The Promise He Never Remembered Chapter 09

The Promise He Never Remembered Chapter 09

Ethan Carter’s POV 

The next day, I walked into the company in a fog. I 

hadn’t slept all night.. 

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Clara in that dark green gown standing among those men, and heard her say, “The court has approved the 

divorce.” I tossed and turned, thinking about when she had filed the papers, when she had hired a lawyer, what else she had hidden from me. 

I even thought about going to find her. But what would I do if I found her? She blocked my number, hung up the video call without another word, 

wouldn’t even say an extra sentence to me. 

I pushed open the office door and froze. 

On my desk was a pile of bills, invoices, reimbursement forms, neatly stacked, but each stack was as high as a small hill. When I left, there 

was nothing. Where did all this come from? 

“Mr. Carter…” 

Chloe’s voice came from the doorway, laced with 

fear. I turned around and saw her standing there 

holding a cup of coffee, her eyes red and swollen, 

her face still showing the leftover fear from last 

night’s slap. 

“What is all this?” I pointed at the papers on the desk, my voice low and dangerous. 

She hurried over, put down the coffee, and fumbled to sort through the bills, stammering: 

“Th–these are all end–of–month things… supplier. 

payments, project costs, and final payment. 

checks for a few clients… Clara left right at month–end. She used to handle all this, and I, I…” 

“You what?” I stared at her. 

“I’m not very good at it…” Her voice grew softer. 

“Clara did all this by herself. I never touched it.” 

My head pounded. 

“What about the others? The finance department? The assistant team?” I gritted my teeth. 

Chloe kept her head down, her voice almost not heard: “I asked them… they said Clara always handled these things alone. They only write down 

” 

the accounts; they don’t do the matching. And several clients have special payment terms that only Clara knew how to do…” 

I stood up quickly, my chair sliding back and hitting the wall with a loud bang. 

“So what you’re saying is-” I said each word slowly, venom in every syllable. “A company this 

big, all these people, without Clara, can’t even 

balance the goddamn books?” 

Chloe jumped, her shoulders pulling in. Tears filled 

her eyes again. She shook her head wildly, then 

nodded, and finally couldn’t say anything at all. 

I took a deep breath, walked to the desk, picked up 

a bill at random, and flipped through a couple of 

pages. The notes were thick, every transaction 

written clearly–project, date, payment method, 

contact person–all in Clara’s neat handwriting. 

I flipped through several more. Every one was the same. Some projects I didn’t even remember, but 

⚫ she remembered, remembered every detail, every 

step. 

I threw the bills back on the desk and rubbed my 

head. 

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, cold 

and sharp: 

All those times I could mess around with Chloe in the office, take her out to dinner, ride the Ferris wheel, joke in the break room, and comfortably leave everything at home and at the company aside–it wasn’t because I was so good. It was because Clara was there. 

She carried everything. Company accounts, project negotiations, client care, household expenses, childcare… even my coffee was made and brought to my desk by her, every single 

morning. I only needed to show up where I was supposed to be, sign a few papers, say a few words. She did everything else. 

And I thought it was what I deserved. I thought the company would run fine without her. I thought she was just an insignificant assistant who didn’t. 

matter. 

“Mr. Carter…” Chloe said carefully, her tone trying to please: “Don’t be angry. I’ll, I’ll learn slowly. I can definitely learn…” 

I turned to look at her. She stood there, her 

makeup still perfect, her dress still pretty, but her 

eyes were full of panic and guilt. She couldn’t even 

do one report right, couldn’t keep one client. How 

could she compare to Clara? 

“You’ll learn?” I gave a cold laugh. “What good will 

it do when you learn? By the time you learn, the 

company might not even be here anymore.” 

Her face went white. 

I ignored her, picked up my phone, and scrolled 

through my contacts again and again, trying to 

find a way to reach Clara. But her number was 

blocked, her socials were gone, her desk was 

empty. I couldn’t even find a trace of her. 

Suddenly, my chest felt tight, like I couldn’t 

breathe.