[Six Months Ago]
After seeing off her husband at the airport for a two-days business trip, when a woman named Susan Green returned to her apartment, she barely kicked off her shoes and filled herself with a glass of water when a knock on the door arrived.
Unsure of who it might be at the lunch hour, she opened the door only to find no one outside.
Susan frowned. She was pretty sure she had heard the knock. Not once. Not twice. But thrice. Someone had knocked at the door thrice. Wondering if the kids in the building had once again picked up the bad habit of annoying the random neighbours, she closed the door and locked it.
However, just when she hoped to get back to the kitchen counter and grab herself a glass of water, her gaze fell on the yellow manila envelope on the floor. It looked like someone had slipped it inside from under the door
Claire knew she had gone too far. She knew what came out of her mouth was bound to fuck everything up. Even more than her situation already was. Vince would hate her. He didn’t have to spell it out for her to know she was only worsening her impression in his eyes.What other choice did she have, though?She was running out of not only time, but also options. Patience was her least remarkable character trait, after all. And when it came to Vincent, her patience grew even thinner. So much time she had already wasted in coming to her senses that now every second she had to stay away from him felt like a stab of the knife straight to her heart.Perhaps that was the reason that when Ajax dismissed her and she was led out of the study by a maid, she wasn’t surprised—or let out even a squeak in protest—when Vincent grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the closest empty room.
“Not to me, but to yourself.” Stepping away, he yanked her hands away from his shirt. “You always tell yourself these sweet lies and find comfort in them, Claire. You think you’ve changed, but you’re still the same.” Turning on his heels, he ran a hand through his hair. Frustrated.“Vincent…”“This time you went too far, Claire. Too far. You dragged my family into this. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive you for misleading them with your fucked-up lies.”“Don’t say that, Vince. I did this for you. For us.”“Stop it, Claire!” He snapped, wanting nothing more than to yank his hair out. “Just stop it!”Rushing to him, she hugged him from behind. More tears flowed through her red-rimmed eyes. “I know what I did
Disclaimer: This book contains content that may be triggering or sensitive to some readers. Please be aware that it addresses topics such as violence, sexual assault, mental health struggles. Reader discretion is advised.* * *The glittering rays of the sun sneaked through the flimsy curtains and fell on the beautiful face of Noémie Rochester. Her closed eyes fluttered at the harsh intrusion of the warm light while an uncomfortable sensation crawled up her stomach, making her wince slightly in her sleep and turn to the other side.She rubbed her temples as a soft ache began to pound in her head, and a pungent smell of alcohol assaulted her nostrils.Noémie tried to breathe through the thick musky scent enveloping the air around her, but something felt oddly amiss. Something felt… wrong.Not to mention, she was freezing. The air conditioning in the room had dropped the temperature far too low for her comfort, sending a shiver down her spine.Tugging the warm sheets closer to her body,
[Two Months Later]“Are you absolutely sure?” Noémie asked in disbelief, her eyes widening as she heard the unexpected words from the woman in the white lab coat seated across the desk. “Maybe we should double-check. What if there’s been a mistake? Slip-ups can happen, right?”The doctor responded with a polite smile, which both comforted and unsettled Noémie. “You seem surprised,” the doctor remarked. “Don’t you want to proceed?”“No, it’s not that,” Noémie muttered, releasing a sigh and nervously biting her lower lip while rubbing her arms. It wasn’t because the room had gotten colder due to the air conditioning; she simply needed something to occupy her hands. Besides, it had a calming effect.She realized that she desperately needed that calmness, considering how her heart was pounding erratically. She was overwhelmingly frightened.“It’s just…” Now, how could she possibly explain this?Two months ago, she woke up in her boss’s bed and immediately took drastic measures to distance
Later that day, when Noémie arrived at her apartment, she had just managed to unlock the door when she heard a door slam down the hallway.“Hey, Rochester!” a guy’s voice called out from behind her, snapping her out of her daze. “Well, well, look who it is. Speaking of which—is it true? Does your boss think ‘day off’ is a myth, or are you just his favorite workaholic experiment?”Noémie fought back a smile as she turned to face Gaël Marchant. He was a good-looking pilot who lived on the same floor and owned the most stunning car in the entire building. He was quite proud of it, even though he could easily afford a much fancier place. At first, Noémie had tried to understand his reasoning, but with so much happening in her own life, she eventually gave up."If I say yes, will that make you feel better?" she replied with a smile, brushing her hair back and discreetly tucking the file she was carrying behind her back. For some reason, she didn’t want him to see it. Maybe she was afraid h
Later that evening, Mrs. Colbert showed up, inviting Noémie to a birthday party. However, Noémie politely declined, not in the mood for festivities. Pretending to enjoy herself felt far too exhausting for her weary mind.Fortunately, Mrs. Colbert didn’t seem offended. Instead, she encouraged Noémie to reach out if she ever needed anything. At that moment, tears welled up in Noémie’s eyes. She became unexpectedly emotional, struggling to hold back the tears that flushed her face a deep red.Mrs. Colbert must have sensed something. Later, she returned from the party with a slice of cake for Noémie. The thoughtful gesture touched her deeply.That night, Noémie couldn’t sleep. She scrolled endlessly through her phone, debating whether or not to call her sister.Claudia was the only person she could truly rely on in moments like these. Noémie desperately needed someone to confide in, someone to help her release the pent-up anxiety and frustration inside her. There was so much she wanted to
Ajax barely caught a glimpse of contrasting colors—white and black—before he propped himself up on one elbow, his bleary eyes fixing on the door.He blinked several times, attempting to clear his vision, but the harder he tried to focus, the more the pounding in his head intensified. How much had he consumed last night? He couldn’t recall. Every muscle in his body ached as though he’d spent the entire night running a marathon.Swinging his legs off the bed, he winced as the icy cold tiles stung his bare feet. The room felt like a freezer, and the chill sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.Suddenly, the door burst open.“What the hell did you do?” Vincent’s voice thundered, raw with anger. “I just saw Noémie storming out of the mansion. What the hell went down?”Ajax didn’t bother addressing his brother’s explosive entrance. Instead, he gritted his teeth and buried his face in his hands. “Calm the hell down,” he growled, his hangover making the pounding in his head unbearable. “J
"How long were you planning to keep it a secret?" Vincent inquired, his deep voice filled with sharp disappointment.Noémie swallowed, feeling trapped. "I wasn't..." She shook her head, gripping the skirt of her dress tighter in her fist. Why was her heart pounding so fast? Why did she feel guilty, as if she had done something wrong? "I didn't plan anything. I only found out yesterday."Vincent hummed, choosing not to ask any more questions as he drove in silence the whole way.It was impossible to gauge what he was thinking. Trying to do so was even more absurd.After passing out in her apartment the night before, she had woken up on the private jet she knew all too well. For three years, she had assisted Ajax with countless meetings and events worldwide. She had traveled on this plane more times than she could count.She remembered him sitting in his usual spot by the window, asking her to review files before they landed or reminding him of his schedule to avoid double bookings. Aja
“Not to me, but to yourself.” Stepping away, he yanked her hands away from his shirt. “You always tell yourself these sweet lies and find comfort in them, Claire. You think you’ve changed, but you’re still the same.” Turning on his heels, he ran a hand through his hair. Frustrated.“Vincent…”“This time you went too far, Claire. Too far. You dragged my family into this. I’m not sure if I can ever forgive you for misleading them with your fucked-up lies.”“Don’t say that, Vince. I did this for you. For us.”“Stop it, Claire!” He snapped, wanting nothing more than to yank his hair out. “Just stop it!”Rushing to him, she hugged him from behind. More tears flowed through her red-rimmed eyes. “I know what I did
Claire knew she had gone too far. She knew what came out of her mouth was bound to fuck everything up. Even more than her situation already was. Vince would hate her. He didn’t have to spell it out for her to know she was only worsening her impression in his eyes.What other choice did she have, though?She was running out of not only time, but also options. Patience was her least remarkable character trait, after all. And when it came to Vincent, her patience grew even thinner. So much time she had already wasted in coming to her senses that now every second she had to stay away from him felt like a stab of the knife straight to her heart.Perhaps that was the reason that when Ajax dismissed her and she was led out of the study by a maid, she wasn’t surprised—or let out even a squeak in protest—when Vincent grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into the closest empty room.
[Six Months Ago]After seeing off her husband at the airport for a two-days business trip, when a woman named Susan Green returned to her apartment, she barely kicked off her shoes and filled herself with a glass of water when a knock on the door arrived.Unsure of who it might be at the lunch hour, she opened the door only to find no one outside.Susan frowned. She was pretty sure she had heard the knock. Not once. Not twice. But thrice. Someone had knocked at the door thrice. Wondering if the kids in the building had once again picked up the bad habit of annoying the random neighbours, she closed the door and locked it.However, just when she hoped to get back to the kitchen counter and grab herself a glass of water, her gaze fell on the yellow manila envelope on the floor. It looked like someone had slipped it inside from under the door
Claire did as she was told. Quietly, she pulled the back of the chair and sat down with her fingers tightly laced with each other.For a long minute, no one said anything. The only sound in the room seemed to be the ticking of the clock. The tension in the room felt tighter and thicker than she had ever experienced. When someone did speak, it came from her left where Sonia Halest sat.“Is it true?” The older woman asked with a frown.Before Claire could clarify what the question was regarding, Vincent beat her to it.“Of course, it’s not!” He snapped, pounding a fist on the desk and glaring at Ajax. “Did you even hear a word I said? It’s all a lie. There’s nothing between us.”“Vince…” Claire tried to say when he spun his head and glared at her.
Claire sighed into her chest and felt her back slump against the door. Her heart ached to see him this mad at her. She wondered what could she possibly do to make things back to normal between them.On second thought, things had never been normal between them. Perhaps that was the reason she felt so clueless and hopeless and helpless. She did not have a single clue what could she say or do to make him love her the way he did once. Had she taken too long to come to her senses? Was it possible that he liked someone else now?Claire hated the idea of Vince being with some other woman. No. That would not do. He only belonged to her. He only loved her. Sure, he was refusing to admit that right now, but she wasn’t planning on giving up on them soon. She would make him hers, no matter what price she had to pay.With that determination in her heart, she sucked in another deep breath
The next morning when Claire woke up and walked out of her room, it surprised her to find her grandma’s small apartment swamped with several men in suits.They were so many of them she had to rub her eyes and pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t still asleep.She was not.All those men had been actually occupying the small drawing room of the apartment. Nothing about the scenario in front of her made even a little bit of sense.At first, she thought her father or Lucas had finally caught up with her.And that thought alone gave her a tiny heart attack. Not literally. But you get the point.Her heart lurched and her legs recoiled. Her first instinct was to make a run for the room she emerged from and lock it until she thought of a better plan. She would not let them drag her back to that stupid wedding. She would let no one take control of her life anymore.
Claire averted her eyes, tugging at her bottom lip while staring out of the window.She knew Grandma was right. Vince was probably right, too. But while everyone was fucking right, what was she supposed to do?In less than seven hours, she humiliated her entire family, slapped Lucas, broke the engagement, and was rejected by the only man whom she did all those things for. She had no clue what she was going to do next.Her dad would be furious. He would probably throw her out of the will sooner or later. Her step mom would never have the courage to speak in front of her father, and her brother would never take a stand for her like in any other instances in the past. She was in so much deep water. How was she supposed to swim her way out of this?“Claire?”Claire didn’t know for how long she had zoned out when
“So, what are you going to do next?”Grandma asked as they sat in a booth at the nearest burger joint. Her pale, wrinkly arms propped on the table. She looked at the mess of a bride across the table with genuine curiosity. Her bob-cut hair gave a hip look to her calm features.Claire took a big bite of the burger before swallowing it down with a mouthful of fizzy drink. “I…” She took another sip from the straw, a loud one, fetching much more attention than she already had the second they entered through the doors. “I don’t know,” she admitted in a small voice.Grandma raised her eyebrows, apparently amused. “Since when did you make hasty decisions, Claire?” There was a teasing tone in her voice.Claire choked on her food. “It’s the first time, obviously.” She cleaned her mouth with the napkin. “But sadly, it only looks go
Claire knew she fucked up. Big time. No less.Out of all the outcomes she imagined moments before making the biggest decision of her life, this was not what she had in mind. To be chucked out of his home right after confessing her love for him? Damn! The possibility never even crossed her. And why would it? He fucking loved her. Didn’t he?Unless she had hallucinated that entire conversation fourteen months ago. Or the way he looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman on earth. As if she was the only one he truly, truly desired.Claire wondered what had changed. How could someone change so much in merely a few months? Was it even possible to hate a person with this amount of passion whom you’ve loved so much once upon a time? Had she hurt him that deeply?Yes! Her inner voice instantly supplied. Claire ignored it.No. This would not do. It couldn’t be the end of what they had. It just couldn’t. She refused to believe the small, reasonable voice growing louder at the back of