He smirked when he saw me sweeping outside his dream office tower. His fiancée laughed, called me pathetic, and he told me I didn’t belong there. What they didn’t know was that in thirty minutes, they would walk into a boardroom and learn the woman they mocked owned the entire building. By then, it was too late to take back a single word.

I lifted my head. “Hi, Ethan.”

Vanessa took off her sunglasses and looked me over slow. Uniform. Gloves. Practical shoes. Broom. She smiled.

“Oh my God,” she said. “It really is you.”

Ethan’s face went from shock to embarrassment to that old hard look he used whenever he thought contempt would save him.

Vanessa laughed. “I thought he was exaggerating when he said you came from nothing. But wow. Sweeping sidewalks? That’s rough.”

A few people nearby slowed down. They always do when cruelty sounds expensive.

Ethan straightened his jacket. “At least you’re working. Better than living off the past.”

I said nothing.

Vanessa crossed her arms. “If I were you, I’d never let an ex see me like this. After living in a penthouse? That kind of fall has to hurt.”

It should have hurt.

Five years earlier, it would have.

Now it just felt lazy.

Ethan stepped closer. “You should leave. This place isn’t for you.”

I looked at him. “You haven’t changed.”