Chapter 3

Maren clearly didn’t expect me to fight back. Her smirk slips for a second.

The old me never confronted her.

All Ryan had to do was ignore me for a few days, and I’d apologize first and pretend nothing had happened.

I was too afraid to question Maren because I knew it would only make him resent me more.

Then she laughs in my face.

“What’s gotten into you today? Finally had enough?”

“All I have to do is get upset, and Ryan shuts you out. How many times has this happened now? And you still haven’t learned?”

She leans against the window and takes her time looking at my soaked, miserable clothes.

“Ryan could’ve looked into it and found out your extension really was denied.”

“He knows your legal status is about to expire too.”

I grip the suitcase handle tighter.

Maren grins, pleased with herself.

“But so what?”

“All I have to do is tell him you’re using your visa problems to force him into marriage, and he believes me.”

“You’ve been with him for ten years. So what? He’d still take my word over yours any day.”

Her gaze drops to my suitcase.

“Seven days left, right?”

“You’d better wise up, or you really will end up getting kicked out of the country.”

“Maybe you should beg me. Be nice, and I might put in a good word for you and get Ryan to marry you.”

So even Maren knows exactly what Ryan has been using to keep me trapped.

They both think I won’t give up ten years with him or risk my chance to stay in this country.

No matter how badly they treat me, they’re sure I’ll eventually crawl back and beg.

They’re wrong.

Ryan isn’t the only man I can marry.

“Maren, know what Ryan says to me all the time?”

She frowns.

“What?”

“He says I didn’t grow up here, so I don’t understand how things work. That I don’t understand him.”

Her confidence slips. I smile.

“But ... neither did you.”

Maren came to the United States through an exchange program.

It ended months ago.

She has no new sponsor and no legal authorization to keep working.

I once saw her paperwork in Ryan’s study.

That’s why she’s so desperate to get close to him.

Staying with a man who’s already rich and successful is much easier than finding a new job and another sponsor on her own.

She gets to stay in the country and live in luxury while she’s at it.

What she doesn’t know is that Ryan built everything he has with what I gave him.

The money that launched his company came from my inheritance.

The core product he takes so much pride in runs on my technology.

I gave him everything he has. I can take it back too.

There’s nothing else to say to Maren.

I turn and keep dragging my suitcase toward the main road.

She shouts after me almost immediately.

“You think exposing my status is gonna change anything?”

“Ryan already knows my work permit expired!”

“And he hired the best immigration lawyer in the city to help me!”

My steps falter, but I don’t look back.

So Ryan knew all along.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the rules here.

And it wasn’t that he refused to get involved in someone else’s immigration mess.

He just wasn’t willing to do any of it for me.

I find a nearby hotel and check in for the night.

I don’t sleep at all.

At six in the morning, Ryan finally realizes I blocked him and calls from another number.

The second I answer, he starts yelling.

“Celia, have you lost your damn mind?”

“For ten years, you’ve lived in my house, eaten my food, and spent my money. When have I ever treated you badly?”

“Can you quit with the drama already?”

I take a slow breath.

“Is that really how you remember the last ten years? Me living off you?”

Ryan goes silent.

After a long pause, his voice finally softens.

“Come home now, and I’ll forget this ever happened.”

For a second, I’m surprised.

It’s the first time he’s ever been the one to back down.

Then he keeps going.

“Maren told me she ran into you last night and accidentally splashed you. She said you cursed her out and humiliated her over her immigration status.”

“Come back and apologize to her, and maybe we can get our marriage license today.”

I’m so furious, all I can do is laugh.

“Don’t bother.”

“I’ve already found someone else.”