180Claire's heart galloped in her chest like a rare stallion with hunters after him. She did not know why she felt this way. She looked up from her feet at the broad back of the man concerning her, feeling her skin tingle. Tyler was standing near the number pad. With his one hand in the pocket and another holding his cellphone, he looked casual. As if the woman standing behind him at a few steps distant wasn't the one he had claimed to like some months ago. Claire slumped against the mirror wall, having the same feeling she had in the car. The elevator was making its way up at a snail's speed. Tyler was occupied by his phone but his ignorance bothered her. She clenched her jaw and huffed, looking down at her feet again. Suddenly, there was a loud boom and the metal cabinet ground to a screeching halt. "W-what happened?" Claire held her hands out to her side to clutch the elevator walls to stand still, her voice shaking. She looked around as the lights started flickering. After a
181Claire crawled on her knees towards him. She wasn't thinking straight when she did it, but she lifted his face with her fingers and held him there. Their eyes bore into each other with the intensity of two vehicles crashing with a bang. Then slowly Tyler's eyebrows pinched as he lowered his eyes to her hand. The downward motion of his pupils led her focus to where she was holding him and felt her heart hitching in her chest. She was holding his nape while standing on her knees, hovering over his sitting figure. Claire quickly withdrew her hand and looked away. "What have I done to get this treatment?" Tyler stared at her. From where he was seeing her, she appeared enticing. Her dress was clinging to her skin. Anyone who saw her would have first seen the swell of her breasts, the curve of her waist, followed by the dip of her sexy hips. Her body was a masterpiece of curves. Her skin shimmered with a soft ethereal light even in the darkness like she had dusted her face with a t
182But seeing that her father was waiting for her, Claire ran to him. She snaked his waist by her arms and hugged him. "You didn't have to wait, dad. I would have managed." Mr. Argent caressed her hair, "It's a proud moment for a father to go back home with his daughter from the safe office building." Claire was flattered by his words. He hugged her again before they entered his car. The driver took the rear exit. It was not a surprise that cameramen and reporters crowded outside there too, but it wasn't as much as in the front. When they were happily out on the road, Dominic added, "You have no idea how much my employees admire you. Whenever I go out of my office to take a stroll, I hear them whispering about you." Claire suddenly grew nervous. She knew they whispered about her. Dominic saw through her emotions and pulled her in his arms. "And I've only heard good things, darling." He kissed on the top of her head. "Even today, they were talking about your endurance and how you
183"Sir is..." Reggie trailed off, making her breaths hitch. "Fine, although we are trying to get him out of his bedroom. He hasn't stepped out since that night." Claire's chest shivered. She pressed lips to suppress a cry of worry as she told Reggie, "Please, get him to switch his phone on. Maybe I can help a little." "I'm afraid I can't do that even if I want to. He has broken his phone and a lot of things in his bedroom." "I hope he's fine." Claire gasped while raising a hand to place it on her chest. "I can't comment on that, madam." Claire's heart throbbed in her ears. She was freaking out like she hasn't ever before. "Is he... Is he injured?" She pressed a hand to her mouth. "Umm..." Reggie took his time. "I would be in trouble if I told you this, but I would feel worse if I didn't, madam. Sir rendered deep cuts on his right hand from smashing a glass in a tight grip. He muttered that it was his punishment for slapping you."That disclosure sliced through her heart like
184Tyler's mouth dropped as he gaped at her saying those words. "Good friends? I never said we could not be good friends. But even to be friends, you have to communicate. But you didn't, Claire. You left me hanging like it didn't matter." "I..." She stared at him in disbelief. "I seriously don't know what you're saying, Tyler. When did I not communicate?" "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Claire. The flowers, the message, my feelings... complete radio silence." He stepped closer. Claire shifted away uncomfortably, "I really don't know what you're saying. I really don't. What flowers?" "WHAT FLOWERS?" He laughed frustratedly. "Are you joking with me? You can't really forget it. I sent you fucking flowers with a note in it, Claire. It was on the very day I told you that I like you. Do you remember anything?" Claire reeled back to that day. She had been shaken to her core when he said he liked her. Tyler had come to her life like a creak providing light in a closed dark ca
185Claire's heart stopped beating as everything around her began to throb. The corner of her eyes pained and blurred out her peripheral vision. It was as if all her focus was directed to the man in the center of her vision and white blinking dots squirmed on the corner. "You are joking with me, right?" Her tone was bled dry of emotions, her baritone hoarse like she would cry any moment now. However, Tyler's serious face and how still he was sitting, looking at her reaction to the news suggested that he wasn't. He wouldn't joke with her about such a sensitive topic. Ezma had been everything to him. His first love. He was still stuck on her, and definitely, he wouldn't joke like this and humiliate himself as well. "T-this can't... This... I..." Claire couldn't form a comprehensible sentence as her lungs were aching for oxygen.She felt her fingers turning cold and the tips burned like she dipped them in ice. The back of her neck pricked with a stinging sensation while her forehead b
186"There comes my hero! You're just in time, Tye. I was about to serve lasagna to everyone." Tia Murphy glowed joyfully upon seeing her son. She came over to him and hugged him. Tyler hugged back with a sigh and a small smile. His mother was a little... Overbearing. But she loved him like her precious diamonds. He chuckled because his comparison was inaccurate. Tia loved him more than diamonds. He knew that because once he and Shawn pulled a prank on her. It was around the time when he was a teenager and Shawn was younger. They fake called her as a kidnapper and lied that Tyler was taken down. The price for saving his life was in billions. She hadn't hesitated to sell her diamonds worth billions. It was intimated to them by their father, who was involved in the prank with the boys. He was at the house with his wife when the call came. John Murphy had witnessed her cry and sob as she frantically stuffed her jewelry in a bag to take them to sell. He had been amused too, because he k
187"Tye! Are you okay, sweetheart?" Tia rose from the corner of the couch and hurried at Tyler who was choking on his food."Here, drink water." Tia helped him take gulps of water as she rubbed his back.While she attended to Tyler, Shawn covered his mouth to hide his laugh."What the hell did you do to my baby, you little demon?" Tia scolded Shawn."I didn't do anything. Ask your twenty-nine year old baby if you don't believe me... Which I know you don't!" Shawn made a face.Tia was about to give him a piece of her mind when Tyler held her hand. “I'm fine, mom.” He kissed her knuckles and coaxed her to go back to her place. “You were leaving, weren't you? Why are you sitting here still? Go join the dirty bikers club and soil our name.” Tia glared at her younger one. Shawn rolled his eyes, “I changed my mind, mom. My brother can't carry the burden of our business alone on his shoulders. I'm staying back so I can help him carry the load.”“You will join the business only when you'r
205Two days later, Saturday morning,Dominic and Andrea sat silently on the breakfast table. The maids filled their plates as Dominic observed his wife. It's been two days since that Wednesday night when Hunter came to their house to talk to Claire, and still Andrea hadn't forgotten. Her silent protest showed that she was against the deal Dominic had with their daughter's heartbreaker. She hadn't uttered a single word to him no matter how hard her husband tried to explain things to her. She just said one thing: What he did was wrong! It was a mistake giving someone like Hunter another chance. Andrea was firm on her belief that it should have been Tyler getting a chance with their daughter. He was the right one for her. As much as Dominic inferred that would have been the best thing, the question remained intact— Would Claire have accepted him if her parents chose him for her? "Where are Claire and Scott?" Dominic asked to shatter the silence between him and wife. In reply, Andre
204Claire had sunk to the edge of the bed, clawing at the mattress with her nails, to contain the surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Her body convulsed in pain. It rippled and grew cold. Her heart felt like a bucket full of wet clothes in her chest.She didn't know how to reign in her composure. Her face was numb from shedding uncontrollable tears whereas her lips trembled like a weak leaf about to fall off a branch.She was crying recalling each word Hunter shared. It was unbelievable. While she had assumed he was only distant and ignorant, she hadn't realized he could also be a master cheater. Not once... He cheated on her five times. Five times while she was hopefully waiting for him at home with food turning cold on the dining table.It wasn't 'just' five times! It was those five times he knew he was betraying his marriage and insulting the vows he took towards a wife he loved him honestly. And yet, he did it."Claire, please open the door."Desperate knocks sounded
203"Mr. Argent, it's very important for me to see your daughter. Allow me this one time, please. It's about our future." Hunter said ignoring Andrea as he addressed Dominic. Feeling insulted, Andrea spoke with disdain, "What future? My daughter's future is better off without you. You left her when she needed you the most. Now that we are trying to set her up with a far better match, you want to waltz back in her life. Dream on, Hunter. It's not happening. Her parents are standing in between her and you. We will never let you get to her again.""Did you really think you could slink back into Claire's life after your ex's true nature was exposed? You're delusional if you think that's possible."Hunter gave her a stoic look, although his red eyes showed his turmoil."And do you think I'm coming back only because Zara's arrested now? It's you who's dreaming, Mrs. Argent. Claire and I've never parted ways even after the divorce. Our separation brought us closer— me actually.""I realized
202"SCOTT, NO!" They exclaimed in unison, but Scott was already charging towards Hunter like a madman.Claire, who had been sobbing against her father's chest, snapped her head up at Hunter's mention. Color drained from her face witnessing Hunter at the doorstep with crimson-rimmed eyes. Their gazes locked, and everything he had said to her came flooding back to her in an overwhelming wave. Despite the look of pleading on his face and apology in his eyes, she remained hard-hearted. However, the part that loved her once... The part that basked in the sight of him being praised and respected by her family became distressed. Scott was a decade younger to Hunter, and even though the latter treated her like a doormat wife with zero worth in his life, he was still related to her. Ex-husband... But still they had a past. Claire stepped out of her father's arms as Scott dashed towards Hunter, driven by instincts. "Hunter MacIntyre, you've hurt my sister enough. Time to pay back!" Her hea
201Outside the Argent Villa,Scott and Shawn met each other outside the former's house. Their faces were dull with worry and in the rain storm, they stood soaking wet."Did you find anything about your brother?" Scott asked as he wiped a hand on his face to clear his vision."Yeah, he's at a pub.... With a woman." Shawn uttered the last three words between clenching teeth.Scott wasn't surprised. He was aware of his best friend's elder brother's way to avoid media attention concerning his personal life. He was just slightly affected that Tyler lied to go to pub to find a random chick to click with, so he could post fake dating news with her, instead of attending a dinner with his family.They've been waiting so restlessly to have him at home. The look of sorrow on Andrea's face was pitiful. Scott recalled that expression and exhaled a sigh. His mother had been overly excited to have Tyler at home. She had prepared so many dishes for him, which they had to eat alone and in silence. Cl
200"This is all, but I swear, I haven't seen any other woman since that encounter with that wench. It was after that incident I started noticing you. The second year of our marriage consists of me observing everything you did. That's how I learned your favorites, although I never let it show until now."Hunter tried to close the gap between them with small steps, hoping that when he was standing before her, Claire wouldn't push him away. After all, he had a huge list of extra marital relations. "When I started learning things about you, it slowly came to my understanding that you were exactly how I would have preferred my life partner to be. You were firm with a touch of boldness. You could be extremely caring at times and extensively outraged if annoyed. You didn't hesitate to make me pay for my ignorance and then you also came to show your love to me when you felt that I wasn't going to do it. You held the torch in our relationship and lives, and radiated it with your resilience."
199"I was mentally dead. Although I married you, I didn't feel the excitement as that of a married man because you weren't the woman I want. So, I just spent my time at the club with Cole and other friends.""Even if you weren't the bride I saw myself saying 'I do' for, I was determined to never stray. But that night, that night something got into. I was not heavily drunk but I kissed a woman who sat in my life. I groped her even though Cole and my friends warned me of having a wife. I didn't know what I was doing."Claire's stare became painful. She internally lamented as her heart yelled from the pain of his treachery. His confession now hurt like a third degree burn. She didn't know when she started sobbing, but that was the only sound she heard. She felt as though she’d suddenly jumped off a cliff. What she was feeling was beyond anyone's imagination. Accepting Hunter's infidelity before marriage was bearable. But thinking of him doing the same in the first week after he was dec
198"It happened a few days after Zara left me. I was heartbroken and mentally disturbed. The blaring music of the club became my companion as I found solace in alcohol. I would spend the days at office and my nights at the club." Hunter began. Now that she asked him to be honest, he was not going to skip anything. She also warned him to share it even it's hurtful, so he would do that too. As long as it convinced her to stay and be with him, he would do anything. Although that's not what he thought he would be compelled to do when he left his house to find Claire, he had no other choice. Hunter's heart raced in his chest. He was making mistake after mistake recently. One action he took to soothe his nerves ended up causing a ripple effect of consequences. Hence, he wasn't going to make another mistake by skipping any detail of his infidelity. The air was cool, and yet he sweated profusely while his face remained as white as the moon. "But I was never alone. Cole was there with me.
197A thunder clapped in the sky with lightning, illuminating their faces for a nanosecond. Hunter was panicked by her words and the expression he caught in the light from her face made his blood rush to his head. He moved closer. He pulled her to his chest and leaned his face near hers. Claire squirmed and wriggled like a fish taken out of water. But she calmed down the minute he pinned her to the tree and rested his forehead against hers, his mouth aligned with hers while his thrumming heart synced with her own. The air seemed to turn colder as darkness increased. They couldn't see each other. But in the back of their minds, they pictured each other's expressions and emotions as they breathed heavily in sync. "You are a jerk... And I hate you." Claire sobbed. Her body was shaking in misery. She was crying because of his disappearance and caressed her back. He moved his mouth to her jaw and trailed a line of kisses along her jaw to her neck as he whispered sorry to hers. Claire