“I’ll make sure he knows,” Talia says, her voice clipped and sharp. “If it’s the auction I think it is, we’re in for a shot.”
Her words pierce through me like blades.
Theirauction.Theirplan.Theirworld.
I laid everything bare for him today—every bruise, every scar, every twisted part of my history. Handed it to him like a weapon, like maybe he’d know what to do with it. But if he chooses her? I can’t be angry.
He married her for a reason. He chased her for a reason. And maybe I’m just the detour. The necessary heartbreak. The thank-you-for-your-service goodbye.
Like I needed another reason to hate myself for surviving the last auction.
What started out as a productive evening has quickly shifted south, and now the only thing I can do is pack up the remnants of my life and leave him to live his.
I can’t ask him to choose me over his wife.
And I won’t.
That kind of love—clean, timeless, chosen—isn’t mine to claim.
So, I’ll disappear.
Fade back into the nobody I used to be before he walked into my life. Or maybe before I crashed into his—whatever story you choose to tell.
And once I’m gone, once he has room to breathe and space to rediscover whatever he had with her, I’ll start rethinking everything. The living arrangements. My place in the world. All of it.
Let’s be honest—there’s not much left to salvage.
My job’s probably gone.
My best friend is missing.
And now that I’ve tasted the kind of love Cam could have given me—burning, brutal, and utterly beautiful—I know I’ll spend the rest of my life chasing something no one else can replicate.
I drop into autopilot.
The way I have so many times before.
Dragging out my battered suitcase and tossing my things into it like they don’t matter anymore.
Each item feels like a piece of me slipping away.
Boomerang watches from his new plush bed, unbothered, king of this dangerous kingdom. Shame I’ll have to pull him from it.
I reach for him gently, hoping for comfort, but he senses the storm inside me and bolts.
No purring. No soft lean. No loyalty.
Just one more reminder that even my cat won’t choose me now. Not after he’s seen what life could be like without the damage.
My life fits into one suitcase. Clothes, chargers, scraps of meaning folded between zips and tangled wires. Everything I am, packed without ceremony.
I still don’t know where I’ll go. Maybe back to my flat—if it still feels like mine. Maybe I’ll just vanish, find a quiet place far enough away that the ache inside me stops echoing. Somewhere I don’t have to pretend I’m okay. Somewhere final.
I drag the suitcase down each stair, wincing at every thump. I try to stay quiet, but grace was never my thing. The house is silent. Talia must have left. I glance behind me one last time—just one more moment to absorb the ghosts I’ll carry with me.
This was the only part of my life that held weight. The only chapter that felt real.
The quiet click of the front door lock seals it. That soft snap feels heavier than any goodbye I’ve ever known. But I can’t turn back. Cam deserves clarity. Space. I can’t complicate things for him—not more than I already have.
