‘He was going to reject me.’ My stomach twisted violently. Why had I thought this was a good idea? My palms grew clammy around the ring, my mind screaming at me to retreat, to salvage what little dignity I had left. ‘What kind of person pulls a stunt like this?!’ My own voice taunted me mercilessly. ‘This is it, Claire. Game over.’ But instead of the anticipated rejection, Giancarlo reached out—his hand brushing mine, sending a jolt up my arm as he plucked the ring from my fingers. The motion was fluid, deliberate, like he’d done it before—and then… “I do,” he said simply, his voice steady as he slid the ring onto his finger yh with mad confidence. ~~~ Claire Bennett’s perfect Valentine’s Day proposal ends in a disaster when she catches her boyfriend with another woman. In a fit of rage, she forces an engagement ring onto the finger of the first man she sees—a suave and mysterious passerby who shocks her by playing along. But Claire’s spur-of-the-moment fiancé isn’t just anyone. He’s Giancarlo Fiore Caruso—her ex’s boss and the ruthless CEO of her company. A fake engagement, a trip to the Maldives, and an undeniable connection soon turn her spur-of-the-moment decision into something she can’t control. Sparks of desire fly despite their stark differences, and attraction simmers just beneath the layers of deception. But will Claire’s impulsive decision mark the beginning of something real—or a recipe for heartbreak?
Lihat lebih banyakClaire
Today had to be perfect—no exceptions, no mistakes. I was about to give my boyfriend the surprise of a lifetime.
A marriage proposal.
The beginning of our forever and a perfect way to mark our anniversary—he'd never see it coming.
Every detail was planned out—from the bouquet of roses in my hands, to the reservations at one of the city's most exclusive restaurants—reservations I'd only managed to secure weeks ago through countless calls and relentless follow-ups; something other people would consider harassment, but to me, it was just simple tenacity.
As the saying goes, ‘You want something? You go for it,’ and I wanted this anniversary to be flawless.
Clutching the roses in excitement, I approached the receptionist at Alex’s department with a bright smile. “Oh, hi, Laura. Won’t be long—I’m just meeting Alex. He’s still in?”
“Sure.” She started to smile as she looked up, but it faltered—just for a second. At the sight of me? The hesitation was fleeting, but it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared. With a nod and a now firmer smile, she added, “He’s… in his office. Should I let him know—”
“No, no—it’s fine,” I cut in quickly as I walked past. “It’s a surprise.”
Something about her demeanor prickled at the edges of my mind, but I brushed it off.
Maybe she was just having a bad day.
In the elevator, I rehearsed what I'd say when I saw him. ‘Happy Valentine’s Day, love. Guess who’s sweeping you off to dinner?’ It sounded cute in my head—the sort of thing that would make him laugh.
But as I neared his office, the faint sounds I heard made me pause.
They were soft… muffled… not unlike… moans? My steps faltered for a second. No, I told myself, shaking my head. My ears were probably just playing tricks on me. This was a workplace, afterall. Surely nobody would be that stupid?
Still, as I opened the door—
I froze.
All the blood drained from my face, and the words I’d rehearsed died in my throat.
I hadn’t knocked—I never needed to. Alex and I didn’t have those kinds of reservations. Or so I'd thought—because right there, tangled up with another woman like branches in a flood, was my boyfriend.
Alex.
With his eyes closed, his lips moving hungrily against hers and his hands pulling her closer by the waist like she was the very air he needed to breathe.
Those same hands that cradled my face whenever he told me just how much he loved me, and his lips… I could barely think past the sight of them on hers. Her back was to me, shielding her face, but his—oh, his face—was so… engrossed, it physically hurt to see.
He hadn’t kissed me like that in months! And now…
Wait. Was that—
Tori?
The name infiltrated the painful fog clouding my mind and I gasped—the bouquet slipping from my trembling hands and hitting the floor with a thud.
The sound shattered the moment and both of them froze—their heads whipping toward me.
“Oh my God!” Tori blurted, flushing crimson—her hair a disheveled mess and guilt written over every inch of her face.
Alex scrambled for words—his face ashen and his eyes wide with panic. “Claire, I—”
“Don’t.” My voice came out hollow. Unrecognisable.
The room swayed, and I gripped the doorframe to steady myself, forcing my gaze to stay on him—on them.
The betrayal hit like a punch to the gut.
Suddenly it all made sense—the recent distance. The excuses and half-hearted smiles. The forgotten little things that used to mean everything. Him brushing off any talk that had to do with our future… I hadn't wanted to see it—all the signs, the glaring red flags. I'd foolishly ignored them all..
“How long?” I managed, each word trembling with barely contained rage.
Alex flinched. “It’s not what it looks like—”
“Don’t lie to me!” I snapped, my voice rising as the hurt clawed its way out. “It’s exactly what it looks like, Alex. And you—” I turned to Tori, bitter laughter spilling out of me in a cold, jagged rush that echoed in the office. “I told you everything. About the trip. The ring! The surprise I planned for tonight. And this is what you do?”
“I didn’t mean... Claire, I—” Her voice cracked, but I didn’t care.
“What is she talking about?” Alex’s panicked voice cut in, his gaze darting to Tori.
Tori avoided my eyes, arms crossing over her chest like a shield.
I took a step back, my chest heaving as the weight of their treachery pressed tears to my eyes. But I wouldn’t cry—not here, not in front of them. I sucked in a shaky breath, my voice breaking as I spat, “You know what? Fuck you. Both of you.”
“Claire please, hear me out—”
“What’s the point?” I hissed, each word trembling with fury. “We’re done, Alex. There’s no trip. No engagement. No us.”
“No, Claire– I can explain—”
“Oh, go ahead, then!” I shot. “Explain.”
His mouth opened, then closed but nothing came out—no words.
Just silence.
“That’s what I thought,” I muttered, turning to leave, but Alex’s hand shot out to grab me.
“Don’t touch me!” My voice cracked as I wrenched myself free. “What more do you want from me, Alex?”
“Let’s talk this out—”
“There’s nothing to talk about!” My voice shook with fury. “You made sure of that when you shoved your tongue—and who knows what else—down someone else’s throat. How long has this been going on, huh? Answer me!”
“Keep your voice down!” he hissed, low and warning, as if I were the one at fault. “Let’s not make a scene.”
“A scene? You cheat on me, and I’m the problem?” My disbelief cut through the air. “You’ve lost your mind!”
“And you’re out of line!” he snapped, his calm facade finally cracking. “I didn’t mean—Damn it, I’m screwing this up.” He dragged a frustrated hand through his hair. “Claire, just calm down and listen—”
“To what, Alex?” I blinked back the tears blurring my vision. “More lies about how ‘this isn't what it looks like?’ You must think I’m stupid—”
“No, Claire—”
“After everything we’ve been through,” I pressed on, my voice breaking. “All I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”
“I couldn’t breathe!” he burst out, guilt twisting into frustration.
“Oh, and that's my fault? I’m the reason you snuck around with your assistant?”
“Yes!” he exploded. “Don’t you see? I love you, but you micromanage everything! You make every decision—”
“Because you don't!”
“And you do too much, Claire!” His face twisted from guilt to something uglier. “You suffocate me!”
The words sliced through me.
What the hell was that even supposed to mean?
“Suffocate you?” My already broken heart splintered into more pieces, with my hand instinctively rising to my chest as though to hold them together. “That’s your excuse for sleeping with her?” I jerked my hand toward Tori, who looked like she might be sick at any moment.
“Not entirely,” His shoulders sagged, and his voice dropped to a maddening calm. “But we’ve been seeing each other for months. Honestly, I’m surprised it took you this long to notice.”
Months.
The word echoed in my head, drowning out everything else.
Months of my life reduced to a lie. How could I have been so blind? The late nights and vague excuses—had I missed it, or had I simply refused to see it?
The bastard!
This was the son-of-a-bitch I was so invested in?
I felt worse than a fool.
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t even think—I just needed to get away.
My heels clicked against the floor as I stalked toward the exit, rage and heartbreak fueling my steps.
“Claire!” His voice followed, but I didn’t stop until I was outside.
The February cold bit into my skin, but it couldn’t compete with the frost spreading through my veins. I swiped furiously at the tears streaking my cheeks, as if scrubbing them away could erase what had just happened. My breaths came in shaky bursts—each one harder than the last—when Alex’s hand clamped around my wrist again.
“Let me go!” I snapped, but his grip was firm.
“Claire, don’t overreact—”
I spun to face him, fury burning through every nerve in my body. “You humiliated me, Alex! You call this overreacting? I had plans for us—the Maldives in a few weeks! Our future. I even—” My voice broke. “I thought I was going to marry you.”
His expression flickered with regret briefly, but it quickly hardened.
“Look, I messed up, okay?” he said, his voice sharp before softening into that condescending calm. “It was a mistake.”
I laughed, the sound hollow and disbelieving. The sheer gall of his words sent fresh rage coursing through me and I forcefully yanked my hand free. “Losing your keys is a mistake, Alex. Forgetting an anniversary is a mistake. This?” I jabbed a trembling finger in his chest. “This was months of lying and sneaking around!”
“Claire, listen—” he started. “Tori’s history. I promise—”
“You must really think I'm stupid,” I laughed again, repeating my earlier words.
“No, I swear. If you'd just let it go, we can start over—”
“With someone who thinks I'm too much—”
“I was upset!” He cut in, his tone urgent as he reached for me again. “I didn't mean any of that, baby. And what about the trip?” His expression was pleading now. “Years of hard work—your sweat, Claire. We can’t just throw everything away.”
“That’s right, Alex. My sweat, not yours.” I reminded him, wrenching my arm free. “And the trip?” My voice was incredulous. “You still think you deserve anything from me after that?” I gaped at him, stunned.
“Come on,” he pressed, desperation creeping into his voice. “It’s paid for. You said it yourself—we leave in a few weeks. Let’s just think this through—”
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I noticed the crowd forming, their curious stares fixed on the unfolding drama but I was past caring. My gaze darted wildly, searching for an escape—some way out of this nightmare.
That’s when I saw him.
A tall figure leaned casually against a sleek black car a few feet away, his attention fixed on his phone. He stood out, striking and completely out of place amidst the sea of strangers.
The tailored suit hugging his frame, dark hair swept back with effortless precision, his sharp jawline and dusting of scruff—all of it exuded an air of quiet authority.
He was magnetic—but more importantly, he looked uninterested, unaffected, and completely unbothered by the chaos around him—and maybe that’s exactly why I needed him.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I stepped toward him, brushing past Alex without another word.
“Hey!” My voice cut through the noise—steady despite the carnage brewing inside me. “You!”
The stranger straightened as I approached, his brow lifting in silent question as his gaze shifted from his phone to me. His gaze, sharp and penetrating, held me in place and I felt my mouth go dry suddenly.
“Me?” His voice was deep, and smooth—like smoked English whiskey and sweetened honey washing over my frayed nerves. He slipped his phone into his pocket, giving me his full attention, his gaze sharper now, as if assessing the situation.
I pulled the engagement ring from my pocket—the metal cold in my trembling hands—and held it out to him.
“Will you marry me?”
Giancarlo.I looked intently at the liquid, more in pondering than in horror, the veins in my head popping in and out in worry.With my banging head, it was hard to make connections properly especially when Claire was not even around to make things clearer. Or was she? The idea suddenly popped into my mind as I remembered the balcony, hands moving away from the liquid for a moment and look out to the chairs at the balcony.She could be there and waiting patiently for my return or probably receiving some fresh vegetation air.I moved with slow, unsteady steps towards the balcony, eyes checking backwards to reconfirm that the fading red dot from my eyesight was blood, and head thumping hollowly, feeling as empty as a useless milktin.Even when my tired mind thought that it was blood, I was still too confused to understand the enormosity of everything and make quick moves to a health practitioner.So I lazily walked up to her, like nothin
Giancarlo.I didn't even know what put me to sleep nor how long I had slept. But I certainly did know what brutally hauled me awake, panting like a dog and eyes widened like a pussy. My ears were not even spared from the brutality as my shrieking phone was literally shouting painful waves into my newly awakened senses, circulating pains into my upper body and making me wish there was a way I could just die at once. Its loudness was no doubt the source of my awakening as it continued on tiredlessly proudly teaching me a lesson I was certain to never forget.I looked around, head banging in confusion, hands finding trouble feeling, legs feeling more like there were two planks of wood lying peacefully on them.I was still looking around trying to put two and two together and maybe find an explanation why I was just so confused.Aside from the violently ringing phone that was threatening to rip my head and ears off and plunge it into the vegetations across the balcony, I found it diffic
Giancarlo.Suddenly, everywhere grew hot and suffocating, my chest beating faster than a talking drum and forehead throbbing hard. I tried to think of a time I had actually helped Lorenzo out with something, but surprisingly my mind sang nothing back.I shook my head sharply in disappointment, continuously hoping for just one scenario to surface and save my friendship and brotherhood.My brain was blank and suffering much with the hard exertion, my eyes growing blurry from the many colorful stars that appeared before them and fingers hardening from too much clenching and unclenching.Was there truly no time that I had gone through thick and thin for him? I brooded helplessly, guilt and hurt fighting for a room in my already tired and weak heart and my stomach churning with a promise of a successful nausea.I racked my brain harder, his glare growing more intense, burning through my self-control and leaving me nakedly exposed to his perfect judgement.The result from my intensively ra
Giancarlo.Since when? My pulse pounded hard, throat feeling as dry as charcoal and heart slicing the words into dices of anger and surprise.Was he perchance kidding me? My mind rotated in horrifying surprise, and my eyes dilated as I looked to the floor for answers.How could I have been so blind to not have noticed anything? I wondered deeply, hands moving to my chin in perfect posture.But then, he had barely shown anything to me and Elizabeth had not even been around.Or was she around all the while? Numerous thoughts ran through my mind as his words sunk deep into me, feeling very unwelcomed in my brain."Since when?" I managed to ask calmly, the warring thoughts in my head, buried suppressingly by my self-control but still struggling to raise the rock pressing it down.He turned to look at Claire who had frozen on her track while trying to head to the bathroom and smiled."It's been three weeks now," he replied in a calm tone too, hands clenching by his sides and eyes looking e
Giancarlo.Claire reeled forward almost falling, hands running fast to her knees to act as a tripod stand.I quickly held her back, aching with her from her sisters banging words. Perspiration dropped like trickles of rain down to my legs, feeling more cold than hot as she seemed to wish to haul herself violently to the floor.While I didn't see anything wrong with her, stating her view and turning the table on her mom, Elizabeth certainly saw a thousand things wrong with it and had not hesitated to set the matter straight.Claire began to gasp for breath by my side, falling a little forward to get more air and hands slipping and almost sending her to my the ground.Just as I held her back, she began to cough violently, tears streaming down her eyes and shoulder rising and falling in unison with her chest."Calm down, she'll come around," I tried to reassure her, pulling her up and closer to my chest and welcoming the vanilla scent from her hair. “Don't let her words get much to you.
Claire.I watched as his expression dropped from shock to horror, eyes widening more than they should and lips parted wide.It was seriously embarrassing to think that they had never connected things that far and that a civilian like me was the one rather blessed with the brains to dissolve the case.My heart thumped with a brief moment of joy as surprised danced in their expression, eyes mirroring their lost war and my victorious win.I had managed to change the situation into something useful, hadn't I? I smiled to myself, deep enough that it displayed itself on my face."Uhhm... I think we need to go," the man stuttered embarrassedly, face turning crimson and hands quickly pushing the phone back into his pocket.The lady tried not to meet my eyes and just followed behind in a rush, eyes somewhat bowed and focusing more on her shoes.Were cops supposed to behave like that? I wondered amusingly as they left with their battered pride.I smiled to myself again, giving myself a heartfel
Claire."I don't know, Claire. It seems you're complicating things," the female police seemed to be speaking through her nose as she had suddenly forgotten all formalities and allowed her rage, permanently sit on the surface. I almost burst in laughter with her squeezed red face that looked like she had just received a surprise triple punch on it."Does it really seem like it?" I teased, glowering as her face contorted the more, eyes shooting sharp swords at me and lips forming with a promise of a battering insult.The male cop shot her a calm but commanding glare that sent the insult in her lips back to the pit where they came from and helped fix her shitty face into an emotionless one."I think I've explained it in the best layman terms that exist. If it seems complicated to you, maybe, just maybe it's difficult for you comprehend, not that what I said is complicated," I concluded sweetly, all smiles and little regret dancing melodiously in my heart.Carlo moved into the picture, w
Claire.All attention was on me, the gasps strong enough to fall like a gentle breeze on my warm cheeks and the stares feeling like hot flames on my skin and scalding some part of me.I could especially feel a burning stare from the female cop, hot and consuming, spanning as long as a lifetime and carrying with it other hot emotions that weren't far from hatred and contempt.Was she annoyed already? I smiled to myself, feeling like a queen in a beautiful castle and the hard glares at me loosing their intensity on me.Why was she angry?I thought. I hadn't said anything yet and she was already burning? I wondered in amusement, feeling more confidence swimming under my skin."Are you aware that you just verbally abused us?" Her voice was icy with fury, voice trembling and her hands clenching by her side. Her chattering teeth was grinding loud enough that it could even be heard amidst her sharp inhales and exhales and her creased foreheads develop an extra line of rage and her eyebrows s
Claire.I was sure the arteries and everything connected to my heart had been unplugged and carelessly flung to the floor with wickedness, darkening in fear as the fell helplessly to the ground.I opened my mouth to breathe but no air seemed to enter. Instead they just bathe my heated nose and teased the hairs in my nose with the promise of entry. My senses reeled with the situation, fear stringing itself into my blood and transferring its power to different parts of my body, making me dizzy with trepidation.They were here! Here for me!! The painful thought sat like an indigested meal in my stomach, refusing to travel much to any other place in my body.At last there was nowhere I could run to, no place to hide, nothing to do. I was to face and dance to that music which I certainly had not budgeted nor planned for.I paced the floor, panic wrapped around me like a cloak and Elizabeth looking at me with shocking, judgemental eyes.Her lawyer gaze was already registering me as a suspe
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