Too close. Too intimate. Like the whole world didn’t exist outside that room. Like they were proving something to everyone, even to the people who came before them.
My chest tightened. Then I looked away.
What was the point of staying?
I walked out of the Montgomery house without stopping.
I went to the Montgomery Group that morning and resigned as Argus’s secretary. Just like that. No hesitation, no second thoughts.
The HR manager, one of the few people who ever treated me kindly, looked at me and sighed. “Dahlia, congratulations! You finally got out. I’m serious, you escaped something ugly.”
I forced a small smile. “Yeah… I guess I did.”
And for the first time in a long while, I actually felt a little lighter. Like something heavy had finally loosened its grip on my chest. I didn’t owe them anything anymore. Not the money, not the pain, not the version of myself I became just to survive.
But that feeling didn’t last long.
The moment I walked into the villa that evening, a glass shattered right in front of me.
I flinched as sharp pieces scattered across the floor, one of them slicing into my arm. I barely had time to react before Argus stormed over.
His hand came fast.