The Wedding House He Built for Her, Not for Me Chapter 07

The Wedding House He Built for Her, Not for Me Chapter 07

While Adrian worked on restoring the painting in the living room, I sat at the kitchen island sorting through the final cancellation invoices from the wedding vendors.

“The crease can be minimized, but it’s never going to vanish entirely,” Adrian noted without looking up from the canvas.

“That’s fine,” I replied. “It doesn’t need to be perfect.”

Adrian paused, looking up at me. “I remember you used to be absolutely terrified of anything happening to this piece.”

I clicked send on a wire transfer confirmation to the catering company. “I used to be terrified because I thought I had a lot of things left in my life that couldn’t afford to be broken.”

He didn’t pry any further.

A sharp, heavy knock rattled the front door.

Garrett stood on the porch holding a bag of takeout breakfast, his voice significantly lower and more submissive than the day before. “Your stomach is sensitive in the mornings. Eat something.”

“No, thank you,” I said through the screen door.

Adrian raised his head from the easel. “She already ate.”

Garrett’s gaze shot past me to the bowl of porridge sitting on the kitchen island, his eyes darkening instantly. “I am speaking to my fiancée. It is none of your business.”

Adrian laid his palette knife down flat on the table. “Mr. Fowler, you are the one trespassing on private property.”

Garrett took a step forward.

I firmly blocked the doorway. “Garrett, if you don’t leave right now, I’m calling security.”

He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. “You’re kicking me out? For him?”

“Not for him,” I said clearly. “For me.”

Garrett’s throat tightened. He finally set the brown paper bag down on the porch railing. “Just… make sure you eat something.”

I glanced at the logo on the bag. “Take it with you. I’m severely allergic to seafood.”

His face drained of color.

He had forgotten.

Or more accurately, he had never bothered to learn in the first place.

Garrett grabbed the bag, the plastic handles cutting deep into his fingers as he turned and walked away.

He climbed back into his sedan, tossing the food onto the passenger seat, watching the steam slowly fog up the windshield as it grew cold.

His assistant called a moment later. “Mr. Fowler, Miss Hayes is waiting in your office. She says Mrs. Taylor’s condition has taken a turn for the worse.”

Garrett closed his eyes tightly. “Tell her to go home.”

The assistant gasped slightly. “But Miss Hayes insisted she needs to speak with you face-to-face.”

“I said tell her to leave,” Garrett barked coldly. “Moving forward, she is not permitted to enter the executive suite without an explicit appointment.”

When he arrived at Fowler Enterprises, Valerie was still sitting on the leather sofa in his office.

She stood up immediately, her eyes rimmed with red. “Garrett, are you furious with me? I swear I didn’t mean for Clara to overhear any of those comments.”

Garrett walked past her and tossed the cold breakfast straight into the trash can. “Valerie, I’ve already changed the keyless entry codes to the townhouse. I’ll have a courier deliver whatever belongings you left there back to your apartment.”

Valerie’s face twisted in shock. “Are you seriously cutting me out of your life?”

“We should have had boundaries from the very beginning,” Garrett said, sitting down behind his desk and rubbing his temples. “I failed to handle things properly in the past.”

Valerie let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “The past? Garrett, you were the one who told me I could come back whenever I wanted. You were the one who told me we didn’t need to clarify things to Mrs. Taylor. You were the one who built a replica of my old apartment inside your wedding house!”

Garrett finally looked up, his eyes dead. “And now it’s over.”

A tear spilled down her cheek. “You’re throwing all the blame on me just because Clara Lennox finally walked out on you, aren’t you?”

Garrett’s hands went completely still on his desk.

Seeing his reaction, Valerie’s voice dropped to a mocking whisper. “Deep down, you know you’ve always loved me. You only kept her around because she looked like me, didn’t you? The day you introduced her to our childhood friends, every single person in that room saw right through it.”

Garrett’s expression turned terrifyingly dark. “Get out.”

Valerie didn’t move an inch. “Do you honestly think returning that magnolia painting is going to make her run back to you? Garrett, she’s already replaced you.”

Garrett reached for the intercom on his desk. “Security, escort Miss Hayes out of the building.”

Valerie walked toward the door, pausing at the threshold to cast one last look over her shoulder. “You’re going to regret treating me like this.”

The moment the heavy mahogany door shut, Garrett pulled open his top desk drawer.

The engagement ring lay inside.

He picked it up and tried to force it onto his own left ring finger, but the band was far too small, catching violently against his knuckle.

He shoved it down with brutal force, turning the skin entirely white and bruised, but the ring refused to go any further.

By the time I officially returned to the office the following Monday, news of the canceled wedding had already spread through the entire department.

My coworker Lauren walked over to my desk holding a cup of coffee, dropping her voice to a whisper. “The Fowler Enterprises team is coming in at three for the quarterly progress review. Do you want me to cover for you so you can avoid him?”

I opened my laptop and pulled up the master slide deck. “No need. This is my account.”

“Don’t worry about me, Lauren. I’m totally fine.”