Chapter 7

Stella POV

Crash!

Wine glasses shattered, and expensive red wine spilled everywhere, splashing onto my white uniform shirt like stark bloodstains.

"Stella, how can you be so disgusting?!" Ethan grabbed my collar, yanking me roughly off the floor, his eyes bloodshot. "Is the money the Lynwood family gave you not enough? You have to come to this sickening place to degrade yourself?!"

I was forced to look up at his furious face, a mocking curve playing on my lips.

"Mr. Lynwood, I'm earning money with my own hands. What's so disgusting about that? If you find me an eyesore, I'll just leave."

"Earn money? How much do you need?!" Ethan pulled a checkbook from his suit pocket, swiftly wrote a string of numbers, and hurled it at my face. "Is one million enough? Two million? Take the money and get out of here right now!"

The flimsy check floated to the floor.

I crouched down amidst the shattered glass, picked up the check, and carefully brushed off the dust.

"Thank you for the tip, Mr. Lynwood." I folded the check and slipped it into my uniform pocket, my voice frighteningly calm.

Ethan stared at me, then grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the suite.

"Ethan, let go of me!"

Ethan ignored me, pulling me out of the club and shoving me into a waiting Maybach on the street.

The air pressure inside the car was extremely low.

"The day after tomorrow is Chloe's and my engagement party." Ethan didn't look at me, his voice harsh. "You stay home, don't go anywhere."

I stared at the rapidly passing night scenery outside the window, my fingers clutching that check.

The day after tomorrow.

My flight takes off tomorrow night.

"Ethan," I said suddenly, my voice so soft it felt like a gust of wind could scatter it. "Tomorrow is my twenty-second birthday."

Ethan's hands, gripping the steering wheel, paused.

"Could you... have dinner with me? Just one last time." I turned my head, looking at his profile, my eyes filled with a desperate finality.

"Chloe needs to try on her wedding dress tomorrow; I don't have time." He sneered. "Stella, don't try to play games with your birthday, trying to bait me. I'm not falling for it."

I retracted my gaze and looked out the window again.

"Okay."

On my twenty-second birthday, an unusually heavy rain poured over New York.

The Lynwood mansion was empty, the housekeepers given the day off. I sat alone on my bedroom carpet, stuffing the last of my clothes into my suitcase.

I really didn't have much; a twenty-four-inch suitcase wasn't even full.

I had cleaned the room spotlessly, leaving all the things Ethan had bought for me, jewelry, accessories, designer clothes, neatly in their original places.

I walked to my desk and placed a bank card under a delicate velvet jewelry box.

On the card was all the money the Lynwood family had spent on me over the past ten years, principal and interest, every single cent.

Inside the jewelry box were the engagement rings for Ethan and Chloe that I had painstakingly made through the night.

I picked up a pen and wrote the last sentence on a sticky note.

"I owe you nothing now. Ethan, I wish you a happy marriage and eternal happiness."

No lingering attachment. No resentment. Just a peaceful farewell.

At eight in the evening, the rain showed no signs of letting up.

Dragging my suitcase and holding a black umbrella, I walked out of the Lynwood family's grand gate.

I didn't look back at the cage that had trapped me for ten years. I hailed a taxi and headed straight for the airport.

Once in the car, I took the SIM card from my phone and, through the narrow gap in the window, tossed it into the pouring rain.