The room went utterly silent.
Dylan stared at Alex for what felt like forever.
“Alex, you’ve got to be joking.”
“She was living in my house this morning. How could she suddenly be your wife?”
I didn’t argue. I simply took two copies of our marriage certificate out of my bag.
Tucked alongside them was a photo of Alex and me at our courthouse ceremony.
We’d been married that very day.
Dylan’s smile slowly died.
“So this morning, when you were trying to tell me…”
“I was getting married,” I finished for him.
“But you were too busy with Jade to listen.”
He reached for the documents. I closed the folder before he could touch them.
“Elise, you married him just to get revenge? You’re treating marriage like a game?”
“You’re the one who treated marriage like a game.”
“At least when I got married, I knew exactly who was standing beside me.”
His face drained of color.
Jade pressed a hand to her stomach.
“Fine, the brooch was a misunderstanding. But everyone saw you attack me.”
“Then investigate it.”
I turned to the police officers.
“She says I hurt her. Please obtain the unedited security footage from the conference room.”
I gestured toward the scattered belongings.
“And that includes Jade grabbing my bag, her mother destroying my belongings, and the videos they secretly recorded and spread to smear me.”
“I want all of it investigated. I’m not agreeing to a settlement.”
Jade flinched.
“Ellie, I already said I didn’t want to take this any further…”
“Of course you want this to go away.”
“Once the evidence is reviewed, we might finally find out who’s been lying.”
Mrs. Quinn’s face tightened.
“It’s just a few pieces of old paper. What do you think you can do about it?”
I crouched to gather the pages of Mom’s notebook.
One had been torn straight through her name where Mrs. Quinn’s heel had ground it into the floor.
My hands shook so badly I couldn’t fit the two halves together.
Another hand reached down beside mine, holding a curled corner flat.
Alex didn’t tell me to let it go. He quietly placed each page inside a protective folder.
That morning, Dylan had made Mom’s porridge to win me over.
Now all he could say was that I needed to calm down.
Alex understood something Dylan never had: there are things in this world you cannot replace.
My phone vibrated.
Mr. Carter, the Southpoint client, had already called three times.
I answered in front of everyone.
“Ms. Bennett. I heard you resigned from Sterling’s company.”
“I did. As of today, I’m no longer responsible for the Southpoint Project.”
I looked straight at Jade.
“Jade Quinn is the new project lead. I suggest you review the change.”
Mr. Carter was quiet for a few seconds.
“You were the one we wanted leading this project.”
“With the lead changed, we’re putting the project on hold. There’ll be another review tomorrow.”
The call ended. Jade’s face went white.
“The contract’s signed! They can’t just freeze it!”
“They can. There’s a key-personnel change clause in the contract.”
“I negotiated that clause myself.”
I put away my phone.
“The project is yours now.”
“Let’s see whether you can actually keep it.”
Dylan grabbed my wrist.
“Ellie, don’t jeopardize the company’s interests just because you’re angry.”
I looked down at his hand.
“When Jade stole my project, you told me I was talented enough not to need it.”
“And now that she might lose it, suddenly I’m the one putting the company at risk?”
I looked him in the eye.
“Dylan, that project was mine.”
“What gave you the right to hand it to her? And what makes you think you have the right to offer it back?”
His throat worked.
“Let’s go home and talk.”
“Which home?”
“The new house you now share with Jade? Or the old one her mother just emptied of my belongings?”
His grip loosened at once.
I took Alex’s offered hand and walked into the elevator.
Just before the doors shut, Dylan ran toward us.
“Elise! I never agreed to break up!”
I pressed the button to hold the doors and gave him one last look.
“Dylan, you have a wife. I have a husband.”
“We’re both married to other people, and you’re standing here arguing over whether you agreed to a breakup?”
“Don’t you hear how ridiculous that sounds?”
He went rigid as the doors slid closed.
I held myself together until I was in Alex’s car, until Dylan and the office were no longer in sight.
Then I broke down.
I couldn’t stop crying.
Alex didn’t tell me to stop. He set a box of tissues beside me and quietly turned up the heat.
We drove without speaking.
Half an hour later, we pulled up outside his home.
The keypad on the front door lit up. Alex stepped aside.
“The code is your birthday.”
My fingertips stilled. I entered the numbers.
I’d barely crossed the threshold when the doorbell rang, loud and urgent.
The video doorbell screen showed Dylan standing outside, his face tense.
He clutched an old photo we’d taken for our planned courthouse wedding—the one I’d left in his safe. Deep creases ran across it.
“Ellie. Open the door.”
“I’m here to take you home.”