Chapter 4

Ellie Stanley POV:

The semester passed in a blur of late-night study sessions with Forrest, challenging exams, and the slow, steady work of building a new life. Jace' s attempts to contact me dwindled, replaced by a series of long, rambling letters that I threw away without reading. I heard through the grapevine of online gossip that his marriage to Cassidy was a disaster. She was spending money faster than he could make it, and their public appearances were strained and awkward. I felt a grim sense of satisfaction, but mostly, I just felt nothing. Their drama was a foreign broadcast, the volume turned all the way down.

My world had become smaller, quieter, and infinitely more real. It was Forrest' s laughter in the library, the shared victory of acing a difficult final, the simple comfort of his presence.

When the Christmas holidays approached, my mother started calling again, this time from a new number. Her voice was strained, pleading.

"Ellie, please, just come home for Christmas. It' s been months. Your father misses you. We all do."

I knew it was a lie. My father was a passive figure in our family, a man who had long ago ceded all emotional authority to my mother. And 'we all' was a code for Jace. He had clearly put her up to this.

"I can' t, Mom. I have work," I said, the lie tasting like ash in my mouth. My part-time job had given me the week off.

"Don' t be ridiculous. I' ll send the jet. Just for a few days, darling. For me."

The old guilt, the ingrained habit of pleasing her, pricked at me. Against my better judgment, I found myself agreeing. "Fine. Two days. That' s it."

Forrest was disappointed when I told him. "Are you sure about this, Ellie? You don' t have to go back into the lion' s den if you don' t want to."

"I' ll be fine," I assured him, trying to convince myself as much as him. "It' s just a couple of days. What' s the worst that could happen?"

The moment I stepped through the grand, double doors of my family' s home, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. The house, usually immaculate and silent, was in chaos. A shrill, screaming voice echoed from the living room.

It was Cassidy.

I walked towards the sound, my suitcase still in my hand. I stopped in the doorway, an unseen observer to the wreckage of the life I had escaped.

Cassidy, heavily pregnant now, was pacing the room like a caged animal. Her face was puffy and tear-streaked, her designer dress rumpled. Jace stood by the fireplace, his face pale and haggard. He looked ten years older than the last time I' d seen him. My mother was hovering near Cassidy, trying to placate her.

"I want the diamond necklace from the Van Cleef catalogue!" Cassidy shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at Jace. "The one we saw in Paris! You promised!"

"Cassidy, we can' t afford it," Jace said, his voice weary, defeated. "The merger isn' t yielding the profits we expected. Your spending... it' s out of control."

"My spending?" she screeched. "You' re the one who' s still paying for her! Don' t think I don' t know about the money you sent to that pathetic little university she' s hiding at! You' re still trying to win her back!"

"That was a donation to the university, it had nothing to do with Ellie," Jace lied, though his eyes flickered with guilt.

"Liar!" she screamed. "You love her! You' ve always loved her! You just used me to make her jealous!"

She lunged at him, her manicured nails scratching at his face. He caught her wrists, his expression a mixture of anger and exhaustion. "That' s enough!"

My mother finally saw me standing in the doorway. A wave of relief washed over her face. "Ellie! Thank God you' re here. Talk to her. You' re the only one she might listen to."

Her request was so absurd, so completely detached from reality, that I almost laughed. After a lifetime of being pitted against each other, she thought I was the key to calming Cassidy' s tantrum.

I pulled my hand back from her grasp. "No," I said, my voice quiet but firm. "This is the life you all chose. This is the family you wanted. You deal with it."

My mother' s face stiffened. As always, my refusal to play my assigned part was the greatest offense. She turned away from me, her priorities clear, and went back to cooing at Cassidy.

I walked past the screaming match, up the sweeping staircase to my old room. It was just as I had left it, but it felt like a museum exhibit of a stranger' s life. Dust motes danced in the sliver of light from the window.

I sat on the bed and pulled out the gift Forrest had given me before I left. It was a hand-knitted scarf, a little lopsided, in a soft, grey wool. He' d told me, blushing, that his grandmother had taught him how to knit last year. I wrapped it around my neck. It smelled faintly of him, a scent of books and coffee and simple, uncomplicated kindness. A small smile touched my lips.

That night, there was a soft knock on my door.

I knew it was Jace before I opened it. He stood in the hallway, looking lost. There were faint red scratches on his cheek.

"Can we talk?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

I stepped aside, leaving the door open. He walked in, his shoulders slumped. He looked around the room, at the ghosts of our shared history.

"I made a mistake, Ellie," he began, his voice thick with a remorse that came months too late. "A catastrophic mistake. Cassidy... she' s not you. She' s demanding, irrational. All she cares about is money."

I laughed, a short, bitter sound. "And what did you expect, Jace? You pursued a woman who valued status and wealth above all else. You' re surprised she' s holding you to the bargain?"

"It wasn' t a bargain," he insisted, taking a step closer. "It was an infatuation. A stupid, meaningless distraction. The whole time, it was you. I was just too blind to see it."

He looked at me, his eyes pleading. "I miss you. I miss the peace you brought to my life. I think... I think I' m in love with you, Ellie. I know I am."

The declaration, which once would have been the fulfillment of my every dream, now felt like an insult. It was a desperate plea from a drowning man, not a confession of love.

"You' re not in love with me, Jace," I said, my voice devoid of all emotion. "You' re in love with the idea of me. The quiet, stable, predictable girl who would manage your life and your assets without complaint. The girl who would have made all of this..." I gestured vaguely towards the chaos downstairs, "...go away."

"I can divorce her," he said, his voice gaining a desperate urgency. "We can set up a trust for the child. We can be together. We can still have the life we were supposed to have."

He reached for me, his hand brushing my arm. I flinched back as if I' d been burned.

"That life is gone," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "You and I are over. We were over the moment you chose her over me in a room full of shattering glass."

The memory, so sharp and clear, hung between us. His face crumpled, the last of his defenses falling away. He finally understood. There was no going back.

"Please, Ellie," he whispered, his voice breaking. "Don' t leave me with her."

I looked at the man before me, the man who had held my heart and crushed it without a second thought. I felt nothing. Not pity, not anger, not even the ghost of love. Just a profound, liberating emptiness.

"You made your choice, Jace," I said, opening the door. "Now you have to live with it. Goodbye."

He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes searching my face for any sign of the girl I used to be. He found nothing. He turned and walked away, a man condemned to a prison of his own making.

I closed the door, the click of the latch final. I didn't stay the full two days. Early the next morning, before anyone else was awake, I took my suitcase, walked out of that house for the last time, and called a taxi to take me to the airport. I didn't need the family jet. I could buy my own ticket home.