The Price of His "Parting Gift"

e stress manifested in a raging fever, leaving her weak and shivering in her bed. For two days

w Ethan used to take care of her when she was sick, how he' d bring her soup and read to her until she fell

lumsy. She just wanted to hear his voice

ed up almost immed

right and cheerful. The soun

u just missed him. He' s making me breakfast in

t was her line. That was wha

th condescension, "I just posted the cutest picture of

r as he flipped a pancake. He looked relaxed, domestic, in a way he never had with Ava. Their relationship had been a whirlwind of glamoro

was a crushing weight. It wasn' t just that he had replaced her, it was that he had become a different person for her replacement. The man

ind. What was the point of any of it? Her career, which she had fought so hard for, now felt tainted by his influe

here no one knew her name. She could sell her apartment, move to a sma

was a temp

o check on her, bringing soup

thy warring with her pragmatism. "Listen, Ava, I' ve been

tared at t

"A girl he kept on the side. Now that he' s with Seraphina Vance, you' re just

es. It was worse

. Smooth things over. It doesn' t have to be a real reconciliation, just enough to get him to

, her career, her entire future was tied to the man who had systematically destroyed her. Reconciling, even a fake reconcilia