Claire’s pov
“I have filed for divorce and will leave the country. Soon, no one will even remember I existed.”
The bouquet slipped from my bestfriend Ava’s arms. White roses scattered across the studio floor like secrets tumbling from a broken heart.
“Claire, after that horrible car crash, you let the doctors cut half your heart to save Xander and now.. you’re the one walking away?”
“He already signed the divorce papers. There is nothing left to discuss.” I tried to smile, but my eyes betrayed me..glassy and tired.
“Divorced? Xander actually agreed?” Her voice trembled. “You gave him everything, Claire. You miscarried his baby in secret. You let yourself become his mistress five years ago until he gave you that cheap secret wedding in a dilapidated church…..And he just let you go?”
“I just slipped the papers in my allowance approval documents when he signed so he didn’t even brother to check just asked-‘where do I put my name’.”
I remembered the first night the ‘brother’ who adopted me into the Hart family- Xander walked into my room wordless, almost feverish.
The world had shifted that night as he took my virginity before telling me the next morning- ‘We cannot make our relationship public. If you wish to stay by my side, don't ever get pregnant.’
Loving him with all my heart, I accepted and yet yesterday when I fell down the stairs lying in the pool of my blood miscarrying, calling him hundreds of times, he never picked up.
Instead, that same night breaking news flashed across all channels as I buried my baby in soil.
[Breaking: Billionaire Xander Hart rescues childhood sweetheart Victoria Stone from thugs, carries her in his arms like Prince Charming. Hart and Stone’s announce a grand wedding.]
Victoria Stone, the childhood sweetheart Xander fought his family for and truly loved unlike me.
“Claire….did you even tell him that you are going to sever all ties with Hart fam-”
“Told what?” The stark manly voice interrupted the conversation like lightning as Xander stepped into the dim rehearsal hall as he looked at Ava holding me.
Xander’s eyes narrowed. “Is she bothering you?”
Ava almost laughed filled with bitterness. “Yeah. Sure. That’s what’s happening.”
I cut in before he could press further. “She was just leaving.” Ava hesitated, her eyes glassy with something unspoken. But then I gave her the tiniest nod and she was gone.
“You haven't come home since last night.” His fingers curled around my wrist as soon as the room was empty. “
“I stayed at the studio.”
“I was waiting.” I looked at him and for a second, I felt something fracture inside me. Just a thin, splintering crack. I blinked it away before it bled.
“You always wait until it’s too late..sometimes I wonder if it is to make me suffer.”
His fingers curled around my wrist was tight, possessive and painful.
Good I wanted to let it bruise.Let it hurt somewhere other than my heart as I wafted the flowery perfume on him.
I walked past him, light on my feet as always- ballerina steps, trained to be silent even when it hurt.
“Instead of your mansion, please just drop me to my apartment. I need to go clean up…I have rehearsal tomorrow-”
“Claire, don’t tell me you are throwing a tantrum because you are jealous of Victoria?” My lips quivered as I could barely look at the man who ruined me piece by piece until nothing was left.
“Since you are the adopted daughter of the Hart family, I cannot accept you infront of the world for now. This fake wedding with Victoria is just for show.”
How fun it must be for him to seek me, beg for his love and seek his protection while anticipating my downfall. It was too bad that I had already decided to leave.
“Alright.” I nodded obediently, making Xander smile in satisfaction.
“Let’s get going.” With that, he drove us to the restaurant near the conservatory- the one he always picked when he acted like he was sorry for making me sad.
“Claire, when I came home last time, I kept you awake all night and didn’t even notice how pale you were until you collapsed. What did the doctor say?”
I froze.
The memory sliced through me like cold steel. The doctor's voice, calm: “Congratulations. You are pregnant with twins.”
My fingers trembled slightly as I clutched my dress tightly as I recalled how I already lost one of my fetuses. “Nothing serious.”I shook my head lightly, forcing a thin smile.
The exquisite dishes arrived with Xander’s eyes on me.
“Claire.” he said softly, sliding the bowl closer. “Don’t make me feed you.” he picked up the bowl and brought the spoon to my lips.
Earlier I would have melted in happiness that he was worried, only now I saw a stark suspicion passing his features as I did not cling to him like always.
To avoid tipping him off, I swallowed the food that felt like stone.
It was then a message beeped on his phone.
[Victoria: Did you get the rose diamond ring resized?]
My heart froze, blood draining from my face as my hand curled tightly in my lap to stop it from shaking.
Our wedding ring, the ring Xander once slid across my finger before ‘I’ lost it accidentally, wasn’t lost at all but he took it away and got it resized for her?
Xander didn’t wait a moment, immediately dialing a number.
“It is done, are you satisfied now?” His voice lowered, intimate… almost apologetic. “I am just… out handling something. Yeah, I will be there soon.” he said.
My fork scraped against the plate, an awful sound in the silence between his words.
“Fine, okay. I will come now. Just- don’t cry. I am on my way.”
Don’t cry.
That line felt like a knife twisting in my heart. How many nights have I silently cried on the cold side of his bed, while he lay beside me, his back turned after he was done using my body?
I had bared my soul naked to him, letting him slice my innocence part by part as he asked me to strip naked in open, pleasure him with my mouth if I couldn’t submit to him during periods.
Even when I was sick and burning I had learnt to clench my teeth to take all of his pent up frustrations as he roughly pounded inside me.
Xander turned back towards me with a tinge of guilt in his eyes. “I have to go. Something urgent.”
I nodded once, expression calm and unreadable, feeling a strange kind of finality. That night I walked home in the rain, letting it soak through my bones as I sent an application.
“I would like to join the UN members for social welfare in Nigeria.”
