The Only Color Left In His World Was Another Woman Chapter 04

With my flight canceled, there was no way I could reach Vessera by the agreed meeting time.

Desperate, I called the person coordinating the research expedition and explained what had happened.

“Don’t panic. The airline held a few seats for our research team, and I still have some available. I’ll put in a request to get you one right now.”

I thanked them repeatedly.

At least there was still a chance I could make the trip.

To prevent anything else from going wrong, I packed my bags and moved into the small house my mother had left me in the suburbs.

But on the evening before my departure, I went out for dinner.

When I returned, I found the front door wide open and the mountaineering equipment I’d treasured for years scattered all over the floor.

Some of my equipment had been deliberately damaged. My snow goggles were smashed, and someone had slashed my down jacket.

Brielle was crouched on the floor, rummaging through my belongings. She picked up a sleeping bag, looked at it with disdain, and tossed it aside.

“Brielle Sutton, who gave you permission to touch my things? Put that down right now, or I’m calling the police!”

I rushed forward to stop her, but Julian blocked my way.

“I brought Brielle here,” he explained.

“It’s not like you’re going to use any of this stuff again. What’s the point of letting it collect dust in this old house? You might as well give it to Brielle so someone can actually use it.”

He said it as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

He seemed to have forgotten how much time and effort I’d put into collecting that equipment. Every piece held memories I treasured.

Besides, the research team required everyone to bring their own gear. If Julian gave mine away to Brielle, I’d lose my chance to join the expedition.

There was no way I was letting that happen.

“No.”

“If you need equipment, go buy your own. What gives you the right to take mine?”

Julian’s voice hardened.

“Tessa, you know perfectly well you can’t trust the gear those outdoor stores sell. Are you trying to get Brielle killed by sending her up that mountain with it?”

I refused to back down.

“Then she shouldn’t go if she’s that afraid of dying.”

Julian’s expression darkened. He turned to Brielle.

“Take whatever you want, Brielle. You can have all of it if you like. Don’t pay any attention to her.”

“Okay!”

Brielle beamed and eagerly began stuffing my equipment into her suitcase.

Then she found a camera in one of the drawers, and her eyes lit up.

“Oh, I know this brand! It’s professional-grade. I bet it takes amazing pictures.”

Julian hesitated.

That camera was the gift he’d given me for my eighteenth birthday. He’d saved up money from his part-time job for an entire year and asked someone to help him buy it.

Mistaking his hesitation for reluctance, Brielle pouted.

“Julian, I want this one.”

He chuckled and agreed.

Brielle turned on the camera and casually scrolled through the pictures.

Her expression darkened for a moment, but she quickly smiled again.

“There’s barely any room left on the memory card. You don’t mind if I delete a few pictures, do you?”

“Don’t delete anything! Those are pictures of my mom! They’re all I have left of her!”

Brielle heard me perfectly well.

She went ahead and formatted the entire memory card anyway.

When she saw me standing there in shock, tears running down my face, she seemed to realize something and hurried to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Tessa. I’m still figuring out how this camera works. I pressed the wrong button by accident.”

My voice was so hoarse I barely recognized it.

“The camera asks you to confirm twice before formatting the card. Are you saying you accidentally hit yes both times?”

Brielle bit her lip and looked at Julian. Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

Anyone would have thought she was the one who’d been wronged.

“Julian, I swear I didn’t mean to.”

Julian turned on me.

“Brielle already apologized. Are you seriously going to keep going at her until you’ve completely humiliated her?”

“They’re just a few photos. You should’ve taken better care of them. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

He turned to leave, but not before giving me one final warning.

“Tessa, you need to take a good, hard look at yourself.”

“If you’re still treating Brielle like this when we get back from our trip, I’m going to have to reconsider our relationship.”

I looked around at the wreckage.

There was nothing left to reconsider.

At dawn, I took my suitcase and got a ride to the airport.

As the plane climbed into the blue sky, my phone suddenly began vibrating nonstop.

Every notification was from Julian.

I switched off my phone, removed the SIM card, and dropped it into the trash.

If I was going to end things, I was going to make a clean break.