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The Day He Let Me Go
NovelMaster
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My ex-fiancé, Brandon Shaw, deliberately scheduled his wedding to his first love on the exact day I was flying across the world for my postgraduate studies. With his arm wrapped snugly around her wai...
章節（3）
第1章
My ex-fiancé, Brandon Shaw, deliberately scheduled his wedding to his first love on the exact day I was flying across the world for my postgraduate studies.
With his arm wrapped snugly around her waist, he spoke with dripping condescension.
"She’s had an uncontrollable temper ever since she was a kid, always stirring up trouble. Leaving her overseas permanently is for the best. That way, she won't bother us anymore."
When our mutual friends found out, every single one of them worried for me.
They all assumed I would catch the next red-eye back, kicking and screaming, turning his life into an absolute living hell.
None of them expected me to stay completely silent—much less offer them my sincere congratulations.
Because in one month, I was walking down the aisle to marry the man chosen for our family alliance.
Before the wedding, I wired back every single cent Brandon had ever transferred into my accounts over the years, down to the last penny.
I also packaged up that custom, one-of-a-kind diamond necklace he had gifted me and mailed it back to his front door.
A vast ocean now lies between us. From this day forward, our paths will never cross again.
I am finally walking toward my own happiness.
The day Brandon announced his engagement, I was the most humiliated person in the ballroom.
The venue was packed with relatives and high-society friends.
Among them were Brandon’s inner circle—the very guys who had always looked down their noses at me.
They smirked, their banter dripping with mockery.
"Come on, Brandon, isn't this a little harsh?"
"Look at how pale little Chloe is. You didn't even give her a heads-up before dropping the engagement bomb."
"If you'd warned her, maybe she’d still have a fighting chance."
They sounded like they were defending me, but their words were calculated daggers meant to rub salt directly into my open wounds.
Hearing that, Brandon swirled the bourbon in his tumbler, looking thoroughly bored.
"Who does she think she is? Why would I need to give her a heads-up?"
"If she ever had a chance, would we have spent fourteen years living under the same roof without a thing happening between us?"
At that, Tiffany Evans leaned against his chest with a soft laugh, pretending to pout.
"Brandon! How could you say that about Chloe?"
"You're going to hurt her feelings."
Brandon caught her drift effortlessly and shrugged.
"What does her being upset have to do with me?"
The room erupted into snickers. Cold, disdainful gazes locked onto me from every direction.
My nails bit into my palms as a stubborn, desperate ache tore through my chest.
"Brandon," I asked, my voice trembling. "Fourteen years. Did you truly never feel a single spark for me?"
The answer left his mouth without a beat of hesitation.
"Never."
Refusing to let it go, I pushed further.
"Then why did you jump in to save me when those bullies jumped me years ago?"
"Because if you died under my watch, I wouldn't have been able to face my parents."
"Then why did you kiss me on the night of my eighteenth birthday?"
The second those words dropped, Tiffany’s face visibly soured.
Brandon pinched the bridge of his nose, his expression twisting into sheer impatience.
"I had too much to drink that night. I mistook you for someone else."
A hollow, self-deprecating laugh scraped past my lips.
"Don't tell me you're going to say you thought I was Tiffany?"
Brandon nodded, entirely aloof.
"Good. At least you're smart enough to figure it out."
A sudden burning heat flooded my eyes, and tears began to fall uncontrollably down my cheeks.
Brandon paused, his gaze hardening into something firm and clinical.
"Chloe, I've only ever seen you as a little sister."
"I am marrying Tiffany very soon. I need you to wake up and get a grip on reality."
"Between you and me, there never was a chance in the past, there isn't one now, and there never will be in the future."
With that, he pulled Tiffany into his arms and planted a deliberate, possessive kiss on her lips.
When he finally pulled away, he shot me a pointed, triumphant look.
"See it clearly now? Tiffany is the woman I love. Not you."
"Soon, you'll have to respect her as your sister-in-law. I expect you to treat her with decency and stop trying to drive wedges between us."
A quiet gasp of laughter tore from my throat as my heart felt shredded into a million ragged pieces.
I turned around, desperate to leave, but Tiffany called out from behind me.
"Chloe, wait. There's something I need to return to you."
She stepped forward, holding out a simple silver band.
It was the ring I had saved up for months to buy him from my part-time job when I turned eighteen.
If that birthday kiss had been an impulsive mistake, that ring was supposed to be our unspoken promise.
The night he slid it onto his finger, I had foolishly believed he was finally mine.
I never imagined it would circle right back to my hands like this.
My voice went ice-cold.
"Throw it in the trash."
It was high time this pathetic, one-sided obsession came to a permanent end.
第2章
After their formal engagement, Brandon moved completely out of our shared penthouse.
On moving day, he deliberately instructed the chauffeur to take me out for the entire afternoon, strictly barring me from coming home.
I knew exactly what he was doing. He was terrified I would make a scene and try to stop him.
What he failed to realize was that I genuinely no longer cared.
A week later, Brandon’s mother invited me over for a family dinner.
The moment I sat down at the dining table, Tiffany slipped into the seat next to me.
She leaned in close, whispering in my ear with an air of delicate vulnerability.
"Chloe, do you have a spare pad on you? My period just started out of nowhere."
As much as I despised her guts, I wasn't the kind of girl who would leave another woman stranded in an emergency like that.
I nodded and kept my voice down.
"Yeah, I have one in my purse. Come to the restroom with me and I'll give it to you."
She grabbed my wrist, looking deeply touched.
"Thank you so much."
Under Brandon’s watchful eyes, she followed me down the hall to the guest bathroom.
The second I unzipped my bag to pull it out, her soft persona vanished, and her voice turned sharp.
"Save it. Keep it in your bag."
"I'm not on my period. I just needed an excuse to drag you away from the table."
I rolled my eyes in pure disgust and immediately spun on my heel to walk out.
Tiffany lunged forward, grabbing my arm with iron force, her face instantly morphing back into a pitiful mask.
"Why do you have to treat me like this?"
I froze, staring at her in utter bewilderment.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
She pointed toward the dining room, her voice breaking into theatrical sobs.
"Why do you keep badmouthing me in front of Mrs. Shaw?"
"Brandon and I finally got engaged! I just wanted this family dinner to bond with his mother."
"And what did you do? You showed up uninvited, sat right between us, and froze me out!"
"I get that you're bitter, Chloe, but you can't force someone to love you! Can't you just let us be happy?"
Before I could even open my mouth to shut her down, she dropped heavily to her knees and began violently slapping her own face.
With every brutal strike, tears streamed down her cheeks as she wailed.
"If punishing myself makes you feel better, then please, I beg you, stop harassing us!"
"Brandon and I love each other! Please, just let me go!"
I reached out instinctively, wanting to grab her wrists to force her to stop this sick performance.
Instead, Tiffany snatched my wrist, yanked my palm hard across her own cheek with all her strength, and threw herself backward.
Crash!
She hit the marble floor with a dramatic thud.
To anyone walking in, it looked unmistakably like I had backhanded her off her feet.
"Chloe Crawford!"
Brandon came sprinting around the corner, walking right into the aftermath.
Without asking a single question, he grabbed my shoulder and shoved me brutally against the edge of the marble vanity.
My lower back—still weak from an old injury—took the brunt of the impact. A blinding spike of agony shot up my spine, making it impossible to stand.
Gasping for air, I slid helplessly down the side of the counter onto the cold floor.
Brandon didn't spare me a second glance. He scooped Tiffany into his arms, glaring down at me with murderous rage.
"Chloe Crawford! When the hell are you going to grow up?!"
"I've tolerated your childish tantrums our entire lives! But this time, you crossed the damn line! Apologize to her right now!"
Tiffany curled against his chest like an injured bird, trembling as if she were holding back tears of martyrdom.
"No, Brandon, leave it... I'm sure Chloe didn't mean to."
"She's just having a hard time accepting that we're together."
Brandon shook his head, his tone deadly serious.
"You're far too soft-hearted, Tiffany. That's why people walk all over you."
He snapped his glare back to me, barking like an interrogator.
"Say it. Apologize!"
I pressed my lips together until they turned white, my voice trembling with cold detachment.
"I'm sorry."
"Not good enough!" he roared.
A bitter laugh broke through my lips.
"Then what do you want? You want me to get down on my knees and grovel at her feet before it counts?"
Brandon startled slightly, clearly unprepared for my icy defiance.
Disgust flashed across his features. Scooping Tiffany higher into his arms, he turned his back on me and walked away.
"You're becoming completely unbearable!"
Watching their retreating silhouettes, an overwhelming wave of irony washed over me.
It turns out that whether a man loves you or not is as clear as day.
What a tragedy that it took me fourteen years to finally see it.
第3章
Over the next few days, Brandon went out of his way to make it up to Tiffany, whisking her away on lavish getaways across the country.
Like a high schooler desperate to show off, Tiffany posted on Instagram five times a day.
Our mutual friends saw every single update, and naturally, they all waited with bated breath for me to blow up Brandon’s phone.
After all, that was my signature move in the past.
Whenever Brandon took Tiffany anywhere, I would throw a fit, demanding that he take me too.
Brandon would always scoff, rolling his eyes and asking why I had to turn everything into a competition.
Yet, in the end, he would always indulge me with a fond, resigned smile, taking me on the same trip and showering me with expensive gifts.
It was that very pattern of indulgence—that gentle, giving-in to my demands—that had fed my delusions for years, making me believe that deep down, he secretly loved me too.
Snapping out of my daze, I dialed my mother’s number.
"Mom. I agree to the arranged marriage. You can start planning the wedding."
The match my mother had in mind was with the son of her closest lifelong friend—Julian Vance.
My mother had watched Julian grow up and adored him like her own.
In fact, our families had jokingly promised us to each other when we were just kids.
Later, when Brandon found out about that childhood promise, he blew an absolute fuse. He fought with me for days, demanding that I break off that ridiculous arrangement immediately.
It was nothing more than an offhand joke made by our parents over dinner, yet Brandon had treated it like a genuine crisis.
And because of that fiery jealousy, I had let myself believe I held a truly special place in his heart.
Looking back now, it was nothing more than a momentary lapse of male possessiveness. And like a fool, I had taken it as gospel.
On the other end of the line, my mother let out an ecstatic gasp.
"Oh, sweetheart, that's wonderful!"
"You have no idea—Julian has carried a torch for you since he was a little boy!"
Auntie Vance’s cheerful voice chimed in over the speaker as well.
"She's right, Chloe! Just you wait—I am going to make sure Julian gives you the most breathtaking wedding this city has ever seen!"
Hearing their warm, unfiltered joy, heat rushed to my cheeks.
I had spent years dreading how impossible it would be to let Brandon go. But now that I had ripped the band-aid off, it wasn't all that difficult after all.
Brandon and Tiffany deliberately set their wedding date on the exact day my flight was scheduled to depart for my studies abroad.
It was as if they were taking precautions, ensuring I wouldn't be anywhere near the country to ruin their picture-perfect day.
The group chats were buzzing with rare excitement.
Brandon’s groomsmen flooded their Instagram stories with congratulations, their captions doubling as public jabs at me.
"Huge congrats to my brother Brandon for finally tying the knot and shaking off that clingy parasite for good! Nothing but clear skies ahead, man!"
"Congratulations to Tiffany and Brandon! A true match made in heaven. Somebody just got hit with a massive reality check."
Every sweet wish for the bride was paired with a cruel sneer aimed at me.
In their eyes, I had never been worthy of Brandon; I was just a desperate groupie who had overstayed her welcome.
Before heading to the airport, I met up with Julian.
We officially signed the marriage documents and agreed on a private, intimate ceremony three months down the road.
I wasn't a fan of flashy, public spectacles, and neither was Julian.
Life felt largely the same as when I was single.
The only real differences were the stunning diamond ring sitting on my left ring finger and the ten-million-dollar trust fund Julian’s family had wired directly into my personal account as a bridal gift.
As Julian was driving me toward the terminal, my phone suddenly rang on the dashboard.
The caller ID displayed the name of Brandon’s younger cousin, Harper Shaw.
After a beat of hesitation, I answered.
"Chloe, Brandon and Tiffany are about to walk down the aisle! Why aren't you here yet?"
I answered calmly.
"I'm on my way to the airport."
Harper gasped, her voice shrill with urgency.
"Then tell your driver to whip a U-turn right now! If you floor it, you can still make it in time!"
Before I could decline, the phone rustled, and Tiffany’s sugary, triumphant voice took over the line.
"Chloe, sweetie, today is the most important day of Brandon’s and my life. Are you really not coming to celebrate with us?"
I glanced over at Julian sitting beside me in the driver's seat, his calm, reassuring presence anchoring me completely. A genuine smile touched my lips.
"There's no need for that anymore."
"By the way... congratulations on your wedding. I truly wish you both a lifetime of happiness."