Chapter 3: The Engagement Was Over

By the time I stepped out of the office building, a downpour had broken over Charlotte.

Rain hammered the parking lot, and I was soaked through before I even reached my car.

My phone lit up.

A new post from Luke.

The picture was of the house we were supposed to buy, the “For Sale” sign still staked in the lawn.

The caption read: “One step away from the dream. Sometimes giving up takes more courage than holding on. Too bad some people don’t understand that.”

The first person to like it was Maya.

I stared at the screen for a long moment.

No apology. No explanation.

They hadn’t even asked if I was okay.

Eight weeks ago, they had gotten married behind my back. Today, they had tried to swindle me out of my life savings and half a house. And when it all blew up, the first thing they did was play the victims, casting me as the one who destroyed their dream.

I pulled open my car door and slid into the driver’s seat.

My reflection stared back from the rain-streaked window: hair plastered to my face, eyes red and raw. I looked like a stranger.

I didn’t reply to the post. I didn’t engage.

I found my attorney’s number and called him.

“I have a question for you.”

“If two adults are living in a townhouse I own, with no lease and no rent ever paid, what is the legal process for having them removed?”

The attorney asked for the details, then informed me I would need to serve them with a formal written notice to vacate and retain proof of delivery.

“Please prepare it for me,” I said. “For both of them.”

The second I hung up, Luke came running out of the building.

“Elena!”

He rushed to my car and pounded twice on the window.

I lowered it.

He was drenched, but the first words out of his mouth weren’t an apology.

“Why did you just leave? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was? Everyone in there was waiting for you.”

“I already made myself clear. I’m not signing.”

“Because of a piece of paper?” His voice shot up. “You just don’t trust me! After all the work we put into this, you’re going to ruin everyone’s future at the last second?”

Everyone’s future.

Not mine.

His and Maya’s.

Luke gripped the car door, his tone hard and urgent.

“You are going back in there right now and signing those papers. And you owe Maya an apology. You’ve upset her enough for one day.”

I laughed.

It was the first time he’d mentioned Maya’s feelings since this all began. He still hadn’t asked how I was. He just wanted me to submit.

“I’m not going back, and I’m certainly not apologizing to her.”

“Elena, you’re making this more complicated than it needs to be.” Luke’s brow furrowed. “The marriage was just to help her with insurance. Besides, didn’t you tell me to look after Maya?”

I stared at him, finding it hard to believe this was the man I had planned to marry.

I’d only meant he should be kind to her after her breakup. Now he was using my own words to justify a secret marriage.

“And now you’ve tanked the sale, so the deposit is gone.” He was still blaming me. “Can you stop being so emotional and think about the bigger picture for once?”

Whatever ache I had left inside me vanished in that instant.

I pushed open the car door, stepped out, and held out my hand.

“Luke, the engagement is over.”

The anger on his face froze.

I looked him in the eye and said, slowly and clearly,

“Give me back my key.”