Chapter 22
“Break up?”
Jeff and Rick, walking behind Zac, exchanged a stunned glance. They could both see the shock and disbelief in each other’s eyes.
For the past three years, Liz had clung to Zac like her life depended on it. She had bent over backward, swallowed her pride, and made herself small just to keep the relationship going. There was no way she would be the one to call it off.
Yet from the sound of it, she had been the one to initiate the breakup.
After all, just earlier at the bar, Zac hadn’t shown the slightest intention of ending things.
His face turned cold, his eyes burning with rage.
He had given her space to cool down. And this was what she came up with?
The anger ignited like a wildfire, consuming what little patience he had left.
“Liz Smith,” Zac said, his voice icy. “You’re really sure about this? I’m only going to ask you once. You’d better think it through before you answer.”
If she wanted to play hardball, he would play along. He wanted to see who would panic first when the wedding got postponed.
They had been together for eight years. Liz knew him well enough to recognize the fury in his eyes.
But his anger didn’t matter to her anymore.
“I thought I made myself clear the last time we talked,” she said calmly.
Zac stared her down, his tone dangerously steady. “Say it again. Right now. In front of everyone. Are you really breaking up with me?”
The room went dead silent.
Everyone seemed to hold their breath. The air grew heavy, thin, and hard to breathe.
Jane glanced at Liz, her expression tight. She had seen how hopelessly in love Liz had been for years. Liz had wrapped her whole world around Zac. She was terrified Liz would back down at the last second.
Jeff and Rick stared at Liz in stunned disbelief. Their emotions were all over the place.
They had watched Liz tolerate Zac’s behavior for three long years, forgiving him over and over no matter how badly he treated
her.
And now, just when Zac was finally ready to settle down and marry her, she was calling it quits?
Did she really understand what that meant? If they broke up now, Zac would never take her back.
She would be giving up the title of Mrs. Lincoln, the wife of a billionaire tech CEO. Was she really ready to walk away from all of that?
Liz met Zac’s icy stare. Her chest tightened, and her hands curled into fists at her sides.
She took a steady breath and spoke clearly, each word deliberate. “Yes. I’m sure. I want to break up with you.”
With every word, Zac’s expression darkened. By the time she finished, the atmosphere around him had become terrifyingly menacing.
The silence that followed was suffocating, stretching out longer than anyone could bear.
1/2
Then, finally-after what felt like forever-Zac broke the silence.
“Fine,” he said flatly.
“Just don’t come crawling back.”
He turned and walked out without looking back.
The moment the door closed behind him, the tension in the room seemed to melt away.
The two male escorts immediately felt the pressure lift. They both let out a quiet sigh of relief.
This was exactly the kind of situation they dreaded most-getting caught in someone else’s relationship drama.
They couldn’t offer advice, couldn’t add fuel to the fire, and definitely couldn’t back away without looking bad. No matter what they did, it would end poorly for them.
Jeff glanced back at Liz one last time before following Zac out.
Rick remained behind, looking at Liz with a conflicted expression. “Liz, you might’ve gone too far this time. I don’t think there’s any undoing this.”
He still remembered how much Liz had sacrificed during the early days of Zac’s startup.
So when Zac cheated on her with Xena after his company took off, Rick had understood why Liz didn’t want to let go. He had even felt sorry for her.
But this time, she was really going too far.
Calling for a breakup in front of two male escorts and Zac’s closest friends? With Zac’s pride, he might really cancel the wedding just to prove a point.
Liz looked at him calmly.
“You’re Zac’s friend. You’ve seen everything he’s done to me over the past three years. And now I just want to end things-and that’s too much?”
2/2
