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Afraid that James had planted a tracker on me, I took every precaution. On the night I fled, I carried only my ID, some cash and nothing else that could lead him to me. I bought new clothes, ditched my old phone and replaced it with a burner. Still. I
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couldn’t shake the feeling that his reach extended farther than I could imagine.
The next day, I went to the bank to check on my accounts. To my shock, there was an astronomical balance in my account: 7.02 million dollars. My hands shook as I scrolled through the transaction history, piecing together the bizarre truth. Every year, on my birthday, James had transferred a million dollars from his private account to mine–an accumulation over the seven years we‘ d been together. My breath caught as I processed the numbers.
But I knew what I had to do. With a final,
decisive sigh, I left only $20,000, the sum I‘ d earned myself over the years. The rest–every cent of James‘ s money–I donated
anonymously to orphanages across the
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country. It was my way of cutting the last threads connecting me to him.
For now, I was determined to disappear completely. I rode the train until the cityscape faded into rolling green hills and distant mountains, finally arriving at a small, sleepy town nestled far from the life I’d known. I
rented a modest cottage with a small courtyard, where I grew flowers and plants, letting each day pass in a peaceful,
unremarkable rhythm. I shopped at the local market, found work with simple handicrafts and gradually restored some semblance of peace in my life.
After leaving James, I started to feel like myself again. I ate, I slept. My spirit slowly mended, as did my will to live without the constant weight of his shadow.
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Then, one evening, I received a phone call from the director of the orphanage where I’d grown up. Her voice was warm and familiar as she said, “Nadine, we received a large donation, enough to hire new staff. Come back. The orphanage will always be your home.”
I smiled softly but didn’t respond. Since I’d escaped, I’d been living in constant fear. Afraid that James would somehow find me, or worse, that Sandra would use her family’s resources to harm the people I cared about. As long as I stayed hidden, the director and the children would remain safe, Besides, I had grown attached to this quiet town. Perhaps, in a few years, ten at the most, James would forget me entirely and I’d be free to return to the orphanage and live out
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the rest of my days there in peace.
But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
A month later, on a chilly morning, I was sipping coffee in my tiny kitchen when a notification on my phone caught my attention. The headline read:
“Wedding of the Century Crumbles as Groom Disappears! James‘ s Shock Escape Sends Sandra Reeling!”
I blinked, sure I must have read it wrong. I clicked on the article, my stomach twisting as I read further:
“The wedding of Sandra Wilson and heir James Greaves took a dramatic turn as the groom failed to appear. Sources report a high- profile lawsuit between the Greaves and
Wilson families, with secrets unraveling from
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behind closed doors…
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Before I could even process the news, I heard the creak of my courtyard gate. I froze, my heart pounding. The gate swung open and there he was–James, standing just a few feet
away.
“Nadine,” he murmured, his voice as
familiar as my own heartbeat. I realized, with a chilling certainty, that I’d never been out of his reach. No matter how carefully I‘ d planned, he had found me.
My blood ran cold. I stepped back as he reached for me, but he moved faster, pulling me close, his arms tight around me. My breath hitched, the overwhelming scent of him bringing back every bitter memory, every painful moment. I shoved him away, retreating several steps. mv pulse racing.
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“Nadine,” he said softly, his eyes locking
onto mine with an intensity that left me unsteady, “it’s over. Everything‘ s taken care of. We’ll never have to be apart again.”
I stared at him, the words spinning in my mind. “What are you talking about?” I finally managed, a faint tremor in my voice.
He took a step closer, his face serious as he spoke. “The Wilson Family… Sandra‘ s family, they’ve been stealing corporate secrets from us. That’s why I stayed close to Sandra all this time. She threatened me, Nadine–she would have destroyed everything if I didn’t comply.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the next words he spoke struck like lightning.
“They’ve collapsed. The Wilson Family is
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ruined. Sandra is… she‘ s in prison, Nadine.” His voice softened, his expression almost pleading. “I did it all for us. So we could finally be free.”
I felt the world tilt beneath my feet as his words sank in, each one more absurd than the last. He reached for me again, his eyes filled with a desperate kind of hope. “Come back to me, Nadine. We can finally be together, just us.
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The chill in the air seeped into my bones. This was James‘ s twisted logic–to turn our entire history on its head, to rewrite his cruelty as some kind of sacrifice. He‘ d torn my life apart piece by piece and now, with everything he wanted in shambles, he was back to sweep me up like nothing had happened.
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I looked at him, at the man I once thought I knew. Then, in a voice barely above a
whisper, I replied, “I’m not coming back to you, James.”
He froze, his face paling. “But… everything I did, it was to protect you.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “Protect me? You stole my freedom, controlled every part of my life and broke me down so you could rebuild me as someone who would stay. And now you think a few words will make it right?”
“Nadine…” His voice wavered, but I couldn’t bear to hear any more.
“No, James.” My voice strengthened, finally steady. “You‘ ve taken enough from me. I won’t let you take any more.
For the first time. I saw fear in his eves, a
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flicker of something he couldn’t control. But
that wasn’t my concern anymore. I turned away, heart pounding as I walked back into the house, shutting the door on James and every piece of my past he represented.
