[ Claire ]It wasn’t ethical to ask Alicia about her past link with my husband but I don’t want any kind of danger on him and it wasn’t wrong because I can’t trust Alicia.“What do you want to know, Mrs. Pierce?” She blinked her eyes innocently at me.“Please, drop the formalities now. You can call me Claire.” I said as I am still not habitual being addressed as Mrs. Pierce.“Then stop calling me Mrs. Bale, it feels more like an abuse. I hadn’t adopted Ryan’s surname, one of the many baseless reasons he hated me for.” She told me with hint of sadness.“You’re safe now. You can start your life fresh with your son. It will be challenging and not easy at all but I am sure you’ll overcome.” I said to lift up her courage.“I don’t think, Claire. He has given me deep wounds which I don’t think would heal easily. He is a monster who will chase me to the end of the earth if he won’t be sentenced for his sins.” She said.“He will, he must pay for his crimes. I and Tristan won’t leave him easil
[ Tristan ]I promised Alicia and Claire that I’d fix everything but it’s not as easy as I thought. I received a call from the hospital where Harris was admitted. They told me that he passed away in the midnight but I had pretty doubts, it couldn’t be possible since he was recovering and his reports were normal.To find out what actually happened, I called Mr. Lee to do it for me since I wasn’t allowed to meet the convict of a murder case. The evening rolled on but I hadn’t received anything from Mr. Lee which was making me anxious with passing moments. I hadn’t told Claire about her father yet.“Sir, Mr. Lee is here. Should I send him inside?” My P.A. asked me through the intercom.“Yes.” I said and sat straight to meet my detective, I was having knots in my stomach. I was angry on my fate. I wanted to punish Harris but his death was quick and painless. How could he die so peacefully after ruining many lives?I was busy cursing my fate when the door opened again and Mr. Lee walked in
[ Tristan ]“Are you sure that your sister isn’t playing a trick this time?” I asked Caleb who was frantically yelling on the phone for last one hour.He turned around only to give me a frustrated look, I might offend him but Mia Jones is no less than a spoiled kid who throws fits to gain her family’s attention.“Mia’s phone is found beside the road in a broken condition. No one knows my sister better than I do. She is obsessed her phone and the only time she keeps her phone when she sleeps.” He said.I glanced at my watch, it showed around six. I should be heading back to my home but I couldn’t leave Caleb alone, he was dealing with everything alone and being his friend, it was my duty to help him.“Alright, please calm down. We can look for her with the help of police also. I know they haven’t helped us much in our previous matters but if her life is actually in some kind of risk, then it’s better if we inform the police.” I advised him and it was the most sensible thing to do.“You
[ Claire ]When Tristan came back, it was around ten in the night. Luckily, he was home just before heavy rainfall hit the city. He looked really depressed and it pained me to see him dealing with a lot all alone. I wish I could support him actively but he strictly told me to stay home and recover.“Hey, looking tired. Please, go and change, I’ll serve you the dinner.’ I said to him softly but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a hug. A smiled crept on my lips and I wrapped my arms around him.“Just stay like this for a minute. I need you close to me.” He murmured in the crook of my neck.“I am always here, Tristan.” It came out of my mouth on its own.“I know and you have no idea how much relief I am feeling right now, your words mean a lot.” He said breaking the hug but I was still in his arms and our closeness was making me giddy.“I am not hungry, my love but I will have a cup of strong coffee. I’ll make it myself, you don’t need to stress yourself.” He said giving a pat on my
[ Claire ]I stayed awake most of the time until the effect of medicines kicked in. My mind couldn’t find peace. My thoughts kept running back to my dysfunctional family. Harris died, my brother is torn between is own dreams and handling a disrupted family. Mia, who also wants to see me dead, is missing. I don’t care about her but she is pregnant and I don’t envy her child.“Hey, why are you standing here? You may catch cold.” I heard Tristan’s groggy morning voice but it sounded sexy. He wrapped my shawl around me and hugged me from behind as I stood in the balcony, the heavy pour turned into soft drizzles but temperature fell drastically.“Good morning.” I wished him, I didn’t want to sour his mood first thing in the morning.“Good morning, beautiful. I am thinking to skip office today. What do you say?” He inhaled my hairs.“Sounds like a good idea. I am also planning to escape office for a day but I want only three of us to spend the day together.” I said turning to face.His smil
[ Claire ]“Claire.”My brother pulled me into a tight hug, I was frozen, it was the first time my brother showed such affectionate gesture and a hug was out of the blue.“Caleb, how are you doing?” I asked him somehow when I recovered from the shock.He broke the hug, his eyes looked sad, “I don’t know, to be honest. Being a part of this dysfunctional family is a curse, Claire. No matter how far I run from home and try to leave my past behind. It will forever haunt me.” He said. I didn’t know how to comfort him. We were never close and our last memory was very bitter.“Let’s find Mia and then we’ll see how we fix this twisted family. I can’t believe how Mia fall for a guy like Ryan or her driver. We need to find him, I am sure he knows something.” I said with a shake of my head.“Since when you started caring for our sister?” He narrowed his eyes.“I don’t care about her, Caleb. I am not the same Claire and I have no feelings for either her and our mother because they gave me no rea
[ Claire ]“You can’t be serious?” I fired at my husband as soon as I came out of the restaurant where we met Caleb for a late lunch. Travis was inside the car.“Yes, I am serious, Claire. Do you really think I’d take you with us? I won’t be making the same mistake again.” He flatly denied my request to join him.I blinked my eyes at him because his tone reflected authority which he never used on me.“Now, get inside the car. I have to drop you two home safely so I can come back on time and help Caleb to find your sister.” He said opening the backseat of the car for me.“I am coming with you and that’s final. You may not believe me but I can be a great help since I have known my sister and her behaviour much better than any other person.” I said with confidence but it didn’t work on him.“Please, get in the car, we’re leaving.” He said again and I breathed out in frustration. Why was he acting so stubborn?“What is the guarantee that I will be safe in our house? I don’t trust your fri
[ Claire ] “Mr. Pierce, he quit his job a week ago and since then I have no idea where is he?” The hotel manager told us when we went to the hotel in search of Mia’s driver.“Thank you, sorry to trouble you during your working hours.” Tristan shook his hand with the hotel manager. We were disappointed since we only received failure for last two hours.“I am going to kill him with my bare hands.” Caleb groaned in frustration. I could understand. He was dealing with everything alone.“Let’s search his apartment. Maybe, we’ll find something there.” I suggested and their neck craned in my direction.“Are you out of your mind? If someone catches us, we’ll be labelled as thieves or worse as criminals. Do you really want to do this?” Tristan gave me a disbelief look.“Do you have any better idea?” I gave him a challenging look.“Let’s not fight among ourselves guys. If this fucking bastard is really a criminal then Mia’s life is in danger.” Caleb said to calm us down.“Tristan, I know it’s