The Lie That Killed Her Love

When the call came that her mother had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was in a coma, Clara Gabriel's mind went blank. She bolted from her desk. "Where do you think you're going?" The cold voice of her fiance, Julian Vance, cut through the office. "You're still on the clock." As Clara turned to the man she was supposed to marry, her eyes were filled with tears. "My mother is in the ICU." "Going there won't change the outcome," Julian said, his expression completely unreadable. "You are the future first lady of this company. Are you really going to set an example of abandoning your post?" Clara's chest tightened. "This is an emergency. It's only ten minutes before my shift ends…" "Clara," Julian interrupted, his tone darkening. "Sit back down." He paused and adjusted his cuffs. "Rush-hour traffic is backed up for miles. You won't find a cab anyway. Wait ten minutes, and I'll drive you." Rush hour was brutal. It was only ten minutes... Clara walked back to her desk in a daze. She kept telling herself that Julian was just being pragmatic. He was right. But despite how she kept staring at her screen, the burn behind her eyes refused to go away. --- Chapter 1 Julian Vance had always held himself to ruthless standards. He demanded the same perfection from the woman he planned to marry. No detail was too small. He refused to let her slack off. He expected her to stay at the office until midnight every single day. No project was too large. He tolerated zero mistakes and forced her to draft hundreds of contingency plans for every proposal. She had endured all of it. He was the CEO, after all. He had to lead by example. But today, her mother was dying and he still wouldn't give her just ten minutes of grace. Her mind was a chaotic blur. The moment those ten minutes expired, Clara rushed straight to the executive office. Julian's assistant, Austin Woods, gave her an uncomfortable, pained look. "Mr. Vance is already gone. Miss Chloe was coughing. He was concerned, so he took her to the hospital." The blood drained from Clara's face. Julian never left early. Not ever. But because Chloe West, his childhood friend's younger sister, coughed twice, he threw his sacred rules out the window. The same rules he had enforced on Clara without a shred of mercy. Those ten lost minutes cost her dearly. By the time she reached the street, the rush-hour queue for taxis was endless. Traffic had ground to a complete crawl. It took two agonizing hours for Clara to reach the ICU. The attending doctor looked at her with a mix of pity and frustration. "Why did you take so long to get here? "The bleeding was too severe. We couldn't save her. Your mother insisted on receiving heavy pain medication just to hold on for you. "She waited a full hour. Ten minutes ago... her body simply gave out." Every sound in the corridor seemed to vanish. Clara's knees buckled. She collapsed onto the cold bench, hearing nothing but her own ragged, broken gasps. Ten minutes. It was those ten minutes again. She had missed her mother's last moments. Suddenly, a bright, cheerful voice shattered the heavy silence. "Julian, thank you so much for coming to the doctor with me." Clara froze. She slowly turned her head. Julian, a man who rarely showed emotion, had a subtle smile on his face. "Your brother asked me to look after you when he put you in my company as an intern. I couldn't let him down." Chloe gave him a sweet smile. Then, she paused and looked puzzled. "Julian, if you were planning to bring me to the hospital all along, why did you tell Clara you would drive her?" At the mention of Clara's name, Julian's smile vanished. "Just putting her in her place. She relies too much on being the future Mrs. Vance to demand special privileges. I won't allow her to get arrogant." As he was speaking, he glanced over and saw Clara staring right at him with her face deathly pale. Clara stood up and walked toward him. She asked, every word trembling with raw pain, "Special privileges, Julian? What privileges have I ever had? "Because I'm your fiancée, you reassigned my assistant. "I had to handle every tedious task myself, to the point of being hospitalized nine times in a single month from exhaustion! "Because I'm your fiancée, whenever I accidentally make a single typo in a document, what do you do? "You forced me to stand in front of the entire company to repeat 'I was wrong, I am sorry' a thousand times! "So tell me, Julian! Aside from using this title to control and humiliate me at work, have you ever actually treated me as your wife? "My mother was your family too! How could you gamble with her life?!" Scalding tears streamed down her cheeks. "Stop making a scene," Julian snapped with his thin lips pressing into a tight, icy line. "Your mother died because it was her time. "Missing her was your own choice. You agreed to wait ten minutes. It has nothing to do with me." He looked down at her with cold contempt. "Besides, Clara, you were the one who chased after me and confessed. "You couldn't wait to become Mrs. Vance. Why play the victim now?" Julian tilted his sharp chin as if he was completely certain that she would never walk away. "If you actually have the spine for it, go ahead and cancel the wedding next month." Without waiting for a response, he turned and guided Chloe down the hall. Clara remained frozen in place. It was as if she was swallowed whole by a tidal wave of self-ridicule and bitter regret. He was right about one thing. She had chased him. She had confessed ninety-nine times. She had been foolish enough to be overjoyed when he finally accepted her. She abandoned her promising career at a top investment bank just to work like a dog at Vance Enterprises. It was later that she discovered the truth by accident. Julian didn't accept her out of love. He simply needed someone to manage his household and bear his workload. She just happened to fit the job description of an unpaid housekeeper and secretary. Nothing more. Inside the hearse, Clara held her mother's cold hand tight against her tear-stained face. Her body trembled with quiet sobs. "Mom... I'm sorry. It's all my fault. "I don't want to marry Julian anymore... You would agree with me, wouldn't you?" — Chapter 2 A funeral was an expensive undertaking. Clara emptied her bank accounts, but she could only scrape together two hundred dollars. It was a pathetic amount. Ever since she joined Vance Enterprises, every hour of overtime, every sacrifice, and every sleepless night had been treated as her basic duty. Consequently, Julian never paid her a single cent in salary. She had been forced to burn through all her personal savings just to survive. Until she was left utterly cornered. Still, a funeral had to be held. Desperate, Clara contacted the finance department to request an advance on six months of her salary. The accountant stumbled over his words while sounding deeply apologetic. "Mr. Vance left strict instructions. He said no special exceptions are to be made for you..." "How is this a special exception?!" Clara raised her voice in sheer disbelief. Vance Enterprises prided itself on employee welfare. In the past, similar requests from other staff members had always been approved without question. Why was it suddenly a violation of corporate policy when it came to her? Furious, Clara arranged for the funeral home to hold her mother's remains temporarily. After that, she rushed straight back to the corporate headquarters. Julian was in the middle of a board meeting. When Clara insisted on seeing him immediately, his assistant, Austin, blocked her path with a rigid expression. "I'm sorry, Ms. Gabriel. Interrupting Mr. Vance during a meeting is strictly forbidden. "Especially for you. You of all people should know better than to break the rules." Before Clara could push past him, the heavy oak doors opened. Chloe stepped into the conference room holding a laptop with a bright smile on her face. Julian's freezing, impassive gaze melted the instant he caught sight of her. He raised a hand with long, slender fingers and signaled the board to pause. Then, he offered Chloe a gentle smile. His voice was unusually soft. "What is it?" Chloe blinked, her tone sweet and innocent. "Julian, I forgot how to format the presentation slides." Right there in front of dozens of senior executives, Julian patiently taught Chloe how to adjust the layout step-by-step. Outside the glass doors, whispers and pitiful glances rippled through the open-plan office. "Chloe is the only exception Mr. Vance ever makes. If you didn't know better, you'd think Chloe is his fiancée. "Looking at how Clara is treated, she's basically just an unpaid servant." "Remember last month when Clara was drowning in work trying to fix the marketing team's mess? "Mr. Vance took Chloe out for a six-course candlelit dinner at a private rooftop restaurant. It costs a fortune for just one night." Clara let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh. Julian spent thousands on Chloe for a single evening. But Clara was too destitute to afford a basic burial. He poured infinite patience into teaching Chloe the most elementary tasks. But whenever Clara asked him for guidance in the past, he would only glance at her with cold indifference. "Get out. My fiancée shouldn't need hand-holding for the basics." Julian only gave his patience to the person he loved. It was such a simple truth. It was a shame she had to be battered and bruised all over before finally understanding it. She forced herself to wait until the meeting concluded. Taking a deep breath, Clara squared her shoulders and walked straight up to Julian. "I need an advance on my salary." She expected him to refuse outright. Instead, he simply nodded with his sharp profile cutting a clean silhouette against the office lights. "Granted. Under one condition. There's a high-priority project with a tight deadline. You will take Chloe and finish it together." Everything Julian gave her always came with strings attached. Clara stood in silence for a long moment. She forced a hollow, aching smile and agreed in a low voice. She had already calculated the workload. The proposal wasn't complicated. Given her expertise, she could easily wrap it up in two days. There would still be plenty of time to hold the funeral within seven days. She never imagined that Chloe would thoroughly sabotage the process. First, Chloe 'accidentally' spilled a full cup of black coffee directly onto Clara's laptop which wiped out days of compiled research. Then, Chloe managed to email an unpolished draft to a rival corporate competitor. Clara was forced to rebuild the proposal completely from scratch to salvage the deal. The endless traps and delays dragged a two-day project into a grueling seven-day nightmare. When Clara finally submitted the completed dossier, her eyes were bloodshot from a week without sleep. At the same time, a notification popped up on her phone. [Her salary advance had been deposited.] She checked the balance in disbelief. For six months of advance pay, the total amount deposited was a mere two thousand dollars. Refusing to believe her eyes, Clara marched over to the finance department. The accountant looked uncomfortable but insisted the calculations were correct. "Your compensation was processed using the company's absolute minimum entry-level tier. "Furthermore, Mr. Vance deducted the vast majority of the funds. "The reason given... was that you failed to execute your assigned tasks to his standards." At that moment, Chloe strolled over. The accountant's face lit up with a warm, flattering smile as he spotted her. "Chloe! The fifty-thousand-dollar project bonus just cleared. Mr. Vance personally fast-tracked it for you. Congratulations!" "Julian is too generous," Chloe murmured and pursed her lip with feigned modesty. Her gaze drifted toward Clara with a sly gleam in her eyes. "We should also thank Clara. The project rating was exceptionally high, so the payout is generous." Her soft-spoken words dripped with calculated provocation. Clara's heart plunged into an icy abyss. She cut through the noise with her voice sounding like shards of glass. "I wrote every single line of that project from start to finish! You didn't contribute a single thing. What gives you the right to get the bonus?" Chloe immediately flinched, her eyes widening in theatrical distress and her face turning pale. "This was... Julian's arrangement..." Clara ignored the clumsy, manipulative display and pulled out her phone to dial Julian directly. — Chapter 3 Clara called his line five times in a row. Not a single call went through. On her sixth attempt, the call disconnected instantly with an automated tone. He had blocked her number. Clara's knuckles turned bone-white around her phone. At that precise moment, Chloe pulled out her own phone to call Julian. The phone didn't even ring twice before Julian picked up. He couldn't bear to let her wait a single second. "Chloe? What's wrong?" he asked, his voice thick with tender concern. "Julian!" Clara forced down the metallic taste of blood rising in her throat and raised her sharp voice with desperation. "Why did you put my hard-earned bonus under Chloe's name?!" The moment Julian heard Clara's voice, his tone dropped below freezing. "Clara, when is this ridiculous behavior going to end? "Chloe is an intern. She needs portfolio credits to build her career. You're the future lady of this company. "Are you seriously fighting an entry-level intern over a line on a resume? Aren't you ashamed of being so petty?" The words drove into Clara's chest like a jagged blade and opened a raw, bleeding wound. Swallowing the bitter rage, she held her ground. "I did the work! The money belongs to me! "If you don't return it to me right now, I will expose this to the entire office! Let's see who will ever respect a fraud who rides coat-tails to the top!" Julian's deep voice dripped with pure disdain while echoing painfully in her ears. "Clara, when did you become so cruel? Does pulling down those below you give you a cheap sense of superiority? "It's just fifty thousand dollars. I didn't realize you were so remarkably greedy." He paused and called out to his assistant in a clipped tone. "Issue Clara a matching bonus." Even through the phone line, Clara could hear the sheer irritation in his tone. The condescending tone of a wealthy man throwing a bone to a begging stray. A burning mist filled her eyes, but she blinked it away fiercely before a single tear could fall. The transaction cleared shortly after. With the funds in her account, Clara rushed straight to the funeral home. On the way, she booked a one-way flight out of the country. Her flight was scheduled for the day before the wedding. Looking at the flight confirmation, Clara tried to tell herself she was still fortunate. At least she had scraped by in time to give her mother a dignified send-off. However, the moment she pushed open the doors to the storage chamber, the horror made her eyes stretch wide. The air was thick with a nauseating, overpowering stench of rot. Her mother's body, which should have been preserved, was bloated and discolored. Swarms of maggots crawled over the decomposing skin and obscured every recognizable feature. Her brain went completely numb. She felt as if she was struck by a heavy hammer. Despite staring at the body, she was unable to process the nightmare before her. The facility technician walked over, his expression utterly indifferent. "Ms. Gabriel, we called you three days ago to ask if you wanted the body moved to cold storage. We warned you the summer heat would accelerate decay. "You told us... she was already dead anyway, and you weren't going to waste money cooling a corpse." Clara never received a call from the funeral home. Suddenly, her memories flooded back. Three days ago, while she was dizzy with exhaustion at her desk, Chloe was busy playing with Clara's phone. When Clara asked what she was up to, Chloe simply giggled and said she had picked up her device by mistake. A body in this condition could not have an open-casket viewing. Immediate cremation was the only option. Clara was denied even the chance to hold a final vigil for her mother. The woman who raised her was ushered out of this world in filth. Her mother was stripped of every ounce of dignity. During the cremation process, Clara sobbed until she hyperventilated and almost fell unconscious. The urn was small. She tucked it inside her backpack to take it home and set up a private altar for her mother. The moment she unlocked her front door, she ran straight into Chloe. The apartment was already filled with Chloe's personal belongings. Clara's cozy blanket on the sofa had been tossed onto the dirty floor and it had been replaced by Chloe's plush stuffed animals. Clara's favorite ceramic mug had been swept into the trash bin to make room for a bright pink organizer. Chloe looked up with a delicate, sweet smile. "Clara, I'll be staying here for a while. Julian was worried about me renting an apartment on my own. "He said I should move in here as a perk of the company's employee housing." Clara's fingers trembled uncontrollably. It was absurd. This was the newly renovated home she and Julian were supposed to share after their wedding. And Julian had casually handed it over as employee lodging? The shock lasted only a second before Clara strode forward with her eyes razor-sharp. "Chloe. Did you answer the call from the funeral home?" Chloe feigned surprise and tapped her chin as if she was trying hard to recall. "Oh! Right! Clara, you're not mad at me, are you?" She blinked her eyes with exaggerated innocence. "You were so busy that day. I was just trying to be thoughtful! I didn't want to distract you from your deadlines. "Besides, you were so desperate for cash. It was just a dead old woman, letting her rot saves you money anyway! "You could have just thrown her out in the woods for the wild dogs to eat and saved yourself the cremation fee!" Chloe's lips curled up into a triumphant, mocking smirk. "Honestly, Clara, you should be thanking me for saving you a fortune." "Shut your mouth!" A volcanic surge of fury, guilt, and agonizing pain erupted in Clara's chest! Her entire body shook violently. With every ounce of strength left in her, she swung her hand and delivered a deafening slap across Chloe's face! At that exact moment, the front door was slammed open. Julian stood on the threshold, his face dark with lethal rage. "Clara! What do you think you're doing?!" — Chapter 4 Clara didn't show a shred of fear. Right in front of Julian, she raised her hand and struck Chloe across the face a second time! Caught completely off guard, Chloe tumbled awkwardly onto the floor. Tears filled her eyes as she whimpered in pain. "It hurts... Clara, how could you do this to me?" "Stop your pathetic acting!" Clara cut her off with venomous sharp authority. "Chloe, do you dare repeat what you just said to my face?" "That's enough, Clara!" Julian snapped. As his heart was already aching for Chloe, he rushed forward and pulled her to her feet. He glared at Clara, his voice dripping with coldness. "So what if she stopped the facility from refrigerating a corpse? Is such a trivial matter really worth you throwing a hysterical tantrum in my home?" Listening to his dismissive, casual disdain, Clara locked her gaze onto his hand, which was wrapped tightly around Chloe's waist. Her voice trembled violently. "You knew about it too?" "She asked for my advice. Naturally, I approved of her thoughtfulness. She knew you were broke, so she stepped in to save you from incurring extra debt." Julian spoke in a flat tone laced with quiet ridicule, "Besides, Clara, your mother came from a dirt-poor, lower-class background. "People like that deserve an end that matches their status. You should have some self-awareness." Astonishment and humiliation morphed into sharp glass in Clara's throat and tore her apart until she bled internally. She shook her head, once, twice, and spoke with every word coated in bitter despair, "Julian... how could you disown my mother's humanity like that...?" Before she could finish, a desolate smile broke across her lips. In truth, Julian had always been this way. From the day they met, Julian had never visited her mother once. Every time her mother offered to visit the city, Julian dismissed the idea with excuses of being too busy. He didn't even reserve a single seat for her mother at their upcoming wedding banquet. Clara had simply spent years blinding herself to everything. So when reality was finally dragged into the light, she felt like she was being sliced open by a thousand blades. "It is simply the truth," Julian said with his brow furrowing deeper into a scowl. "However, Clara, that gives you no right to bully Chloe. "Apologize to her." Clara grabbed a glass vase from the side table and slammed it onto the hardwood floor with all her strength! Glass shattered everywhere and some of the shards bit deep into her bare ankles. Yet she felt no pain at all. She lifted her chin high and pronounced every syllable clearly, "Julian Vance... in your dreams." Julian remained terrifyingly calm. His cold eyes drifted toward Clara's heavy leather backpack. "Your mother's urn is in there, isn't it? Do you want your mother to be denied peace even after death?" Clara froze on the spot. Being dropped into a frozen abyss could not compare to the sheer chill that swept through her veins. Julian was ruthless in business. He had endless dark, underhanded methods at his disposal to get whatever he wanted. A suffocating silence stretched between them. Julian called for his security detail outside. A sign that his patience had run completely dry. "I'm sorry," Clara choked out and her head dropped as if she was weighed down by iron chains. Her voice was raspy and hollow as she repeated, 'Miss Chloe… I am sorry.' "Just a verbal apology?" Julian asked smoothly. So Clara bent her waist and bowed deeply. Just like countless times before. Whenever she made the slightest mistake at work, Julian would force her to stand on stage before the entire company. He would make her deliver public apologies while feeling every pitying stare burn into her spine. "I am sorry. It was my fault." As her head bowed to its lowest point, a single icy tear slipped from the corner of her eye and fell silently onto the carpet below. — Chapter 5 Late that night, the bedroom door was kicked open by a security guard. A huge bucket of ice-cold water slammed straight onto Clara! The freezing chill shot straight to her brain and jolted her awake. Through her blurred vision, she saw Chloe standing over her with a sneer. "My face still hurts, you bitch. How can you sleep so comfortably?" With a flick of her wrist, she ordered the guard to force Clara's jaw open. They quickly poured a bowl of murky fluid down her throat. The second they released her, Clara collapsed over the edge of the bed. She gagged and convulsed violently. As she spat up the dark liquid, she caught sight of fine gray powder mixed in the fluid. Her pupils dilated in sheer horror. "What... what did you just force me to drink?!" "Can't you taste it?" Chloe burst into a soft, melodic laugh. "That's the flavor of your beloved mother!" A sharp ringing pierced Clara's ears. She spun around wildly. Her locked brass urn had been smashed open and it was empty. Chloe had dissolved her mother's ashes in water and forced her to drink it! "Chloe!" Clara's world spun and flipped upside down. A piercing shriek tore from her throat. Driven entirely mad by grief, she lunged at Chloe with raw rage! But the guards grabbed her immediately. "Let me go!" Clara roared like a trapped, wounded beast. "Let go of me! I am Julian Vance's fiancée! I order you to let me go!" The guards hesitated for a split second. Chloe offered a light, breezy chuckle. "Except... Julian cares about me now." That single, simple sentence dissolved every trace of hesitation in the guards' eyes. After all, Julian's blatant favoritism toward Chloe was common knowledge. His men had no fear of consequences. They couldn't care less about Clara's official status as his fiancée. "She's trying to attack me! Pin her down already!" Chloe commanded. A blinding surge of pain shot through Clara's arms as the guards twisted her wrists behind her back. She was forced down into a humiliating kneel on the hard floor. "Chloe!" Clara's chest heaved violently while her bloodshot eyes brimmed with scalding tears. "You deserve to burn in hell!" Before she could finish her words, Chloe pulled out a black-and-white photograph. Clara's mother smiled back at her gently and kindly in the photograph. Seeing that face, Clara felt like hundreds of needles were being driven straight into her retinas. Her body shuddered. Her rage shattered and left her trembling with desperation. "Chloe... please don't… Give it back to me... I'm begging you..." It was her mother's only remaining memorial portrait. Face to face with Clara's desperate pleas, Chloe's smile only grew sweeter. "Oh? So Clara, you actually know how to feel afraid?" She flicked open a silver lighter, her voice dangerously slow. "A pity. You slapped me earlier. And I hold grudges." The reflection of the flame danced in Clara's eyes. She screamed, thrashed and fought like a feral animal. Black smoke began to curl into the air. Chloe offered a mock pouting expression. "Mrs. Gabriel, my apologies to you. But you have no idea how filthy your daughter is. "She chased Julian like a shameless dog, throwing her body at him just to secure a marriage. "Look at her now. Isn't she pathetic? Kneeling and begging like a street cur. "You gave birth to her. Tell me... don't you deserve to die for creating such a disgrace?" Clara shook her head frantically. She didn't want her mother to hear those atrocious lies. Her only remaining wish in this life was for her mother to rest in peace. "Shut up! Chloe! Shut your mouth!" Clara sobbed until her throat tore open. A raw, burning pain tore through her vocal cords. By the time the photo turned entirely to ash, Clara had lost her voice. The guards finally released her. But she didn't have a single drop of strength left to fight back. She simply collapsed onto the floor and cupped the warm gray ashes in her palms while her tears overflowed. --- Julian sat beside Clara's hospital bed. Seeing her slowly open her swollen eyes, he spoke in a neutral tone, "Feeling any better? Chloe accidentally spilled water on the portrait. It was a mistake. "I have docked half a day of her intern pay." He paused, his tone entirely even. "Still, there's no need for you to make such a scene or act like it's the end of the world." Clara stared at his cold, unbothered eyes. The first words out of her throat were raspy and hollow. "Where is Chloe?" Julian's brow furrowed slightly. "Why are you looking for her? I already punished her on your behalf..." "Julian Vance!" Clara clenched her fists, her voice raspy as she cut him off. "Half a day of intern pay? "The necklace you casually bought her cost a million dollars! The designer bag you gave her is worth as much as a luxury condo! "Is that a punishment, or are you just spoiling her?! Tell me! Where is she?!" Julian's eyes turned cold. "What more do you want? Clara, why do you constantly fight me over a dead person who doesn't even exist anymore? "She was your mother, fine! But I am your future husband!" Husband. Clara chewed on the word between her teeth, tasting nothing but bitter ice and cruel irony. Her eyes were dull and hollow. "Julian, if this were a few months ago, hearing you say that would have made me jump for joy like an idiot. "But now..." She blinked, and a sudden quiet laugh escaped her lips. Her laughter grew into a frail tremor and her thin shoulders shook uncontrollably. "Julian... where do you get the confidence to think I'm still going to marry you?" Julian's breath hitched and his heart seized instantly. "What did you say?" At that exact moment, Clara's phone vibrated on the nightstand. A push notification flashed across the screen. [A flight reminder for in a few days, a one-way ticket out of the country.] Julian reached over, grabbed the phone, and tapped the screen awake. — Chapter 6 However, Clara had set notification previews to remain hidden while her phone was locked. Without her passcode, Julian could only see her lock screen wallpaper. It was a photograph of a rose bouquet. The same one he gave her on her last birthday. In truth, Julian didn't remember her birthday. His assistant, Austin, reminded him that day and bought the flowers. Austin handed them to him to give to her. It was a cheap gesture that was completely devoid of thought or affection. Yet Clara photographed it, saved it, and set it as her wallpaper to treasure every single day. It was living proof of how deeply she loved him. The tension in Julian's chest snapped and was replaced by a wave of cold relief. "Stop speaking out of anger," he said with his voice flat and indifferent. "The wedding preparations are almost finished. "Once you're discharged, you can join the rehearsals. "When the day comes, you will be my wife. You'll be the first lady of Vance Enterprises and enjoy a lifetime of luxury." Julian had no idea that her flight was scheduled for the day before the wedding. It was a ceremony that was destined to have no bride. Clara didn't bother to argue. She remained silent until Julian grew impatient and left. The moment he walked away, she checked herself out of the hospital and caught a cab straight to corporate headquarters. She walked into the executive secretarial suite and found Chloe at her desk. Before Chloe could process the shock of seeing her, Clara raised a glass liquor bottle she had bought on the way and slammed it hard against Chloe's head! The glass shattered and alcohol splashed everywhere. Blood immediately welled up from a deep gash on Chloe's forehead. Completely frozen, Chloe touched her face in stunned silence. But Clara wasn't finished. She grabbed Chloe by the hair and dragged her into the main hallway to expose her utter humiliation to every employee on the floor. Julian rushed out at the sound of the commotion with his voice thunderous. "Release her!" Clara ignored him. Flying into a rage, Julian took three swift steps forward and grabbed Clara's arm. He brutally twisted her wrist out of its socket with his face dark enough to kill. "Clara! Have you completely lost your mind bringing your hysterics into the office?!" The crack of her dislocated wrist echoed sharply in the quiet hall, yet Clara's expression remained terrifyingly calm. "This is what she owes my mother." As the two stood in a deadlock, Chloe scrambled up from the floor. She sobbed hysterically. "Julian..." Stepping toward him with a stumble, Chloe threw herself straight into Clara. They both tumbled toward the open stairwell. Julian darted forward and caught Chloe in a firm embrace. Clara saw it all clearly. Julian could have easily saved her, too. Instead, he didn't move an inch. He simply watched with ice-cold, unbothered eyes. He watched in utter silence as she tumbled down the steep flight of stairs. Her head cracked against the concrete steps and left a smear of red. Her arms and legs bruised instantly while her body collapsed on the landing. She became completely immobile. Julian looked down at her bleeding body and issued a ruthless order to the surrounding staff, "Nobody calls an ambulance for her." A colleague couldn't bear the sight. "But Mr. Vance... She's bleeding heavily. She'll go into shock..." "She brought it on herself." With those final words, Julian turned and took Chloe away. Clara lost consciousness from the severe blood loss. When she finally woke up, she was shivering violently from the cold. As it was already late into the night, the entire building had turned dark. Covered with dried blood and bruises, Clara couldn't get any taxi to pick her up. She had no choice but to stumble through the streets and walk endlessly until the sun rose. She finally collapsed on the steps of the hospital at dawn. This time, Julian never came to visit her. Instead, he deliberately took Chloe along to complete the full wedding rehearsal out of spite. Later that day, Chloe posted photos all over her social media. There was a photo of Julian smiling as he slipped a diamond band onto her finger. There was another photo of her leaning into his tall frame as they were walking down the red carpet. During the mock ceremony, when the officiant called for the groom to kiss the bride, Julian held Chloe's chin and pressed his lips against hers. It looked as if they were the ones getting married. Clara felt no emotional reaction to any of it. Her heart was already torn to shreds. It was numb, silent, and completely dead. --- The day of her departure was bright and clear. Clara received a text message from Julian. His tone was full of effortless confidence. [The wedding is tomorrow. Noon, 12:00 PM sharp.] Short and commanding. He was entirely certain she would show up right on time. Clara let out a soft, faint smile. She deleted his contact and blocked his number. Before snapping her SIM card in half, she dialed an anonymous number and paid a third party to deliver a grand gift to Julian at the altar the next day. She was certain Julian would love it. At the gate, the flight attendant smiled and bowed slightly. "Have a wonderful flight, Ms. Clara." As Clara smiled back, her eyes reflected the quiet confidence and grace she had lost so long ago. "Thank you. I will." From this moment on, Julian Vance no longer existed in her life. She was simply herself. Strong, brilliant, and free. —