Chapter 3

Leaving the apartment and getting into my car, I watched the city lights fly by outside the window, remembering the laughable five years I’d spent with Noah.

Noah’s talent was limited; he originally wouldn’t have been able to secure a faculty position.

It was *me* who locked myself in the studio, researching, sketching, and building models day and night, helping him complete the design that earned recognition from FasTech and secured him that sole coveted faculty position.

The last week before the project deadline, I was on my period, doubled over in pain, cold sweat drenching my clothes.

Noah brought me a warm tea, his eyes full of feigned concern. “Audrey, maybe you should stop drawing. Your health is the most important thing.”

I was so touched back then, I drank the tea, put on a heating pad, and gritted my teeth, continuing to work.

Now that I think about it, his “maybe you should stop” was probably the only honest thing he said.

The next day, I returned to the studio with bloodshot, swollen eyes.

My assistant, Julian Reed, brought in coffee and gasped when he saw me.

“Audrey, what happened to you? Did a client push you this hard?”

Julian has been my assistant since I graduated. He’s two years younger than me, usually seems laid-back, but he’s sharper and more attentive than anyone.

I didn’t say anything. I just silently opened my laptop and pulled up the design I’d made for Noah.

“This…” Julian’s eyes lit up after just one glance. “Audrey, is this your new work? It’s brilliant! That mortise and tenon joint structure is simply divine!”

I forced a bitter smile. “This design? It belongs to someone else now.”

After Julian heard what happened, he slammed the folder in his hand onto the desk in anger.

“Holy hell! You gave your blood, sweat, and tears to that jerk, and he hands it over to that manipulative snake? And they used it as a damn *pad*? Are you kidding me? Who *does* that?!”

“Audrey, just wait. I’m going to have someone teach that jerk a lesson right now!”

Seeing him hopping mad, my heavy heart lightened a little.

“It’s fine, no need.”

But Julian wouldn’t back down. He suddenly sat across from me, looking at me with a serious expression.

“Audrey, seriously, are you just going to keep this dead weight around? Dump him, now!”

He winked, a playful tone in his voice, “If you need a place to stay, you can come to my place. If you need a boyfriend, you can consider me.”

“I promise, I’ll spoil you rotten, take care of your every need. I’ll never let you suffer any more injustice.”

I laughed, amused. “Are you getting your lines from a bad rom-com, kid? Get back to work.”

He pouted, wearing an expression that clearly said, “I’m serious, you know.”

Just then, my phone rang.

I answered, and Noah’s condescending lecture immediately came through.

“Audrey Blake, stop messing around.”

“You’ve had your fit, right? I’m apologizing, okay?”

“Two days from now, dress up nicely and come to the ceremony. Apologize to Briar in front of everyone, and we’ll put this behind us.”

“We can go back to how we were before, okay?”

Before I could say anything, a sickly sweet, suggestive female voice came from the other end.

“Mr. Hayes, hurry up, please. Help me with the zipper on the back of my dress, I can’t reach it…”

It was Briar Thorne.

Noah’s voice dropped, tender and comforting. “Don’t rush, I’m coming.”

They didn’t even bother to hide it from me.

I forced a bitter laugh.

Julian, noticing my mood, clenched his jaw, his knuckles white. He looked ready to jump through the phone and tear that rotten pair apart.

I reached out and gently pressed his hand, then spoke calmly into the phone.

“Okay.”

“I’ll be at the induction ceremony in three days.”

With that, I hung up and dragged Noah’s number into my blacklist.

Julian looked at me incredulously. “Audrey, you’re really going to…”

“Apologize?” I raised an eyebrow. “What are you thinking?”

I stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the bustling street below.

“That ceremony was always *mine*.”

“I’m just going to reclaim what belongs to me.”

“As for apologizing… the one who needs to apologize? It’s certainly not me.”

“Audrey, you look so powerful right now.” Julian’s eyes held a flash of concern, but he quickly put on a joking facade to comfort me.

What I didn’t see was that the moment he closed the door, the smile on his face vanished.

Julian pulled out his phone and dialed a number, his voice cold as ice.

“Look into Noah Hayes and Briar Thorne from the Architecture Department at A-University.”

“Yes, I want them… utterly ruined.”