Chapter 14
Before Richard got locked up, things were already turning sour at home. That happened when Kate came back from abroad, and Claude began to act out. Whenever he saw me hanging out with Richard, he’d drag me back home, fuming.
“Is Richard that important to you?” he’d sneer before shoving me into the bathroom so hard that I’d hit my head on the tub’s edge. The world would buzz, leaving me too dazed to respond, which he took as a yes.
Then came the scalding hot water pouring down on me, making me jump up in shock and fear. At that moment, I saw a stranger in Claude’s eyes, someone I didn’t recognize, someone terrifying.
“Claire, I didn’t realize you were this low, just like Richard, playing deep games!” he accused.
Despite my skin turning red from the burn, I was too overwhelmed by his rage to feel the pain.
“I’ll tell you this. As long as you live under the Hart family’s roof, you belong to us in life and death. I don’t want to see you with Richard again, or I’ll ruin him,” Claude warned, chilling me. Richard was like an older brother to me and my family after years in the orphanage. I couldn’t let anything happen to him.
“Claude, please leave Richard out of this. He’s innocent!” I tried to argue, but the sight of Claude threatening with the showerhead made me shrink back in fear.
“Richard and I never wanted to use our bond to threaten you. If you think I’m a threat here, I can leave,” I said, thinking about running away to test if Claude had any affection for me.
But running away and my attempts at ending it all made it more evident that Claude felt nothing for me, especially on the day he had Richard thrown in jail.
“I’ll do anything. Just let Richard go,” I begged, but Claude laughed, pinning me down on the bed.
“Getting desperate, huh? Claire? We can take our time,” he sneered, ripping my shirt open. I struggled to cover myself, but he coldly stripped away any semblance of dignity I had left.
In my attempt to struggle, my hand
accidentally brushed against his private part, and the warmth made
me recoil in shock. It was a closeness we’d never had, and I knew what would happen.
“Please me, and I might get his sentence reduced,” Claude said as if he held all the cards, controlling Richard’s fate.
I was naive, thinking complying might help Richard. But when I reached out to him, he pushed me away, disgusted.
“Claire, you’d stoop so low for Richard.” He looked down on me with disdain, fixing his clothes as if to wash off the encounter. “You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?” His voice was cold, filled with anger I didn’t understand.
I tried to speak, to deny it, but no sound came out.
“Enough. You’re all the same,” Claude concluded without looking at me as if we were the source of all his miseries.
From then on, realized his hatred
toward me started because he believed Richard and I were
spreading rumors that tarnished the
Hart family’s reputation. In his eyes, I was a woman who would do anything to get what I wanted.
fet
While floating in limbo and hearing his voice messages, I found Claude’s explanations were pointless was gone. Whether or not we were the ones spreading those rumors, dragging the Hart family through the mud, it didn’t matter anymore. I was dead, and there was no proof either way.
And with my death, the world owed me nothing, leaving Claude free to live his life with Kate, unburdened by any debt to me.