Ten Moves Later, I Realized He Never Wanted to Lose Her

For three years, I moved ten times with my boyfriend, Ethan Rivers. All because of the ex-girlfriend he could never seem to shake, Sienna Blake. Every time we moved into a new apartment, she found us almost immediately. Twice, she even walked straight into our home without permission. The first time, she snuck in and cut my wedding dress to pieces, forcing us to postpone the wedding. The second time, I woke up in the middle of the night and found her standing beside my bed. I was so terrified that I miscarried. More than once, I'd asked Ethan to get a restraining order. Every time, he refused. "She's not dangerous," he'd say. "She just needs help." So we moved. Again. And again. And today, Sienna Blake entered our apartment for the third time. Ethan finally lost his patience and called the police. The two of them argued all the way to the station. I followed behind, staring at a Reddit post that had just popped up on my phone. I recognized the poster immediately. It was Sienna. [My first love has moved ten times trying to avoid me, but my fingerprint has always stayed registered on the smart locks at every apartment. Every time he moves, he also has our mutual friends leak his new address to me.] [He obviously still loves me, but he got engaged to his current girlfriend anyway.] [Do you guys think I still have a chance if I'm brave enough to go after him now?] Almost everyone in the comments told her not to wreck someone else's relationship. Only one person encouraged her to fight for true love. The profile picture looked familiar, and my stomach churned. It was Ethan's alt account— the one he'd created when he was looking up the marriage license process for us. I looked up at the two figures walking ahead of me, so close their shoulders almost touched. My entire body started shaking. I left a reply of my own: "Of course." Three years. Ten moves. It turned out Ethan hadn't been unable to escape her. He'd never wanted to. So I was done being the fool in someone else's love story. Ethan, I'm leaving you. For good. ... Inside an interview room at the police station, Sienna's voice was barely audible. "I didn't mean to..." "I got off work late, and someone kept following me. I was terrified. That's why I went to your apartment." There was a police station right downstairs from our building, yet somehow she'd decided our apartment was the safest place to run. It was obviously just an excuse. The officer handling the incident looked over his notes, then raised his eyes to Ethan. "Let me make sure I understand this. Her fingerprint still works on your smart lock?" Ethan went silent for a second. "Yes." The officer frowned. "And you never revoked her access?" Ethan didn't answer. A chill spread through my chest. The officer looked between the three of us, his impatience becoming obvious. "If she still had authorized access to the unit, I can't treat this like a straightforward break-in." He set down his pen. "If you don't want her coming back, revoke her access. Tell your building management in writing that she's no longer authorized to enter the unit." He paused and looked at Ethan again. "And make it clear to her now that she is not welcome back." Silence filled the room. Finally, Ethan turned to Sienna, his expression dark. "If someone's following you, go to the police." "Don't come to me again. I don't want anything to do with you anymore." His words were cold, but his eyes lingered on her. He looked away quickly, but my heart had already sunk. I'd been with Ethan for three years. I knew him. He'd been checking whether Sienna was hurt. He was worried about her. The officer seemed to notice it, too. His expression grew even more impatient. "This is a police station, not couples' therapy." He tipped his chin toward Ethan. "If you want her out of your life, then act like it. Revoke her access and stop giving her a way back in." Ethan frowned. But he didn't argue. He didn't agree to do it, either. Suddenly, I almost wanted to laugh. A complete stranger had figured out in five minutes what had taken me three years to understand. The person Ethan truly loved had never been me. It was Sienna. The officer turned to me. "If you want this incident documented, I can add your statement to the report." "If she enters your apartment again, especially after her access has been explicitly revoked, call us." I nodded. "Yes. I want it documented." Ethan finally turned to me. He frowned immediately. "Grace." I ignored him. "I want it on record that she came into our home without my permission." Sienna's face went pale. "Grace, I told you, I was being followed. I didn't know where else to go." I looked at her. I said nothing. Forgive her. Make peace. Pretend none of it had ever happened. I'd played that part in their little routine too many times. I was tired. Genuinely, bone-deep tired. Ethan's voice dropped. "Nothing even happened tonight. Why are you trying to turn this into something bigger than it is?" I laughed softly. Nothing happened? He called having our wedding postponed over and over again "nothing." He called the miscarriage I'd suffered after she terrified me in my own home "nothing." And now Sienna had shown up inside our home for the third time, and he still thought— Nothing happened. "She's your first love, not mine." "Why she was followed, why she was scared, and why she just had to run to our apartment have nothing to do with me." I looked at the officer. "Please put it in the report." "Cut it out, Grace." Ethan's expression turned completely cold. "We'll talk about this at home. Don't make a scene in front of strangers." I turned to him, my voice calm. "I'm not the one embarrassing myself in front of everyone." His frown deepened. "She already explained herself. Someone was following her, and she panicked, so she came to us. Why do you have to keep dragging this out?" There it was again. Every single time, Ethan found an excuse for Sienna. On my birthday, Sienna broke into our home and smashed my cake. My mother's blood pressure shot up so badly that she had to be rushed to the ER that night. Ethan told me that as long as Mom pulled through, everything was fine and I shouldn't dwell on it. The night before our City Hall appointment, Sienna called Ethan sobbing and claimed she'd swallowed a bottle of pills. Ethan rushed out in the middle of the night and took her to the ER. The next morning, he told me, "Sienna's not doing well. We can't go today." He said we could always reschedule our marriage license appointment. We could go another time. And now the excuse was that she'd been followed and had nowhere else to go. When I still insisted on having the incident officially documented, Ethan grabbed my wrist and lowered his voice. "Well, I know you're upset about the honeymoon being ruined. Once I finish this project, I'll make time to take you on another one, okay?" "Enough, Grace." That was what he always did. He'd choose Sienna over me without hesitation, then buy me something afterward and act like that made everything okay. I used to think everything would be fine if Sienna simply stopped finding us. She was the problem. Not us. Sienna was obsessive. But now I finally understood. If Ethan truly hadn't wanted her to find us, all he'd had to do was delete one fingerprint. All he'd had to do was tell building management she wasn't authorized to enter our apartment. All he'd had to do was genuinely tell her one word. No. But in three whole years, he'd never managed to do it once. I looked at Ethan standing there, instinctively positioning himself between Sienna and me. I couldn't lie to myself anymore. Slowly, I pulled my hand free from his grip. "Ethan, let's break up."

"Trying to play mind games with me? Not going to work." His expression hardened. "I'm busy. I don't have time for this." He lowered his voice. "Tell the officer you don't want to take this any further." I stared at him. Even now, what mattered most to him was whether this would cause trouble for Sienna. "No." "I want it documented." That finally made him look at me. "You're serious?" I met his gaze calmly. "Of course I'm serious." "And I was serious when I said we're breaking up." Right on cue, Sienna's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Please don't fight because of me." "This has nothing to do with you." Ethan's voice was cold. Yet somehow, those words made me look like the unreasonable one. He turned to the officer. "She was scared. She came to us because she thought someone was following her. Nobody got hurt." The officer glanced at him. "That's your statement. She's entitled to give hers." Ethan's expression visibly darkened. Then his eyes dropped to my stomach. "You won't break up with me." "You can't let go of this relationship." "And you won't let our child be born into a broken home." He sounded completely certain. "Stop making things difficult for Sienna." "You grew up without a father yourself. You know better than anyone how hard that kind of life is." My hands clenched into fists. I'd only ever told him about that. Back then, his eyes had filled with pain for me. He'd held me and promised he'd never make me suffer that kind of hurt again. Now he was using my pain—and our child's future—to force me to let Sienna off the hook yet again. Suddenly, I didn't have the strength to argue with him anymore. "You're right." "My child can't be born into a broken home." Ethan thought I'd finally given in. His expression visibly softened. "I'm glad you understand." He turned to the officer. "Can we just leave now?" The officer looked at me. "Ma'am, do you still want your statement included in the incident report?" I swallowed hard. "No." Ethan looked at me again, convinced I'd finally backed down. His tone softened. "We'll go to City Hall the day after tomorrow like we planned." "That designer you like just released a new necklace. I already had someone buy it for you. Consider it my way of making this up to you." I didn't remind him that our home was already overflowing with gifts he'd bought to "make things up to me." I didn't remind him that he'd already given me a necklace three days ago because of something else Sienna had done. And I certainly didn't remind him of one other thing. Marriage wasn't the only way to make sure my child wasn't born into a broken home. There was another way. I could end the pregnancy. Silently, I took out my phone and scheduled the procedure on a clinic's website. I picked up my bag and left the police station. Just as we reached the entrance, a stray dog suddenly burst out of the bushes, barking wildly as it charged toward us. Instinctively, I reached for Ethan's sleeve. My hand caught nothing. By the time security chased the dog away and I collected myself, I saw Ethan holding Sienna in his arms, gently comforting her. "After all these years, you're still afraid of dogs?" The summer breeze should have felt warm. Instead, a chill went through me. Sienna had invaded our lives again and again, but I'd still believed Ethan loved me most. I'd believed what we'd had for the past three years was real. The sight in front of me felt like a slap across the face. Sienna glanced at me from the corner of her eye. Her smile widened. "Is anyone else afraid of dogs?" Ethan finally looked back at me. "If you're scared, why didn't you get behind me? Don't stand so far away next time." He frowned at me. I knew what he was waiting for. He expected me to demand to know why his first instinct had been to protect Sienna. The old me would have. But now, I simply shook my head. "There won't be a next time." Ethan clearly hadn't expected that. His voice softened. "Don't say things you don't mean. Come here." I didn't move. He frowned and, for once, walked toward me first. But I didn't smile and slip my arm through his like I always did. I stepped back instead, deliberately putting distance between us. Ethan's hand froze in midair for a second. Before he could speak, Sienna grabbed his sleeve. "Your first reaction says it all." "You obviously still love me. Why won't you get back together with me?" The familiar argument erupted again. Ethan didn't even notice how pale I'd gone. He gave her a cold laugh. "Maybe you should've thought about that before you dumped me. I'm engaged now." I watched them and smiled bitterly. So that's what it was. He said he hated Sienna. But what he really hated was that she'd been the one to leave him. Sienna cried even harder. "So what if you're engaged?" "If you're really over me, why won't you wear matching rings with her?" She yanked up his hand and shoved the ring on his finger in front of his face. "Then why are you wearing our matching rings with her?" I froze in place. Ethan had always told me he hated rings because they made him feel trapped. So when I'd found a pair of rings in his pocket that day, I'd thought he'd finally learned to compromise. I'd slipped one onto my finger, thrilled, then taken his hand and put the other one on him. I still remembered the look in his eyes. Shock. Something complicated. Now I understood. Those rings had never belonged to me. I took mine off, turned around, and placed it in Sienna's palm. "Since you two are obviously still so in love, I hope you get back together soon." His jaw tightened. "Don't be ridiculous." I smiled at him. "I really do mean it." Silence fell for a moment. Ethan stared at me, his brow tightening before slowly relaxing again. "We're going to City Hall the day after tomorrow. Can you not do this right now?"

I didn't answer. By the time I left the station, the sun was already up. Exhausted, I dragged myself into work, only to find that my employee badge wouldn't open my office door. I frowned and tried several more times. The cold red light flashed again and again. My coworker Sophie walked over cautiously. "Grace, stop trying." "Mr. Rivers revoked your access. He said a new employee is starting soon and she'll be taking over your position." I stood there, my mind going blank. "A new employee?" Sophie looked furious on my behalf. "Yeah. She was hired without going through any of the normal hiring process." "She has no relevant experience, and she doesn't even have the required qualifications. She doesn't meet Rivers Corp's hiring standards at all." "But Mr. Rivers personally hired her and put her straight into your position as Executive Assistant." I already knew. Still, I asked. "What's her name?" "Sienna Blake." I finally released the employee badge I'd been gripping. A chill ran through me. Ethan had bought me this office after receiving payment from his very first client. Over the years, Rivers Corp expanded dramatically, eventually taking over the entire building. But he'd always kept the office with the best view for me. He'd told me there would always be a place for me, both at home and at the company. Apparently, "always" lasted three years. When I handed Ethan my resignation letter, he didn't even look up. "Over an office?" I said nothing. He looked perfectly calm. "Sienna's been working as a bartender at a nightclub. Someone followed her home last night. She needs a stable, respectable job." "So I'm supposed to give her everything?" His tone hardened. "Do you have to put it that way?" "If she has a stable job, she won't have an excuse to bother us anymore. I'm solving the problem." As if saying he was "solving the problem" erased everything I'd endured because of Sienna over the last three years. Because of her, we'd postponed our wedding several times. I'd lost a baby. And now, because of her, I was losing my job. Before last night, I might have believed Ethan when he said he was trying to solve the problem. But now I knew better. Sienna would always have another problem that needed solving. And Ethan had never truly wanted her gone. I was the one who'd been in the way all along. I pushed my resignation letter farther across his desk. "I'm solving the problem, too." Ethan finally looked away from his screen and stared at me for several seconds. "Don't bring your personal emotions into work." He dropped my resignation letter into the shredder. His tone remained indifferent. "I can't keep letting this kind of behavior slide. I'll pretend I didn't hear you resign this time. But if it happens again—if you start a fight with me over something this trivial—" He paused. "I may have to reconsider whether this relationship is worth continuing." I told myself I wouldn't let his words get to me anymore. But hearing that, the words still hurt. When I didn't respond, Ethan's expression softened. His tone became almost condescending. "Enough. After we go to City Hall tomorrow, we'll move." "This time, I won't let her bother us again. Okay?" I said nothing. I simply turned and walked away. Behind me, I heard Ethan quietly instruct his assistant. "Make sure the new apartment is set up properly. Decorate it the way Grace likes." Sophie asked the usual question. "Should we keep Ms. Blake's fingerprint registered on the smart lock this time?" My steps faltered. Two seconds of silence. Then Ethan answered evenly. "We'll see." We'll see. Not "no." Not "of course not." Just—"We'll see." That told me everything I needed to know. Sienna had always been the one he truly wanted. I drew a deep breath, fought back my tears, and kept walking.