It took me three years to realize Charles was only making me fill in for someone else. That intense first love in my youth was nothing but a grand delusion.

I spent a while moping about it, then snapped to reality when I looked at my bank balance. That was when I discovered Charles hadn't come home that night. Normally, he never slept elsewhere. Even if he fooled around until dawn, he would still come back to sleep beside me.

I always felt annoyed, thinking he was ruining my rest. This time, he didn't come back, and I got madder.

Damn Charles for not even telling me he wasn't coming home. I waited all night for no reason.

Then, I realized it made sense. Charlotte was, after all, his true love. She wouldn't get the same treatment as other women.

I was happy about the peace and decided to get some sleep. While I was sleeping, I felt someone slide an arm around my waist. It was Charles.

"Honey, why didn't you wait for me tonight?"

He smelled strongly of booze, not fully conscious. He complained in a slurred voice as he nuzzled my neck from behind. Pretending to turn over, I shoved him off the bed. He hit the floor and just lay there, falling asleep.

I jumped out of bed and kicked him two times. Not wanting to share the same room, I moved to the couch in the living room instead.

His phone was on the table. A message popped up, like Pandora's box calling to me. I couldn't resist opening it. It was from Charlotte.

"Charles, I'm home. Thank you for seeing me off." There was only one page of chat history, apparently from earlier that night.

"Charlotte, don't listen to what they say. Chloe can't compare to you at all."

"I'm only messing around with her. You're the one I love most!"

Maybe his friends joked about my resemblance to Charlotte, and that made her unhappy. I scoffed at my own reflection on the phone's screen.

Charles, putting me down was just your way of flattering Charlotte, wasn't it? When Charles woke up sober, he went back to his aloof self. He had no intention of explaining the ten million dollars.

Seeing his calm, indifferent face, I was even less interested in poking around. Still, after thinking it over, I asked, "Why ten million this time?"

Maybe he'd say something honest.

"You've been with me long enough. That money's yours." He seemed nonchalant like he was swatting away some bothersome pet.

I was out of patience, so I cut to the chase. "It's because of Charlotte, right?"

He finally looked at me. "How do you know about her?"

"Doesn't matter. Since your true love is back, let's just break up. We can part on friendly terms."

"Stop joking around, Chloe. Charlotte and I are just friends."

"Friends? You mean the kind of friends who kiss each other?"

He stared at me for a few seconds, then chuckled. "So you're jealous. I only kissed her to help her out last night. Don't read too much into it."

I was beyond fed up. "Don't flatter yourself. I said I wanted to break up. Did you catch that?"

Something about that set Charles off. He shot to his feet. "Chloe, don't be ridiculous! Everything you have today is because I paid for it! You're living off me! If there's going to be a breakup, that's definitely not your call to make!"

I was completely stunned. So, this was how he defined our relationship.

Charles realized he'd said something wrong. He walked over and ruffled my hair. "Be good. Don't make a fuss. I was out of line just now."

After he finished talking, he didn't even care about how I felt. He grabbed his jacket and left. I sat on the couch, not understanding what was going through his head.

He'd clearly been in love with someone else all along, yet he still chose to be with me. Then, when I finally started to care about him, he turned around and went after other women. And now that his true love was back, I offered to leave, but he wouldn't even take that.

He didn't love me, but he wouldn't let me go. I thought about it for a while and couldn't figure out how his mind worked.

I guess I could only blame it on him being a jerk. He really thought he could have it all. Well, he might be a jerk, but I was dead set on leaving him for good.

After we parted on bad terms, Charles didn't contact me for a whole week. Without having to wait on him anymore, I suddenly had way too much free time.

I boxed up almost everything in the house and sent it to a resale shop. I didn't even leave the vases or decorations behind. The price they offered left me pretty satisfied.

Seeing the balance in my bank account go up again, all my gripes about Charles vanished.

Who would hate money, after all?

To ensure I could run off with my money without drawing suspicion, I decided to throw Charles a bit off.

I went on social media and posted a touched-up selfie. I deliberately darkened the shadows under my eyes to look even more like Charlotte.

Then, I wrote the caption, "I don't need a lot of money. I just want a lot of love."

That post seemed to please Charles. He messaged me, saying he'd come home that evening. After a week off, I felt a bit rusty getting back into this "job."

When Charles came back, he was shocked by what he saw. "Was the place robbed?"

The sprawling villa only had a few large items of furniture left. Everything else had been swept clean.

I went over and deftly helped him out of his suit jacket. "No. Looking at all that stuff was giving me a headache, so Mark took it away to sell them."

"Then go pick out new things. Charge it to my card."

I wrapped my arms around Charles' neck. "Have a drink with me tonight."

He was about to agree when his phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the screen and picked up immediately. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the caller's name. It was Charlotte.

"Chloe, something's come up at the company. I have to go take care of it."

I tugged on his hand. "Charles, can't you stay?"

"Don't mess around. This project's really important."

I didn't push it any further. Letting go, I looked at him for a long moment. "Alright, then. Be safe."

I admit I was being selfish. After all, he was once the person I had loved so deeply. I wanted to have a proper farewell at the end of our story.

But when it came down to choosing between me and Charlotte, I was the one he threw away. I looked around the house where I had spent three years. I didn't feel anything for it anymore.

Then, I got on a plane and left Hullston without looking back.