The Price of Letting Go

I break up with my girlfriend the year her family goes bankrupt. Later, she's reborn from the ashes and makes a name for herself in the industry. She brings her new boyfriend when she attends an alumni reunion.Everyone mocks me. "Thaddeus, if you didn't choose to end things back then, half the Smith family's fortune would now be yours."Ophelia Smith sits amid the crowd, her gaze ice cold. "Is he even worthy of that?"Everyone knows I abandoned her when she was at her lowest. They can't help lamenting this. "You really should apologize to Ophelia, Thaddeus."I look at her silently. No one knows that I gave up the remainder of my life in exchange for her return to the top. All I'm getting in return for that sacrifice is a critical illness notice.