Chapter 3
Lucas shot Ethan a hostile look from across the room, and I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you worry about your current girlfriend getting jealous instead of playing hero for your ex?"
Something shifted in his expression when he heard that, and the darkness cleared from his face.
He stepped closer. "Wait, you're jealous? I knew it. There's no way you actually broke up with me. That guy over there? You brought him just to piss me off, didn't you?"
He pulled out his phone and started transferring money right in front of me.
He held up the screen like it proved something. "I just sent payment to the hospital. Your grandmother can have her surgery now, and everything can go back to how it was between us."
Watching him lie to himself like this made my stomach turn.
If he'd actually cared about me even once, he would've visited the hospital himself and discovered my grandmother had already died.
He just couldn't handle being dumped in public, and now he wanted to save face.
I met his eyes. "Lucas, thanks to you, my grandmother's dead. So you don't have to keep up the act anymore."
I knew exactly what his friends thought of me. They saw me as some scholarship kid from nowhere who didn't belong in his world.
At every gathering, they'd crack jokes about how he must've gotten tired of caviar and filet mignon, decided he needed some peanut butter and jelly to keep things interesting.
He'd defend me out loud, sure, but deep down, he cared what they thought.
Otherwise, he wouldn't try to shut me up with money every single time we fought.
Lucas released me, his voice hard and cold. "What are you even talking about? I went to the hospital myself.
"Emily told me she got your grandma transferred. I saw all the paperwork. When did you turn into this? This is how you repay someone who saved your life?"
Saved my life? If it wasn't for Emily, Grandma would still be alive.
She actually had the nerve to make up such lies.
Fury burned through every part of me.
I said, "If it wasn't for Emily—"
Emily's voice cut me off. "If it wasn't for me, Grandma would have had her surgery by now. Sophie has every right to blame me."
She had appeared behind us at some point, her eyes brimming with tears as she gazed up at Lucas.
Emily said, "Sophie, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
I slapped Lucas across the face. "Get out," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "Take her with you and don't ever show your face to me again."
Lucas opened his mouth to say something, but I grabbed Ethan's arm and walked away.
Behind us, I heard a dull thud, followed by Emily's panicked cry.
"Lucas, your hand—it's bleeding!"
He always did this.
Whenever I ignored him, he'd hurt himself.
And every single time, I'd cave.
But what he didn't know was that this time, I wasn't turning back.
Within a month, I had my passport and visa in hand.
Before leaving, I applied for an exchange student position abroad.
Wesley wrote me a glowing recommendation letter, and the foreign university approved my application almost immediately.
The day after I left, Lucas camped out in front of the lab entrance.
He stayed there until the sun dipped below the horizon, but the door remained locked the entire time.
When students walked by, he grabbed them, desperation creeping into his voice.
"Where's Sophie?" he demanded. "Why isn't she here today?"
One of them blinked at him in confusion. "She left yesterday with Dr. Grant. They're overseas now."
The suspicion in his mind was confirmed, and his hand began to tremble.
He swallowed hard and took out his phone. Then he called his assistant.
Even if Sophie had left, she'd come back for her grandmother. He was sure of it.
All he had to do was keep her grandmother happy, and Sophie would have no choice but to return.
He pressed the phone to his ear. "Find out which room Sophie's grandmother is in."
But his assistant's voice came through sounding confused. "Mr. Hart, Sophie's grandmother passed away a while ago. She was cremated the same day you two had that fight."