After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage novel Chapter 83

Gloria hung up the phone, quickly wiped her tears away, and grabbed her passport. The moment she opened her door, she walked straight into Elijah.

Her eyes instantly locked onto the trail of hickeys down his neck. Even though she'd mentally prepared herself for what Elijah and Jenna had done, she still had to look away.

He caught her subtle flinch and noticed her puffy eyes. His voice turned ice-cold. "Let's get one thing straight, Gloria. Jenna and I are together now, whether you like it or not."

"I'm going to marry her. As long as you're staying here, you need to show her respect. Cut out all that schoolgirl crush bullshit from before."

Gloria kept her eyes down. "I understand... Mr. Phillips."

The formal address caught him off guard. He studied her face intently, trying to remember the last time she'd called him that.

When she'd first moved in, she'd always used "Mr. Phillips" so properly. Then, after falling for him, she'd insisted on just "Elijah," refusing any hint of formality between them.

He started to say something, but Jenna's voice cut through the tension.

"Babe, my stuff's here. Which room should I take?"

Elijah spun around, pulling Jenna into his arms. "You always complain about needing natural light. Gloria's room faces south—best sunlight in the house. She can move to the guest room. The master suite's yours."

A smug smile played at Jenna's lips, though her voice dripped fake concern. "Oh, I couldn't... I mean, I'm the newcomer here. Maybe I should take the guest room instead?"

She made a show of heading downstairs but squealed when Elijah pulled her back against his chest. "Baby, you're going to be my wife—the lady of this house. No way you're staying in the guest room."

"But Gloria's had that room forever. Won't it be weird for her?"

Elijah shot Gloria a cold look. "She'll deal with it. She needs to accept that I'm getting married, this house has a new mistress, and she's just a houseguest."

If Jenna so much as glanced at a Cartier window, the jewelry would appear in her hands within the hour.

Gloria watched it all without a word.

While waiting for her immigration papers to clear, she started packing her life away. After sorting through her regular stuff, she gathered all her old love letters to Elijah and her sketchbooks full of his face into a box, heading out to trash them.

At the door, she literally bumped into Elijah, coming back with Jenna's favorite macarons from that fancy patisserie she loved.

Gloria tried to brush past him like he was invisible.

His hand shot out, grabbing her wrist hard enough to hurt.

"Been dodging me, haven't you?"