued. “Wait, for real? Then I’m ordering the lobster.”

“Someone Google fancy restaurants near the office before she changes her mind.”

Nolan cleared his throat. “Hey. Your boss is still standing right here.”

Two seconds of dead silence. I winced, already opening my mouth to apologize — but Nolan was already laughing.

“Actually — I’ve been saving this. The client from Elena’s project last month just signed on for another phase. Big money. So tonight’s on me.”

The office erupted. By six o’clock, the entire team had piled into an upscale private club downtown.

Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was something else — but that night was the lightest I’d felt in seven years.

I drank without counting, without flinching, without the voice in my head reminding me that Silas would wrinkle his nose at the smell of alcohol and lock me out. No more midnight supply runs. No more running across town just to buy the wrong brushes.

Tonight I wasn’t the ordinary girlfriend trailing behind a genius. Tonight I was just Elena — the Elena who’d landed the Apex Point Station project and was finally, finally putting herself first.

A scream cut through the noise. “What the hell are you doing?!”

“Silas, you piece of shit — Elena gave you EVERYTHING and this is what you do? Behind her back? With HER? Say something!”

My whole body went cold. The buzz burned off in a second. Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door of the adjacent suite.

Stella — drunk, stumbling back from the restroom — must have pushed open the wrong door and walked straight into it.

Silas stood there in a hotel robe, collar askew, still gripping a paintbrush. Chloe was behind him. Naked. Not a stitch on, barely hidden behind him.

Silas’s face was drained of color. His eyes locked onto mine — desperate, unblinking — and he bit down on his lip until it split. He said nothing.

[No no no, don’t misunderstand!! He didn’t cheat — Chloe lost the competition and her professor told him to help her with life drawing!]

[Nude studies are literally standard in oil painting. The FL isn’t seriously going to be jealous over THIS, right??]

Pain cut through my chest, sharp and everywhere at once. My throat closed. I turned away.

His knuckles were white around the brush. “You’re not going to ask me what happened?”

I pulled in a breath that felt like swallowing glass, and forced a smile. “I’m not going to ask. We’re broken up. Your life isn’t my business anymore.”

What little color was left in his face drained out. His lips shook. “…You don’t believe me. Elena, there’s a line — even for you.”

“Whether I believe you or not — what difference does it make?” I smiled, and it tasted like ash. “Forget it, Silas. Enjoy your session with your muse. Let’s stay out of each other’s way.”

Maybe he really was just helping her with figure studies. Maybe he never touched her. It didn’t matter. Some lines don’t need to be crossed to be broken.

I’d known I’d see him again. I just didn’t think it would be this soon, or this ugly. But it didn’t change anything.

Back in my hotel room, I stared at the confirmation email for Apex Point Station and let myself smile — a real one, small and quiet. One month. After that, our worlds would stop overlapping for good.