Chapter 13
There was a long pause on the other end before Zac finally spoke, his voice cold and dismissive.
“Liz, you’re the one who said we’d break up in a month. And now you’re calling out of nowhere to say it’s over? Can you stop acting insane for once? I don’t have time for this. We’ll talk when I get back.”
Then he hung up, just like that.
Liz calmly set her phone down. Without hesitating, she forwarded the recording of her earlier call with Xena straight to Zac’s
number.
She sent a copy to Susan as well.
Then she dialed the wedding planner.
“Hi, this is Liz Smith. I booked a venue through your company a while ago. I’d like to cancel it.”
There was a brief silence before the staff member replied, “Miss Smith, are you sure you want to cancel your wedding reservation?”
Liz’s fingers tightened slightly around the phone, but her voice stayed steady. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“All right. I’ll process the cancellation right away.”
“Thank you.”
After ending the call, Liz slipped off her engagement ring and gently placed it on the table. She was about to start packing when her phone lit up again—this time it was Susan.
“Liz, sweetheart… I’m so sorry,” Susan said softly, her voice full of guilt. “I should’ve raised him better.”
If she had known Zac would end up like this, she never would have begged Liz to give him another chance.
Liz didn’t need the apology, but she deserved it.
What she lost wasn’t just a relationship. It was eight years of her life. Eight of her best years, given without hesitation.
If anyone owed her a real apology, it was Zac.
But at this point, with everything that had happened, it didn’t really matter anymore.
“You heard the recording, Ms. Green,” Liz said quietly. “There’s no reason to drag this out for another month.”
Susan let out a heavy sigh. “I know. And everything I said before… just forget it, okay? You’re such a good girl, Liz. You’ll find someone better. It’s Zac who doesn’t deserve you.”
Her voice broke near the end.
She had watched Liz stand by Zac through everything. Over time, she had come to love Liz like a daughter.
Now, she didn’t even have the courage to face her.
Liz’s grip on the phone tightened. A sharp ache rose in her chest, swelling until it threatened to consume her.
She had held it together for so long, staying strong through everything. But when someone finally showed her kindness, it all came crashing down.
Blinking back tears, she steadied her voice. “Ms. Green, I need to take care of a few things. I’m going to hang up now.”
After ending the call, Liz sat still on the couch for a long moment. Then, slowly, she picked up her phone and began erasing
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every trace of Zac from her life.
The last thing to go was Facebook.
They had added each other the day they joined. He was her very first friend request. Back then, she never imagined she would be
the one to remove him.
Facebook didn’t make it easy. First, she had to go to his profile. The screen filled with old posts, shared memories, photos they had been tagged in, and a pinned picture at the top-a tranquil ocean view from his Maldives trip with Xena.
She tapped the “Friends” button. A menu appeared: Unfollow. Unfriend. Block.
Her eyes lingered on “Unfriend.”
She tapped it.
A confirmation box popped up: Are you sure you want to remove Zac Lincoln from your friends? You will no longer be connected on Facebook.
Below it were two buttons: Confirm and Cancel.
Liz stared at the message, her thumb hovering over the screen. For a few seconds, she just sat there, letting the weight of it
settle.
Then she pressed Confirm.
Just like that, his name disappeared from her friend list.
She scrolled through her camera roll next and started deleting every photo of them.
Then she stood up and began packing his things.
The house was full of memories she had shared with Zac. As she packed, each item brought another moment from their past flooding back into her mind.
The little teddy bear on the nightstand had been a gift from one of Zac’s business trips. The matching electric toothbrushes in the bathroom were something they had picked out together at the supermarket. The cat-shaped mugs on the table were ones they had made during a pottery class.
Back then, seeing those things had made her feel happy. Now, they only reminded her of how much everything had changed.
When she reached the last of her packing, she opened her jewelry box and took out a ring. She stared at it for a long moment before placing it gently into her suitcase. She had thrown out all the other jewelry, but this ring had been different. He gave it to her when he loved her the most. It once held all the love he had for her.
Returning it now felt like the final line she needed to draw under their eight-year relationship.
Partway through her packing, Zac walked in. He saw his belongings packed into a single bag in the living room and looked at her with a mocking expression.
“So you’re really going all in on the drama this time. Is it that hard for you to tolerate Xena? Did you seriously have to stir up drama and force me to choose between you and her?”
He scoffed. “Come on, Liz. You know I’d never pick you. Why humiliate yourself like this?”
Liz’s fingers tightened around the picture frame she was holding, her knuckles turning white. After several seconds, she finally looked up at him and said calmly, “You don’t need to choose. I already did. We’re over. Go be with her.”
Zac stared at her pale face, and for some reason, a surge of anger rose in his chest. He let out a cold laugh.
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“Fine. Keep playing your little game. I’d actually like to see how far you plan to take it.”
Then he turned around and slammed the door behind him.
Liz lowered her gaze, pushed down the emotions welling in her chest, and quietly went back to packing.
The next morning, she scheduled a courier pickup. The delivery guy arrived quickly. As he carried her things downstairs, Liz brought down her wedding dress and tossed it out with the rest.
She stood watching as the delivery guy’s cart rolled down the road and out of sight. Her chest tightened a little. It felt like the last eight years of her life were slipping away with it.
But to her surprise, it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. Letting go wasn’t nearly as hard as she had imagined.
At 10 a.m., after wrapping up his morning meeting, Zac returned to his office. His assistant, Chase Carter, knocked on the door and stepped inside.
“Mr. Lincoln, Miss Smith sent over a package. It looks like your personal belongings. It’s downstairs now. Should I have it delivered to your place or would you prefer something else?”
Zac froze, still holding the file in his hand. He loosened his tie and said nothing, his expression cold.
It was just one phone call from Xena to provoke her, and Liz immediately went crying to his mother, picked a fight, and started talking about breaking up. Now she was even packing up his stuff and sending it back.
Did she really think that would make him cave?
If she was already acting like this before marriage, what kind of chaos would she bring afterward?
If she wanted to throw a tantrum, fine. He would wait for her to calm down before bringing up the wedding again. It wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before. Every time they fought, didn’t she always come back begging to make up?
Chase glanced at him, unsure what to make of his silence. He didn’t dare say another word.
Zac opened the file in his hands and said calmly, “Got it. Just throw it away.”
“Yes, Mr. Lincoln.”
About thirty minutes later, Chase knocked on his office door again and stepped inside, holding a box. He opened it and held it out in front of him.
“Mr. Lincoln, the courier found this among your belongings. It looked a little too valuable to toss out, so they brought it back. Should I get rid of it too?”
Zac glanced up. The moment his eyes landed on the ring, he froze for just a second. He immediately recognized it as the diamond ring he had personally crafted for Liz back in college.
But in the next moment, his expression returned to its usual cold calm.
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
After leaving the office, Chase took a quick photo of the ring and sent it to a friend who worked in jewelry resale. He asked how much it might be worth.
An hour later, the reply finally came through.
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“Ten dollars.”
Chase stared at the message in disbelief.
After hesitating for a moment, he tossed the ring and the box straight into the trash.
Later that afternoon, Liz requested a week off from her law firm and booked a red-eye flight to the Maldives.
After eight hours in the air, the plane touched down smoothly at Malé International Airport.
The Maldives was three hours behind her local time, so when she arrived, it was just after 6 a.m.
Once she collected her luggage, she stepped outside and saw a hotel staff member holding a sign for arriving guests. She walked over, showed her reservation, and waited with the others until everyone had arrived. Then they followed the staff out to a speedboat that would take them to the island.
After checking in, a staff member helped her carry her bags to the room.
She took a photo of the stunning ocean view and posted it on social media with a caption:
“I’ve finally made it to the place I dreamed of eight years ago.
Not long after she posted it, her phone rang. It was a call from Jane.
“}
“Did Zac finally have time to go on vacation with you?”
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