He Stole My Win, So I Walked Away

"Jim, give me back the gold bracelet my parents left me."

I held out my hand to Jim and waited.

Tilda's hand went straight behind her back.

I let out a cold laugh. "What are you hiding? It isn't yours. How do you even have the nerve to wear it? That's a keepsake from my parents. Aren't you afraid they'll come for you in the night?"

That did it. Tilda started trembling.

She slid the bracelet off and tossed it to me, flustered. "I didn't know it was your parents'. Jim said he wanted to thank me, so he gave it to me."

Everyone in the room shot Jim a look of open contempt at that.

I knew that after this, his standing among our classmates would never be the same.

But that wasn't my problem anymore. I was done with him.

I picked up the bracelet and turned to leave.

Jim blocked my way. "Deidre, think this through. The second you walk out that door, there's really nothing left between us."

"Nothing would suit me fine."

Staying with someone who'd schemed against me like that, I honestly worried I might fall asleep one night and never wake up.

Back at the rental, I grabbed my things and went to my best friend's place.

She'd been telling me to move in with her for a while, but Jim couldn't cover the rent on his own, so I'd stayed with him.

From now on, I didn't have to accommodate anyone.

The lease happened to be up this month, so I told the landlord straight out that I was moving.

As for Jim, whether he stayed or not had nothing to do with me.

When I got to my friend's place and she heard the whole story start to finish, she was furious. She even wanted to go track Jim down in the middle of the night.

I managed to stop her.

"It's not worth it. We've already broken up. From now on I just won't have anything to do with him."

"But you put so much into that competition, and now you can't get into the Foxs. Don't you have to start job hunting again?"

She looked so worked up that I couldn't help smiling.

The truth was, I'd had a backup plan from the start.

If the Foxs were off the table now, then I'd go to my mentor.

"Don't worry. I've still got a card to play."

"Really?"

I had to promise her a few times over before she finally relaxed.

We talked for a long time that night.

And it wasn't until I was about to fall asleep that I realized actually breaking up with Jim wasn't such a big deal after all.

I didn't feel nearly as wretched as I'd expected.

I had no idea what Jim was up to. He kept texting me. At first he was demanding to know why I'd exposed him, and then, when I didn't respond, he switched to questions. 【You moved out?】

【Deidre, are you really breaking up with me?】

The last one came in a minute ago. Jim wrote: 【Dee, let's talk.】

There was no need for that.

I slept soundly, and the next day I packed up and went to see my mentor.

When he learned I was coming to join him, he couldn't have been happier.

Six months ago he'd invited me onto his team.

He and Lance had started a company together, and they were badly short on people.

But at the time Jim and I had already decided to enter the Fox design competition, so I'd turned my mentor down.

He'd thought it was a real shame.

But he'd also said, "Come find me anytime, all right?"

I never imagined that day would actually come.

Once my mentor and I had the details settled, I got in touch with Lance.

By the time everything was sorted out, it was already that afternoon.

When my best friend came to meet me for a meal, she happened to spot Jim and Tilda walking into a restaurant together.

The two of them were all over each other, and when someone pressed them, "Are you two together now?" they only smiled and said nothing.

My friend was so angry she wanted to march over and have it out with them, but I held her back.

"We've already broken up."

Jim saw me and my friend too.