I looked at the two of them standing there together, grabbed the handle of my suitcase, and headed for the door.
"She's all yours."
Barret blocked the doorway in one step, a vein throbbing at his temple.
"Maggie! There's a limit to how childish you can be!"
"Are you done throwing your tantrum?"
"If you walk out that door today, don't ever think about coming back. You'll regret it!"
I looked at that familiar face of his.
"I won't."
I shoved past his shoulder and walked into the elevator without looking back.
Outside the building, Marcella's car was already parked at the curb.
She helped me stuff my luggage into the trunk.
The whole drive, she was so furious she kept smacking the steering wheel on my behalf.
"You had an offer from a top investment bank right out of college."
"For that loser Barret Henson, you stayed behind. You ate instant noodles with him for months, slept in a basement, and helped him build his company from nothing."
"You were so stupid!!"
I stared out the car window at the neon lights streaking past.
Yeah. I was a fool.
But who could say no to the boy she'd secretly loved for four years, the one who carried her out of a burning building on his back and then confessed his feelings right there in her hospital room?
I'd been naive enough to believe that everything we'd been through together could conquer anything.
I forgot that shared history could never compete with the one who got away—the girl a man kept on a pedestal in his heart.
And if I couldn't compete, then I was done trying.
That night, I slept like a rock in Marcella's guest room.
The next morning, I went to work as usual.
Love was gone, but the career I'd built with my own two hands? That was something I refused to lose.
I'd barely sat down when the internal line rang, summoning me to a meeting in the CEO's office.
I pushed open the conference room door.
Queenie was sitting in my seat—the vice president's chair.
She looked at me and smiled. A slow, deliberate smile.
Barret slid a thick stack of documents across the table toward her.
That was my core project proposal. Three months of late nights. Countless cups of black coffee. Every ounce of strategy I had.