Oops! I Ruined His Life Back - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

I glared at Jenna's tear-streaked face, my voice sharp as broken glass. "It was just a fling, Jenna. Get off my back already."
Her eyes went wide with shock before fresh tears spilled over. She weakly pounded my chest, her sobs coming harder now. "That's not what you said before! You told me you cared!"
"Enough!" I barked, my patience snapping like a twig.
"You really think I'd wreck my life for you? Marriage? With you?" I scoffed. "You came on to me, and sure, I didn't push you away—but don't rewrite history here. I never made you any promises. It was fun while it lasted, that's all."
Her crying stopped dead. She just stared at me like I'd slapped her—which, ironically, she actually did a second later. Her palm cracked against my cheek with surprising force.
"You're vile," she choked out between tears before wrenching the car door open and disappearing into the night.
I didn't chase her. Didn't even call after her. Just lit a cigarette with shaky hands and started dialing Sydney's friends, one after another. Same story every time—radio silence.
By the time I'd burned through half a pack, I was desperate enough to try her office again, dignity be damned.
The security guard cut me off at the entrance. "Looking for my wife," I said, shoving some paperwork with Sydney's name at him.
"Hasn't worked here in days," he said without even looking. "Save yourself the trip."
The drive home felt like a funeral procession. When I walked into that hollow, silent house, the truth finally gutted me:
I'd been a first-class idiot. When Sydney loved me, I treated her like an afterthought. Now that she was gone? Suddenly she was the only thing that mattered.
I turned the city inside out searching for her—our old coffee spot, that bookstore she loved, even the crappy dive bar where we'd had our first fight. Nothing. Just ghosts and unanswered calls that always ended with that robotic voice: "The number you are trying to reach—"
Each time, it hit like a sucker punch. Each time, I dialed again.
Sydney's POV:
Altherra might as well have been another planet.
Those first weeks were brutal—learning new systems, decoding office politics, fighting homesickness. But watching Gregory's branch flourish under my leadership? That made every struggle worth it.
I worked like a woman possessed. Early mornings, late nights, even brainstorming in the bathtub. No time to dwell on Charles when I was too busy chasing something better: real independence.
Within a month, we were turning heads. By six months? People were whispering my name in boardrooms. Gregory's praise meant more than any paycheck.
Occasionally, friends back home would mention Charles unprompted—how he'd lost it after I left, harassing everyone in my contacts. My squad stayed solid, though. They knew exactly why I'd vanished.
But Charles always did have a bloodhound's persistence.
One evening, drowning in tomorrow's agenda and unanswered emails, I stepped out of the office—and there he was.
Slumped on the curb by the parking lot, head in his hands. When he looked up, the world stopped.
All my hard-won peace trembled in that moment. His eyes—