Claire's expression became sullen upon hearing Armand call Ollie a bastard. She shot daggers at him and warned, "Who are you calling a bastard?"Armand guffawed. He pointed at Ollie and said with a raised voice, "I'm talking about him, duh. Are you deaf?"The next second, Claire slapped him across the face. She couldn't believe this man was the same person she was once deeply in love with five years ago. After their time apart, she came to learn that their fleeting relationship meant nothing at all. The fact that he could treat a child so ruthlessly reflected how he'd taken her for granted.Claire's slap landed on Armand's cheek loudly, leaving him slightly dazed. While he touched his cheek in a trance, Chantelle was already yelling fiercely, "Claire, how could you hit him?" Armand was her fiancé; thus, she felt equally humiliated. However, no matter how angered she was, Claire wasn't fazed. Instead, she looked at Chantelle with an icy glare and said, "One more word from your mouth
The car left the airport very soon after. After some distance, Javier looked ahead and said calmly, "Let go."At his reminder, Claire regained her senses and hurriedly let go of his hand. Feeling somewhat mortified, she tucked her hair behind her ear and said, "Thank you for just now."Next to her, Ollie shouted eagerly, "Thank you, Dad!""Stop it." Claire hastily covered her son's mouth with a hand and then put her index finger to her lips, gesturing for Ollie to quiet down. "You can't simply call people that.""But why?" Ollie blinked confusedly and stared at her. "Dad saved us from the bad guys just now…"Claire was at a loss. She really couldn't figure out why Ollie kept taking the stranger as his father, and she was even more perplexed by Javier's behavior. Clearing her throat, she looked at Javier apologetically before speaking to Ollie softly, "This man is not your dad. He only helped us out of kindness when he saw us getting bullied."Then, she tapped on Ollie's nose an
Liam was wheezing, obviously infuriated. Standing beside him was Chantelle, who tried to mediate between them insincerely and soothe him. “Calm down, Dad. Don’t get worked up because of her. Now that she’s back, we can’t very well drive her away. Besides, the child is innocent. You have to remember that he’s your grandson.”She deliberately stressed the word “grandson” to fuel her father’s rage.Armand stood by the side as he watched the chaos that the Weiss family was in. As he focused on the large-eyed boy hiding behind Claire, he was suddenly reminded of the man who showed up beside her yesterday.His fists clenched as a gush of resentment rose up within him. Waves of emotion roiled in his eyes.He had, after all, been with Claire for several years. Though they had eventually broken up due to the incident, he still held a place for her in his heart.Claire stared at the family before her emotionlessly as she struggled to push back the bitterness that threatened to take over her. Sh
In the following week, Claire made no contact with the Weiss family.In the blink of an eye, it was the day of Armand and Chantelle’s engagement party. Many of the rich and famous in town were present for the union between the Kendalls’ and the Weiss’. Seeing that it was about time, Liam, who was standing at the entrance welcoming guests, reminded Armand to go check on Chantelle to make sure that she was ready. “Chantelle and her mother have had their fair share of hardships in life.” He sighed and continued earnestly, “I’m leaving my daughter in your hands. I hope you treat her well. If you ever hurt her in the least, I won’t let you off easy.”Armand nodded solemnly and reassured, “Set your mind at ease, I’ll take good care of Chantelle. I’ll never disappoint her.”Pleased with Armand’s assurance, Liam patted him on the shoulder. Then, as though he suddenly recalled something, he turned to glance at the entrance. “That ungrateful wench will be here too, won’t she?” “That goes with
Liam turned to introduce Claire to the man beside him pleasantly, “Mr. Combe, this is my daughter, Claire Weiss.”Following Liam’s gestures toward her, Seamus Combe eyed Claire up, beaming so brightly that wrinkles formed around his eyes. “How lucky you are, Liam! I envy you for having two such beautiful daughters!”“You’re too kind, Mr. Combe.” Chantelle came over with Armand when she heard what he said. “I’m nowhere as lovely as my sister. In fact, she’s so much prettier than I am!”Claire felt a fearful apprehension creeping up on her when she saw how cheerful her father looked.“I only have two daughters.” Liam cleared his throat before he continued, “Now that my younger daughter has found her happiness, it’s time for me to think about my elder daughter’s future.”He then turned to Claire and prompted, “Claire, why don’t you talk to Mr. Combe?”Claire felt sick at the sight of him trying to play the part of a loving father.It finally dawned on her that this was the reason why he c
Claire stared at him with her mouth agape as she grappled for words.It never occurred to her that she would meet this man again so soon. What an unfortunate coincidence!He was clad in a custom-made suit that was tailored to accentuate his toned physique. Paired with his sharp features, an intimidating quality radiated off of him.As the crowd whispered among themselves, trying to figure out the man’s identity, Seamus’ expression changed yet again. He quickly rushed up to greet him. “Mr. Marquez, I didn’t expect to see you here!”So this man was Mr. Marquez, the legendary financial big shot who could manipulate the economy?Liam was in disbelief. It had never occurred to him that Mr. Marquez would be so young. Chantelle’s expression darkened as she tugged on Armand’s arm aggressively, exclaiming in a hushed voice, “What’s going on? Isn’t this the man Claire left the airport with the other day?”Then, as though to affirm her suspicion, Ollie, who had been standing in a corner the who
“Mommy,” Ollie asked with his arms around Claire’s neck, watching as Javier walked away. “Where’s Daddy going?”Claire ruffled his hair adoringly. Ollie seemed to firmly believe that Javier was his father, and no amount of persuasion could convince him otherwise.Smiling exasperatedly, Claire was just about to tell Ollie that Javier wasn’t his father and that he shouldn’t address him as such when she caught sight of Chantelle approaching.“What do you want?” she asked stonily.Chantelle put on a show of being nice and reached out to cling onto Claire’s arm. “Nothing, I was just worried that you’d be bored, so I came to accompany you.”But she was never one to be kind. She was merely irritated by what had happened earlier and was here to taunt Claire.“I guess you weren’t aware, Claire, but I used to be really jealous of you.”Seeing how Claire ignored her, Chantelle continued forlornly with a twitch of her lips, “You had Dad by your side ever since you were born, but I had to live a re
When Claire finally came around, she was no longer at Chantelle and Armand’s engagement party. She had no idea when she had been sent to the hospital.She was still suffering from a splitting headache that felt as though someone was hammering away at her head.“Ollie…” she started weakly, but all that came out was a rasp, which quickly transformed into a bout of hacking coughs.Liam, who was standing beside the bed, did not seem the least bit concerned about her health when he saw her wake up. Instead, all he cared to ask was, “What’s your relationship with Javier Marquez?”At this point, Claire had nothing but pure hatred left for her father. She could almost smell the stench of greed wafting off him, and her headache intensified.Not in the mood to entertain his interrogation, Claire pushed herself into a sitting position on the bed and called out as loudly as her body could take it, “Ollie, come here.”“Quit shouting! He’s not here.” Liam frowned impatiently. “I got Chantelle to bri