Chapter 3

The preliminary call with Phoenix Innovations was a blur of professionalism and opportunity. Mark Chen didn' t ask why Ethan was suddenly on the market; he just laid out the vision. They weren't just offering him a job; they were offering him a department to build from scratch. Head of Research and Development. A title and a salary that made his senior developer role at Olivia's company look like an internship. It was a future, handed to him on a silver platter.

After the call, a grim reality set in. He needed his things. He sent a curt, functional text to Olivia: "I'm coming by at 7 PM to get the rest of my belongings. Please leave a key with the doorman."

Her reply was instant. "The door is open."

He' d hoped she wouldn't be there. He just wanted to get in and get out, a clean extraction. But as he walked down the familiar hallway of their apartment building, he heard it. The sound of loud, obnoxious laughter.

He pushed the door open. There they were. Olivia and Liam, sprawled on the couch in the living room, controllers in their hands, playing a racing game on the 80-inch television he had bought for them last Christmas. Empty pizza boxes and soda cans littered the expensive coffee table. They looked comfortable, happy.

Olivia paused the game when she saw him standing in the doorway with empty boxes. The smile evaporated from her face, replaced by a cold, hard mask.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, as if he were a burglar.

"I texted you," he said, his voice flat. "I' m here for my things."

She scoffed, a bitter, ugly sound. "Running away so soon, Ethan? Can' t handle a little professional feedback?"

He ignored her and walked past the living room toward their bedroom. He could feel her eyes on his back. He started pulling his clothes from the closet, stuffing them unceremoniously into a cardboard box.

"You know," her voice followed him down the hall, dripping with condescension, "this could all be over. If you would just walk out here and apologize to Liam for humiliating him, maybe we could work something out."

He stopped, his hands full of shirts. He looked around the bedroom they had shared. Her things were neat and orderly on her side; his were already being erased. The high-and-mighty CEO persona she wore at the office had completely taken over. There was no trace of the woman he had loved. It was clear now that this was not a negotiation; it was a surrender she demanded. And he would not surrender.

He continued packing, moving from the closet to the bookshelf. As he carefully boxed his collection of programming textbooks, Liam appeared in the doorway, a can of soda in his hand.

"Oh, sorry," Liam said with a smirk, and "accidentally" tripped, sending a wave of sticky brown liquid all over a box of Ethan' s most treasured books. "Oops. My bad."

Ethan looked at the dark stain spreading across the cardboard, at the smug look on Liam' s face, and at Olivia, who stood behind him, doing nothing. A switch flipped inside him. The calm he had maintained for days finally broke.

He didn't say a word. He didn't yell. He walked out of the bedroom, past Liam, and into the living room. He walked directly to the entertainment center. He unplugged the brand-new, top-of-the-line gaming console-the one he' d spent a thousand dollars on for her last birthday. He picked it up.

He held it for a moment, then let it drop.

The crash of shattering plastic and electronics was deafening in the suddenly silent apartment. It was a violent, definitive sound.

Olivia let out a piercing scream. It wasn't a scream of loss for a material object; it was a scream of fury at his defiance.

"GET OUT!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

Ethan turned and walked back to the bedroom, picked up his last two boxes, and headed for the door. He didn't look at her. He didn't look at the mess on the floor.

As he walked out of the apartment for the last time, pulling the door shut behind him, he felt a profound sense of release. A tremendous weight he hadn' t even realized he was carrying had been lifted from his shoulders. He was finally, completely free.