Chapter 3

A heavy silence fell over the room. Olivia, Alex, and even Mr. Miller looked at me in disbelief. They had expected me to beg, to argue, to show some sign of pain. My simple, calm agreement threw them off completely.

"Okay," I repeated, standing up. "I'll leave."

"Ethan, wait," Mr. Miller said, his anger suddenly deflating, replaced by a flicker of panic. "Don't be hasty. She doesn't know what she's saying."

"Oh, I think she does," I said, looking directly at Olivia. "She's been wanting this for a long time."

"You can't just leave!" Mr. Miller insisted, stepping towards me. "What about the Phoenix Project? The launch is in three months! The investors, the board... they all trust you. The project will collapse without you!"

The Phoenix Project was my brainchild, a revolutionary new technology that was set to make the Miller Corporation a global leader. I had poured the last three years of my life into it. In my past life, its success had cemented my value to the family and trapped me more securely in my role.

"The project will be fine," I said with confidence. "I completed the final development phase last week. The core architecture is stable, and the rollout protocol is fully documented. All my notes are on the central server, encrypted. I'll leave the password with your secretary. Anyone with a basic competence in quantum computing can take it from here."

I saw a flash of surprise on Mr. Miller's face. He hadn't known I was so far ahead of schedule. I had always been three steps ahead, working tirelessly in the background. That was my value. And it was the reason I could walk away so easily now.

Alex, seeing he was losing control of the situation, sneered.

"If you're really leaving, then you should leave with nothing," he spat, his eyes scanning me with contempt. "That suit you're wearing, the watch on your wrist, the car you drive... the Millers paid for all of it. You're nothing without them."

I didn't even look at him. I looked at Olivia. She had a chance to be the better person, to end this with a shred of dignity. She didn't take it.

"He's right, Ethan," she said, her voice cold and hard. "You came to this family with nothing. You should leave the same way. Take off the suit. It belongs to us."

The cruelty was so familiar, so pointless. It was the same cruelty that had lit the match in another lifetime.

Mr. Miller opened his mouth to protest, a flicker of shame on his face. "Olivia, that's enough..."

But I held up a hand to stop him. I looked from Olivia's hateful face to Alex's smug one. Then, without a word, I began to unbutton the jacket of the thousand-dollar tuxedo. I folded it neatly and placed it on the back of a chair. Then, I unclasped the expensive watch Mr. Miller had given me as a wedding gift and set it on the desk. Finally, I took the keys to the company car out of my pocket and dropped them next to the watch. They made a small, final clatter on the polished wood.

I stood before them in a simple white dress shirt and black trousers. I owned nothing else. In my past life, everything I had was tied to the Millers. My home, my car, my clothes. I had never built a life for myself outside of them. That was a mistake I would not make again.

"Is there anything else?" I asked, my voice devoid of emotion.

They were all speechless. They had expected a fight, a scene. They had wanted to humiliate me. But my calm acceptance of their terms had stripped them of their power. I wasn't the one being humiliated; they were, by their own pettiness.

I turned my back on them. On Olivia's shocked face, on Alex's fading smirk, on Mr. Miller's conflicted expression.

I walked out of the library, through the grand foyer filled with wilted wedding flowers, and towards the front door.

I didn't look back. I didn't need to. I was finally free.