Ouch, her words sting! I felt bad for Hunter. But it's only the top and the visible part of a glacier, isn't it? What's under the water is also what he deserves to get. His regret will show him many things... Including the fact that money can't buy you the woman you love. Haha. Btw guys, so many readers and yet the book doesn't have a rating:') Can you plz go to the blurb page and leave a review. I would appreciate it. I published this chapter before the target accomplishment. Can you reward me and the book for early update and leave a review? TIA xoxo
78With heart in her throat, Claire returned back to him."What did you say?" Her body was trembling.Considering how brokenly Hunter was gazing at her, she knew he wouldn't try to hold her. So she had to take the support of a motorbike beside her to stand still."You heard me the first time I said it." He said, grazing her face longingly."And how do you know that?""Maury told me."Claire squinted her eyes in doubt, "And how did you get acquainted with Maury?""I had him picked up from the club along with his two men. He confessed it in my custody."He said without remorse. But the darkness clouding in his eyes provided her answers of questions which wouldn't have come to the surface had he not revealed what he said previously."You followed me into the club?" She cringed."After I was told how dangerous the man and the place is.""So you accept that you've been stalking me."Hunter's jaw tightened, he gave her a look that made shivers erupt within her, "It's not wrong to protect th
79The cab stopped in front of black iron gates guarding a big villa. Mr. And Mrs. Murphy stayed here with their younger son. Although Claire wasn't sure, she guessed this is where Typer may stop by while he was here for work. That's if he was really here for work. The guard opened the small gate carved into the left huge gate for her. He didn't ask her who she was and why she was there since this was not the first time. She came here earlier to drop her brother at Shawn's. Everyone working on this estate knew her well. Hence, she made her ways inside the villa without so much as waiting to ask for permission. She was moving so confidently that she wasn't anxious of encountering Tia Murphy either. Claire came to the living room where Shawn was sitting with his mother. He was busy on his tab while his mother was knitting something like a baby sweater. For who it was Claire didn't bother as she knew the woman was a social butterfly with an army of friends. She went to kitty parties mor
80Back in the hospital,After Claire left, Zara took the elevator back to her floor. She walked with blood now soaking her gown till her knees. The wound no longer hurt. The pain no longer made her dizzy because her entire body was numb in anger and annoyance.The streams of tears remained on both her cheeks, her skin blanched, and the touch of innocence she carried on her face was replaced with fury a mad witch would have for losing the potion that keeps her young. "How could he? How dare he?" were the only words Zara continuously chanted as her memory burned with the images of Hunter smiling lovingly at Claire's retreating figure.The man looked infatuated. He was completely in Claire's grip. Love dripped from his dark eyes. Though there was no mark of brand on his body, should someone ask him who he belonged to then it would be Claire's name he'd take.In her angry state, Zara came to Enzo's room which was also on the same floor. Hunter had booked the entire floor for her, and sin
81Enzo was counting seconds. He had accepted that this was his end. This day was the last day of his life. He wished he had touched Zara better, and kissed her more passionately. That would have at least helped him die without remorse. Alas, he was going to lose his head for doing nothing... Yet doing everything to his boss' woman. As for Zara, she showed patience. She didn't jump to the conclusion that this was her last day. Rather she encouraged herself to get ready for a blissful life that was coming ahead after Claire's death. She believed in her luck, and her brilliant acting, as she ran towards Hunter while sobbing hard as if she was denied oxygen for a while. "Hunter, I'm glad you came!" Zara got out of Enzo's hold before their position made his mind jump onto any conclusion. She turned completely towards Hunter and made a run for him. Her colorless face and the tears in her eyes had distracted him already. Then whatever suspicion he may have developed subsided as he saw t
82Claire darted straight towards her room after coming back home. She removed her clothes near the bed and slipped under a hot shower. The tears coming out of her eyes battled with the heat she was feeling on her body from the contact of water. She pressed her hair back and took a deep breath. Her heart wasn't in any mood to calm down nor her body which was trembling from all the emotions coming on the surface. "Both of them are the same... Sick bastards!" She muttered before turning the water cold. Claire spent some time under the spray of cold water as her nerves relaxed. Crying also helped make her chest light and feel fresh. When she came out of the room in a robe, with her hair in a knot, Penny was sitting on her bed with her phone. She sensed Claire's presence and looked up with a smile. However, the smile died the minute she appraised Claire's red-rimmed eyes. "You cried in the shower, didn't you? That is why it took you twenty minutes." Penny dropped her phone on the mat
83"I so wanted to spend the night in your room and talk more, Claire. But the medicines are making me sleepy. We'll continue tomorrow." Penny offered an apologetic grin as she jumped down the window sill. "Take care of your hand. Don't sleep like a horse." Claire chuckled as she watched her friend sleepily strut out of her room. Once she was gone, Claire craned her neck to look outside. The sky was pitch black and gray clouds floating lazily. The air was too much to handle though she was wearing warm pajamas with a thick woolen cardigan over a full-sleeved top. It felt like ice knives on her skin. Claire rubbed her forearms, a small smile tucking at the corner of her lips as she noticed the drizzling drops. Under the lights radiating alongside the fence, she caught the sight of scattered rain drops. It was worth capturing on her phone. And also, she thought, it was time to slowly return to social media to rebuild her fan base. She would need it once her company was ready and she h
84She stopped just before she was about to hit send. And she stopped because it struck her that the view she devoured from the balcony attached with their bedroom, and the associated caption, wasn't the first time he texted her.In fact, there were more. More words he typed than he had ever told her in one day during their two years long marriage. Words that screamed emotions. Her heart thundered away in her chest, challenging the ones unfolding in the sky above. Hunter: Hey wifeyClaire's eyes frosted upon the first text he sent as the warmth began to leave her body and ice settled in. 'I'm not your wife.' She corrected it in her mind as she read further. Hunter: I know you are mad and you have every right to be. But can you plz listen to me? Don't reply if you don't want to. Justlet me convey what I feel for you.Hunter: And before I say it let me request you to not even think of blocking my number. I will keep buying new numbers to call you or simply make my tech guy unblock
85His eyes froze on her face. Was she the woman he spent two years with in their marital home? Claire MacIntyre, the woman that was his wife, never raised her voice on him. Talk less of talking like a woman full of venom. To say, she was not even sparing him a glance. His nerves pinched and his chest grew hollow. The heart he had developed after realizing her love was dying a slow death. "Giving up so easily? She's hardly cold whereas you have been everything a woman wouldn't want her husband to be." A tiny voice spoke in his mind. It rejuvenated his spirits and Hunter gave her a tender smile. His face was illuminated and it made her stomach do a somersault. She kept her hard face intact as Hunter wiggled his eyebrows. "I know in your chest is a heart that beats only for me. That being said, your hard looks won't do me any harm. If anything, it only makes me want to do everything impossible for you. Like plucking the brightest stars for you and adorn them on your head." Claire cr
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
196Claire dashed a hand over her cheeks to wipe her tears. She didn't know where else to go— where she could cry without being interuptted by her loved ones or well-wishers— so she came to the only place she thought would offer her the privacy and quiet she needed during this phase of her life... The lake.The same lake that was her companion during her teenage years. The same lake around which she touched herself for the first time while imagining Hunter. The same lake that soothed her heart and brought delight to her face whenever she came here in the past.However, she felt cold in her heart tonight when she came here. Her eyes stung from tears that build up. Stopping near a tree, Claire slumped down. She was tired of feeling disappointed at how her life was unfolding.Twists and turns aggravated her. It was like every month her life took a turn. While one month she was all gloomy and struggling to focus in life, the other month she was too exhilarated to contain it. The changing
195There was silence on the line from both sides. They contemplated where their siblings would go at this hour of night. A thunder roared outside and they both returned back to their senses. "It's completely okay for Tyler to stay out at this hour of night. It's not the first time. But Claire..." Shawn trailed off. "This isn't like Claire. Something's wrong." "We have to find them. Now. I'm coming to your place, Scott. I'll pick you up and we'll go together." Shawn announced."Let's go find them. I need to know what's going on. Claire would never disappear without a word." ***At Hunter's Mansion, Cole sat on the patio, his weary figure slumped in a chair. He was smoking while scrolling through his face. His face was grim while his lips twisted at the posts he came across on his feed. Tyler and Claire were trending. Some stupid social media manipulator started a rumor and it was going awfully viral now. Although Cole understood that it was fake, it sparked widespread frenzy. Us
194Shawn brought his mother to a restaurant located in a remote area with quiet surroundings. It took them about an hour, except that Tia wasn't fazed one bit. The sound of crickets served as background music. Tia was impressed by the warm atmosphere. She walked with her hand around Shawn's arm not like his mother, but like a friend.She was thrilled to see eyes following her and Shawn. Some women stopped all motion to take a glance. When Shawn pulled a chair for her, she heard a woman from the neighboring table praising her hairstyle. They ordered a five course meal. Before it arrived, Shawn excused himself to go to the restroom. He paid the waiter who took their order to praise his mother's beauty. When he came back to their table, the waiter followed suit. He brought a bottle of wine with two flutes and smiled politely at Tia.He gazed at Shawn and Tia with a bow and repeated the words he was directed to deliver, "Sir, madam, you are our fiftieth couple of the night. We have thi
193. At Murphy mansion,Tia glanced at the clock on the wall with a frown. Then her gaze shifted to the door as she impatiently turned the pages of the magazine in her lap. She seemed annoyed by something but was surprisingly quiet, not taking it out on anyone like she was accustomed to.Shawn, who was sitting next to her, was perturbed by her behavior. It wasn't in his mother's nature to stay quiet while she was annoyed. She would rather split the house apart with her loud screams and scoldings."Someone is constantly checking the clock and staring at the door. Is someone precious expected?" He gave a girly gasp to irritate Tia and added, "Maybe a lover who is supposed to visit behind dad's back!""Damn, dad will be so exasperated. Grandma will be more furious than him, knowing that her daughter-in-law is cheating on her son." He seemed to think deeply while stroking his jaw. "What would she do if I told her? Kill mom? Nah, that'd be the easiest way of punishing her." He talked to h