I was about to say goodbye to Duncan.

He came rushing out with a shopping list in his hand, frantic：

“Go to the market and get some soup bones. I need them now!”

“Right now. Not a second later.”

I watched him panic and felt my mouth twist into a smirk. I already knew why he was so worked up.

Just minutes ago, Lorna had posted on social media, crying about how her dog had tumbled down the stairs and hurt its leg.

And Duncan was ordering me around like this for a dog I had never even met.

He stared at me, waiting, fully expecting me to do what I'd always done.

Rush to the market, pick out the best cuts, and have a pot of rich bone broth ready for him before he could blink.

But I didn't move. I turned and walked back toward the bedroom to lie down.

“The market's closed. If you want bones, go yourself.”

The words flew out of him on reflex：“You're just being lazy. I keep a roof over your head, and you can't even handle something this small?”

I shut the door. Hard. Let the silence answer for me.

For years, all he had to do was mention a craving and I'd rack my brain figuring out how to make it perfect, nicking my fingers on the knife more times than I could count, burning my arms on hot pans.

And all it ever earned me was one label: the freeloader who ate and drank on his dime.

He was about to knock when Lorna called. Her voice came through nasal and thick, all guilt.

“It's all my fault. Don't make Sabina do it. My dog can't compare to the baby in her belly. I'll take care of Lucky myself. Just stay with her, okay?”

His whole expression went soft in an instant, like he was looking at the only person who mattered.

“Don't worry. I've already called the vet.”

“Stay with her? She does nothing but pull faces at me. Forget about it—I'm getting a professional chef to make the broth right now. Lucky's going to be fine.”

He hung up and headed straight for the walk-in closet, digging through my clothes and bags, pulling out the nicest, most expensive pieces and packing them up.

“Lorna mentioned last time that she liked these limited-edition ones. She's upset right now. I'll bring them over to cheer her up.”

I didn't move. I kept my back to him, pretending to be asleep.

Duncan filled a large bag, then kept rummaging, until finally, in the bottom compartment, he found the box of baby clothes.

“You bought so many. The biggest ones can go to Lucky—not like you'll be needing them anytime soon.”

I sat up instantly.

I couldn't believe what I'd just heard.

Duncan was holding up the baby clothes I had picked out piece by piece, each one hand-washed so gently I was afraid to damage the fabric.

For Lorna's dog.

I hadn't thought he could be this heartless. Not a single thought spared for his own child. Everything I'd poured my heart into, every scrap of love in those tiny clothes—handed off to a dog.

Something surged through my body, some strength I didn't know I had left. I was on my feet, blocking his path, snatching the clothes out of his hands and pressing them to my chest.

“Take everything else I own. I don't care. But you do not touch the baby's things.”

These were meant for the seventh-day burning—every last piece sent to my baby as an offering.

He never got to see this world. He left in pain before he ever opened his eyes. Did he not even deserve a set of clothes?

Duncan's brow twisted with impatience, and he reached out to shove me aside：

“It's a few outfits. Why are you being so petty? I'll buy more later.”

He grabbed the clothes from my arms anyway. When he saw I wouldn't let go, something flickered across his face, half irritation, half embarrassment.

“Sabina, do you really think throwing a fit over a dog is worth it?”

“They're just some cheap baby clothes. Once the baby's born, you can buy as many as you want!”

I looked up at him, ice cold. ：“Duncan, I'm not about to get angry over a dog. I said no, and no means no.”

Duncan froze for a second, then a sneer curled at the corner of his mouth：

“Oh, I know. You're mad about Lorna. How many times do I have to say it? I'm with her because I want to be. That's not her fault.”

He wrenched the baby clothes out of my hands, that mocking smile still hanging on his lips.

“Don't think I don't know. That call you made to your family the other day, going on and on about giving me a hundred chances.”

“If I'm counting right, there's still one left. Be a good girl and wait at home for me, and you'll still get to be Mrs. Delgado.”

The blood drained from my face. I hadn't imagined he could hurt me so matter-of-factly, as if he had every right.

He slammed the door on his way out.

Start to finish, he never noticed my flat stomach.

I stared at his retreating figure until it disappeared, whispering：

“Duncan, there is no hundredth chance. I'm leaving.”

But he was already too far away to hear.

The next few days, Duncan and I were each busy with our own things. I was busy with the paperwork to escape him.

He was busy finding excuses not to come home.

One night it was entertaining some executive, the next he had to fly out to close a deal.

He thought I'd pry like I used to, demanding to know where he really was.

I didn't reply to a single message. I was busy resigning.

That seemed to unsettle him. He texted asking where I was.

I swiped his message away while sitting in the HR office, filling out my resignation paperwork.

Behind her glasses, the HR clerk's impatience was plain as she asked again：

“You really want to resign?”

As if she was certain I couldn't survive without Duncan.

I nodded for the fifth time, my voice steadier than ever：

“Yes. I'm resigning.”

“Tch.” She clattered away at her keyboard：

“You haven't hit five years on your contract. Voluntary resignation means a three-month salary penalty, and all bonuses are forfeited.”

She finished speaking and looked me up and down with open amusement：

“Though I'm guessing money isn't exactly a problem for you, Ms. Pruitt?”

I said nothing, quietly tucking a loose thread back into my hem, thinking to myself.

It was. Very much a problem.

Everyone at the company assumed I was Duncan's kept woman, his little songbird locked away in a gilded cage.

But only I knew the truth. I loved him, genuinely, so after college I asked for nothing and took a low-paying job at his company like any other employee.

He never once corrected anyone about what we actually were.

Even when his hand drifted to my waist in the office and someone walked in, he'd instinctively push me away.

Afterward, when I asked him why, hurt plain on my face,

he just said that a man in his position couldn't put personal matters on display.

I believed him. So I stayed, year after year, with no title and no promise.

Even groceries and daily expenses were split fifty-fifty.

And still, I'd lost count of the times I overheard people whispering in the break room about how calculating I was.

Already living under the Delgado roof, already Duncan's hidden bedmate.

And still playing the humble, too-good-for-this-world act.

I didn't want to explain anymore. I just said：

“I'll pay.”

All the deductions added up to a little over a hundred thousand.

I opened my account, looked at the five million in lavish engagement gifts wired from overseas, and spent it anyway.

I told myself I'd pay back every cent to this fiancé I'd never met.

The HR clerk seemed genuinely surprised by how easily I let it go.

Clearly nothing like the gold-digging, sleep-your-way-to-the-top image she'd had in her head.

I was about to sign when something occurred to her.

“Your……status here is a bit special. Let me run it by Mr. Delgado first.”

My heart lurched. Duncan might not let me go—not because he wanted me, but because that was who he was.

Stubborn enough to hold on to something even after he'd stopped caring about it. Once it had been his, he'd keep it clenched in his fist.

Before the refusal could even leave my mouth, HR had already dialed the call.

Two rings, then his lazy drawl filled the line.

“What is it?”

My heart shot straight to my throat.

“Mr. Delgado, Ms. Pruitt is requesting to resign. Did you authorize this?”

On the other end, a crowd was cheering. Lorna's wheedling voice curled through the noise.

“Duncan, it's our birthday. Stop dealing with nobodies, okay~”

He agreed without a second thought and tossed out a single line：

“What does she want? Whatever, I don't want to know. Tell her if she keeps throwing tantrums she'll see what happens. Stop bothering me with this.”

He hadn't heard clearly. And thank God he hadn't.

HR had no choice but to let me go.

The moment I held the signed separation notice, I didn't know what I felt. But more than anything, it was relief.

Three days later, Mom sent me a spread of wedding dress options and told me to pick a few I liked.

I scrolled through them with no real purpose until one stopped me cold.

A satin mermaid gown. Identical to the one Duncan and I had seen in a shop window on a trip together.

I'd stood in front of that glass imagining how it would feel to wear it, and he'd stood right beside me, imagining the same thing.

Back then he'd told me he would give me a grand wedding, the most beautiful dress.

Now someone else was giving me the wedding. Someone else was giving me the dress.

I went back and forth, but in the end I listened to my own heart and chose the satin mermaid gown.

When I forwarded it to Mom, I accidentally sent it to Duncan instead.

Duncan, who had been silent for an entire week, replied in under a second.

【?】

【Trying to force a wedding? I'll give you one when I decide to. You don't get to ask. I can't stand women who hand themselves over for free.】

I didn't explain. I just typed "you misunderstood," then forwarded the photo to Mom.

By the time he rushed over in a frenzy, I was already packed and heading downstairs to wait for the car that was coming for me.

He saw me and, chin lifted, told me to clear out the bedroom.

“Lorna had too much to drink. You'll sleep somewhere else tonight. She can only fall asleep in that bed—she's used to it. Don't be difficult.”

Before, I would have torn the place apart. I would have said anything, done anything to throw Lorna out.

Guarding that laughable thing I called faithfulness in love.

But now I just nodded, numb. When Duncan turned to look,

the room was spotless. Emptied clean.

Something was missing, but he couldn't place what.

Maybe he figured I'd finally come to my senses, finally learned to behave, because a look of satisfaction crossed his face as he reached for my hand.

“Bina, now that's more like it.”

“About the wedding, we can start talking about……”

I didn't have the patience to hear the rest. I stepped away from his reach.

A small, expressionless nod, and I turned to leave.

Something seemed to register. He called my name.

“What's wrong with you?”

His gaze landed on me for less than a second. Then a call from Lorna pulled him away entirely.

I let out a bitter laugh, got into the car that had been waiting outside for me, and closed the door.

I would never see Duncan Delgado again.

……

The man who knew nothing woke in a cold sweat after a night wrapped around someone else.

He'd had a nightmare. The woman whose whole world had been him vanished without a trace.

Duncan shot upright in bed, eyes wide and unseeing, drenched in sweat.

He called my name on instinct, but no one answered. Not anymore.

He burst out of the bedroom in a panic, only to find the living room empty. Every number, every account—blocked.

Only then did Duncan Delgado realize what had happened.

I had vanished from his world completely.