Grant discovered I was leaving three days before my flight.
Not because I told him.
Because Jiang Group received the official notice that my company was replacing me on the joint project.
At 9:17 that morning, my phone rang.
Grant.
I let it ring.
A minute later, another call.
Then another.
Finally, a message appeared.
“Where are you going?”
I stared at those four words.
Not Are you okay?
Not Can we talk?
Where are you going?
I turned my phone face down and continued packing.
Two hours later, someone knocked on my office door.
Grant walked in.
He wasn’t wearing his usual calm expression.
His tie was loosened, and for once, he looked like a man who had arrived somewhere without planning every word first.
My boss stood up.
“Mr. Jiang, do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
Grant’s eyes stayed on me.
“I need five minutes with Ava.”
I closed the folder in front of me.
“You have two.”
My boss glanced between us, sensed something unpleasant, and quietly left.
The door shut.
Grant immediately asked:
“New York?”
“Yes.”
“For two years?”
“Yes.”
“When were you planning to tell me?”
I almost laughed.
“When were you planning to tell me you were engaged?”
His expression darkened.
“Ava, I’ve already explained that.”
“No. You explained why the engagement was useful to you. You never explained why humiliating me was necessary.”
“I wasn’t humiliating you.”
“For eight years, nobody knew I existed.”
I looked directly at him.
“Victoria knew about the engagement before I did. Lily knew before I did. Half your family knew.”
I paused.
“I was supposedly the woman you loved, Grant.”
“And I found out from party photos.”
He was silent.
Then he placed something on my desk.
A velvet ring box.
I didn’t touch it.
“What is that?”
“I broke off the engagement.”
For several seconds, I simply stared at him.
Grant opened the box.
Inside was a diamond ring.
Not Victoria’s.
A different one.
“Ava, marry me.”
Eight years ago, those words would have destroyed every defense I had.
Five years ago, I would have cried.
Even a week earlier, perhaps some foolish part of me would have wanted to believe him.
Now I only felt tired.
“You ended your engagement?”
“Yes.”
“Because I’m leaving?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because I realized I was going to lose you.”
I smiled faintly.
“That’s not the romantic confession you think it is.”
“Ava—”
“You knew you could lose me every time you lied.”
I closed the ring box.
“You simply didn’t believe I would actually leave.”
Grant’s voice dropped.
“I can announce us today.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll tell my family everything. Lily too. Everyone.”
I shook my head.
“You’re eight years late.”
Something finally cracked in his composure.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
That answer seemed to hurt him more than anger would have.
“I don’t need you to fight your family anymore.”
“I don’t need a public announcement.”
“I don’t need the ring.”
I pushed the box back toward him.
“I needed those things when I still wanted a future with you.”
Grant stared at me.
“And now?”
“Now I want my flight.”
I walked toward the door.
His next sentence stopped me.
“Victoria knew about you.”
I turned slowly.
“What?”
Grant’s face was pale.
“She knew before the engagement.”
My fingers tightened around the door handle.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Last night, after I cancelled the engagement, she told me your name.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
Grant continued.
“She knew where you worked.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“She knew about the apartment.”
That was impossible.
Very few people knew that address.
Grant.
Me.
The landlord.
No one else.
“What exactly did she say?”
He hesitated.
Then pulled out his phone.
A message from Victoria.
I read it.
“Ending the engagement won’t bring Ava back. Especially after she discovers why you really kept her hidden for eight years.”
I looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Grant didn’t answer immediately.
And that silence was enough.
“You know.”
“No.”
“You know something.”
“Ava—”
“Tell me.”
He looked away.
For the first time since I’d met him, Grant Jiang seemed afraid of giving me the truth.
Finally, he said:
“Eight years ago, when we started dating, my grandfather called me into his office.”
My stomach tightened.
“He already knew about you.”
“How?”
Grant swallowed.
“Because your family name appeared in an old Jiang Group file.”
I frowned.
“My family has nothing to do with yours.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
He unlocked his phone and showed me a photograph of an old document.
Two names were visible.
JIANG GROUP.
And beneath it:
AVA HART FAMILY TRUST.
My breath caught.
Grant said quietly:
“My grandfather told me that if anyone in the Jiang family publicly married you, control of a block of company shares could legally transfer.”
I stared at him.
“Transfer to whom?”
His eyes met mine.
“To you.”
The room went completely silent.
Suddenly, eight years of secrecy looked different.
His family’s resistance.
The endless delays.
The promise that he would marry me only after gaining full control of the group.
It had never been merely about class.
Or timing.
Or protecting me.
I whispered:
“You knew?”
Grant stepped toward me.
“Not everything.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I knew there was a financial complication. I didn’t know the amount.”
My chest tightened.
“So while telling me to wait for you…”
I forced myself to finish.
“…you were also waiting until you could make sure marrying me wouldn’t cost you control of Jiang Group.”
“Ava, listen—”
I stepped back.
“No.”
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Lily.
A photograph appeared.
Victoria was standing inside the Jiang family residence.
Beside her was Grant’s grandfather.
And on the table between them sat the same old file Grant had just shown me.
Lily’s next message arrived immediately:
“Ava, something is wrong.”
Then another.
“My grandfather just asked where you are.”
And finally:
“He said you must not leave the country before midnight.”
I slowly raised my eyes toward Grant.
Because my flight was scheduled for 11:40 p.m.
And judging from his expression…
he already knew exactly why his family needed to stop me.
