For five years, I quietly supported my boyfriend Grayson Wilder, helping him grow from a paralegal to a partner at a top-tier law firm. At the firm’s annual Christmas awards ceremony, I was filled with joy, ready to celebrate publicly and surprise him. Instead, I watched him walk onto the stage alongside his female colleague Ashley Gomez, their body language intimate and familiar. “Grayson’s success today is all thanks to my strategic guidance behind the scenes,” Ashley boasted proudly. Grayson smiled and agreed, “Absolutely. Without Ashley, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” The audience erupted in thunderous applause as everyone congratulated the pair. Standing at the back of the crowd, my heart plummeted into an icy abyss. After leaving the venue, I called my assistant Janet Brooks: “Withdraw all networking support for Grayson and terminate all cooperation. That questionable case he took on—stop helping him navigate it. Let him face the consequences himself.” ***** “Miss Westbrook, are you certain? Once we terminate support, the consequences will be irreversible.” Janet hesitated before speaking. “You know the opposing party has significant power. If he can’t handle this, Grayson won’t just face financial ruin—he’ll go to prison. His life will be destroyed!” Walking out of the venue, I gazed at the wall of honor ahead, where Grayson’s radiant smile beamed from the top. Five years together, yet he’d always been evasive about marrying me. “I’m at a crucial point in my career right now. Once I’m established, I’ll definitely marry you!” I’d heard those words countless times. And I’d trusted him unconditionally, time after time, paving the way for his career and giving everything to make him a partner at this prestigious firm. What I got in return was his public betrayal. “Defend him again, and you’re fired too.” After hanging up, someone grabbed my hand and spun me around. “What’s your problem?” Grayson caught up, breathing heavily, his brow furrowed. “With so many people watching, you walked out before I finished speaking. What will people think of me?” “Would you rather I stayed to watch you two being all lovey-dovey?” I yanked my hand free and looked at him with disdain. Grayson put his hands on his hips, clearly irritated: “Come on, can’t you pick a better time to be jealous? She helped me tremendously—what’s wrong with us going on stage together? If she hadn’t given me her full support, I’d probably still be a paralegal like you!” How amusing. I’d kept the truth from him initially to protect his pride, having Janet arrange everything through Ashley. Now it had all become her achievement, while I was painted as dead weight. “Since that’s how you see it, I have nothing more to say.” I drove off without looking back. When I got home, Ashley called me. Just as I was about to hang up, I heard Grayson’s colleagues laughing in the background. “If you ask me, you should dump Caroline and get with Ashley. She’s way better than that useless girlfriend of yours!” “Exactly! Caroline’s lazy and worthless, always off doing God knows what. Watch out—she might bring home someone else’s kid someday!” Grayson burst out laughing. “If she weren’t so obedient and good for warming my bed, I would’ve kicked her to the curb ages ago!” Behind my back, he was actually badmouthing me like this. Ashley sent me a message: “See? What’s the point of clinging to him all the time? You’re just annoying everyone. If I were you, I’d get lost right now!” My eyes welled up with tears as I blocked her immediately. As for Grayson, I’d leave when the time was right.
The next morning, I discovered that Grayson hadn’t come home all night. During breakfast, I noticed his flushed cheeks and the smile playing at the corners of his mouth, as if he was savoring some pleasant memory. When he looked at me, his eyes still held traces of lingering affection. “Why are you up so early? Drinking milk on an empty stomach isn’t good for your digestive system.” My hand froze while stirring the milk, and I remained silent. In that moment, I realized it had been many Christmases since I’d last heard him express concern for me. He was clearly in a good mood as he sat down beside me and handed me a book. “Alright, I won’t hold yesterday’s incident against you. This is a book I found for you—isn’t this what you’ve been wanting?” This collection of legal case files was indeed the book I’d been desperately trying to find. Not only because it was out of print, but because it was the last book compiled by my mother, Samantha Westbrook. Four Christmases ago, before she passed away, her final wish was to see this book one more time, but she never got the chance. Fighting back the ache in my heart, I opened it. On the first page was written: “Unconditionally gifted to Ashley by Grayson, wishing you continued success.” The signature below was dated four Christmases ago. With tears welling in my eyes, I looked at him and pointed to that line. “What does this mean?” Grayson didn’t notice my distress; the smile remained on his lips. “Oh, that’s what it says. I had given this book to Ashley before, but she didn’t want it anymore, so I brought it over for you. How about it? Are you happy?” But when he looked up and met my gaze, he suddenly froze. “You knew I’d been searching for this book for five Christmases, that it meant everything to me—why couldn’t you give me the original first?” Grayson’s expression stiffened, his tone growing colder. “No matter how important it is, it’s just a collectible to you, isn’t it? All you do is organize case files for me, serve coffee, and fetch water. What’s the point of reading more?” He continued, “But Ashley is different. She’s a top lawyer who needs to read these materials to improve her professional skills. Can’t you be more understanding and give things to people who truly need them?” Thinking of the tears in Samantha’s eyes before she died, I trembled with rage. “But my mother wanted to see it just once before she passed away. I would have returned the book to you after she read it. You knew where it was but refused to bring it out to fulfill her dying wish. Are you even human?” Grayson’s patience ran out completely. He clicked his tongue and his face darkened. “God, aren’t you annoying? If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of this book right now. I went out of my way to get it back from Ashley for you, and this is your attitude? “Besides, what does your mother’s death have to do with me? She wasn’t my mother! “Looking at you now, I know I was right not to give it to you first. Who knows if you would have just hoarded it and refused to let Ashley…” Slap! I raised my hand and struck him across the face, cutting off his rambling. Grayson stood there stunned. “You actually hit me? “Do you know how many people out there call you lazy and worthless, telling me to find a new girlfriend? I never did, and you know why? Because you were at least obedient! “Now you’re laying hands on me—are you trying to break up with me?”
I took a deep breath, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. So even Grayson saw me this way. I lifted my head and glared at him fiercely. “You’ve been thinking this all along, haven’t you? Otherwise, why would you take Ashley on stage to give that acceptance speech!” Grayson slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet, roaring at me. “Haven’t you caused enough trouble? I already told you we’re just colleagues. She’s helped me so much—what’s wrong with her coming on stage with me?” “Do you think everyone’s like you, stuck with that measly few thousand dollar salary, with zero ambition? “Besides doing some housework at home, what else are you good for!” BANG! I dumped the soup from the table right over his head. The warm broth dripped from his hair onto the floor, creating a complete mess. He was so angry he actually laughed, slowly removing the plate from his head. “Fine, you just stay home by yourself. I never should have come back!” With that, he grabbed his coat and stormed out without looking back. The living room fell silent again. I stared at the book on the table, slowly opened it, and tore away their handwriting from the first page, bit by bit. I crumpled the torn pieces into a ball and hurled them into the trash, then turned and headed upstairs to pack my things. Grayson and I had shared a bed for five years, and every corner of this room held memories of us. I was only halfway through packing when I saw Grayson return, dragging two suitcases through the door. Following the suitcases upward, I saw Ashley, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry, Caroline. I really have nowhere else to go…” She looked nothing like the arrogant person who had sent me those messages. I slowly stood up and asked quietly. “You’re moving in now?” Grayson stepped protectively in front of Ashley. “Don’t get any crazy ideas. I’m only letting her stay here because she can’t afford rent. She’s afraid of the dark and can’t sleep alone, so she’ll have to share my bed.” I let out a cold laugh. “So you two are going to sleep in the same bed?” Wasn’t I still living in this house? Ashley’s eyes widened. “Caroline, I really don’t have any feelings for Grayson!” Right in front of me, Grayson took her hand to comfort her, looking at me like I was a stranger. “If you have a problem, take it up with me. Don’t go crazy like you did earlier.” I was leaving anyway. I had no energy to fight with them, so I nodded and continued packing to leave. “Wait.” Grayson grabbed my wrist, looking at the box of belongings. “Leave that night light behind.” Grayson knew I couldn’t sleep without light at night, and that little night light was something I’d made myself. Grayson blocked my path. “How much money do you want for it? Ashley can’t sleep without a light at night.” I looked at his hand gripping mine and gently pulled free. Thinking I was unwilling, Grayson said several harsh things to me until I took out the night light. Since they loved my junk so much, whatever. Grayson paused for a moment, then shoved the light into Ashley’s hands. “If you’d been this reasonable this morning, we wouldn’t have had to fight.” He wrapped his arm around Ashley’s waist and walked into the master bedroom without looking back. And I took my luggage and returned to my old home. Early the next morning, I went to the law firm to pack up my things and resign. When I placed my resignation letter on the desk of the firm’s other partner, Grayson happened to see it. He snatched the resignation letter away. “Running away from home yesterday, and now resigning today—Caroline, how long are you going to keep this up?” As he spoke, he tore the resignation letter to shreds right in front of me. “Get back here and help me organize these case files!” I ignored him and pulled another resignation letter from my bag, handing it over. Ashley came screaming in from outside. “Grayson, the client information for your case has been leaked! Now everyone knows the client broke the law, and that you helped with fraudulent litigation. What are we going to do!” Grayson froze for a moment, then rushed over and grabbed my wrist, shouting at me. “No wonder you want to resign—you leaked the client information! Do you have any idea how important this client is to me!” So it was an illegal case after all. I had simply withdrawn my assistance, but I didn’t expect them to find out so quickly. “I never did such a thing.” Grayson gripped even tighter. “Still saying it wasn’t you! Besides the three of us, who else knew about this client information!” I couldn’t help but struggle. “The opposing party in this case isn’t ordinary people to begin with. Finding this out would be a matter of minutes for them! I don’t even have the opposing lawyer’s contact information!” Grayson let out a cold laugh. “I never thought the person who would hurt me the most would be the one sharing my bed.” I was so angry I laughed. How could he even say such words? As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and slapped me. “Just because I brought Ashley home, you had to be this vicious to me! I’m telling you to figure out how to completely delete that information from their computers right now!” I covered my face, and the last trace of affection in my heart was extinguished by that slap. Seeing that I remained silent, Grayson became even more agitated. He struck me several more times. “You didn’t really think I wouldn’t dare lay a hand on you, did you!” His blows left a metallic taste in my mouth. When I wiped it with my hand, it was blood. Grayson was truly ruthless! Ashley cried out in alarm and quickly intervened just as Grayson was about to kick me. “Stop hitting her! Maybe we should contact Ms. Westbrook—she might know what to do!” Grayson frowned and nodded. “You’re right. Quick, call her now before it’s too late for the trial!” He then glared at me again. “Look how much Ashley cares about you, while all you do is get jealous over nothing! Once I contact Ms. Westbrook, we’ll see how you get punished!” I shook off his hand and quietly walked to the side to watch. They made several phone calls before finally getting through. I heard Janet answer, and Grayson spoke urgently. “Didn’t you say you would protect this client’s information? Now the opposing lawyer has already received our client’s data…” The more he spoke, the more humble he became, with obvious flattery in his tone. The voice on the other end was cold. “Oh, you haven’t received the notice yet? Our boss has already withdrawn all assistance to you. As for this illegal case, it’s no longer our concern.” In an instant, Grayson’s face turned deathly pale. After taking a deep breath, he asked cautiously. “Is there any way to contact your boss?” Janet quickly gave out a phone number, and Grayson dialed it with trembling hands. Suddenly, my bag started ringing. I pulled out my phone and slowly pressed the answer button. “Hello, what can I do for you?” Watching them stand there in shock, I couldn’t help but mock them. “Weren’t you just saying you’d have your boss punish me? Come on, tell me—how exactly should I punish myself?”
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