Chapter 2

Unable to make sense of it, I called a friend and asked when Ethan and Sophie had gotten together.

She said it had been around March of last year, possibly earlier. They were already going everywhere together by then.

March of last year. I scrolled back through my messages with Ethan. Sure enough, I found a vague text from around that time.

That night, like so many others, I had stayed up late to talk to him.

Then he had sent me something strange.

“Staying up every night must be affecting your work. To keep your research on track, maybe we should just be friends for now. We can figure everything else out when you come home.”

At the time, breaking up hadn’t even crossed my mind. I thought he was just worried about me.

I had sent him a cute sticker and jokingly told him he would have to make it up to me when I returned.

Apparently, the line I had taken as a joke was his version of a breakup.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. For a moment, I was speechless.

We had been together for years. I had moved to a foreign country alone to further my studies for the sake of his career. All so I could help him when I came home. In the end, I hadn’t even earned a clear, honest breakup.

My thoughts drifted back to three years ago. Back then, Ethan had been broke, full of ambition and dreams he couldn’t make real.

I couldn’t bear to watch him grow more defeated by the day, so I made the decision to study abroad, research patents, and learn new technologies.

I shared my research with him. With that technology behind it, his company finally started turning a profit.

But when I wanted to come home, Ethan talked me out of it.

He asked me to hold on a little longer. His company was still far behind the major players, he said. He needed more help.

I agreed. Just like that, I spent three full years overseas. In those three years, I helped turn Ethan from a nobody into a celebrated success.

On the way home, I had been secretly thrilled. Three years of sacrifice had finally paid off. At last, I wouldn’t have to walk the rest of the road alone.

Reality, however, was cruel.

I had returned full of hope and found nothing but disappointment.

Everything I had worked so hard for had ended up serving someone else’s happy ending.

Tears spilled down my cheeks despite my efforts to stop them. I would have been lying if I said it didn’t hurt. I had truly loved Ethan.

I took a deep breath and curled up on the couch.

As I slowly calmed down and wiped away my tears, my thoughts became clearer.

Ethan had used my research to build his company, then fallen for someone else once he became successful. He had betrayed me first. I wasn’t about to let that slide.

And I certainly wasn’t going to hand my research over for free to a man with no morals.

I was going to make him give back every last thing he had taken.