Chapter 43
The private room was filled with laughter, but Terrence remained unmoved. His cold gaze swept across the people speaking so casually about Valerie, as if they truly understood her.
Playing hard to get?
Deliberately returning to Washington, D.C.?
His jaw tightened.
These people still thought Valerie was the same as before—the woman who would do anything for him, who followed him like a shadow.
But Terrence knew better.
The woman who had stood before the City Hall, smiling as she handed over her ID card, was not the Valerie he used to know.
She had changed.
And it unsettled him.
Malcolm, sensing the shift in Terrence’s mood, smirked. “Terrence, are you really going to just let her go? I heard that after you took her away from the City Hall, she ended up in the hospital. But after that… she left. Just like that.”
A vein pulsed in Terrence’s temple.
Yes, she had left.
Without hesitation. Without looking back.
For years, he had been used to Valerie being by his side, no matter what he did, no matter how he treated her.
She never gave up.
But now… she had left so cleanly, so decisively, that it left a hollow ache in his chest.
“Mr. Crawford,” someone else chimed in, “I think Malcolm’s right. Women like to be chased too. Maybe you should—”
Crash!
Terrence’s glass shattered against the table, sending shards flying.
The room fell into silence.
Terrence’s gaze was ice.
“Enough,” he said, his voice dangerously low.
The tension in the air was suffocating.
Without another word, Terrence stood up, straightened his suit, and strode toward the door.
Malcolm called out behind him, “Where are you going?”
Terrence didn’t stop.
“Washington, D.C.”
And with that, he disappeared from the room.
