Chapter 9

Mercer Group suddenly moved against them, cutting off every partnership it had with Prescott Group and

Ethan’s company.

Ethan’s company had long depended heavily on Prescott Group. Its financing collapsed overnight, forcing it

to file for bankruptcy.

Tessa fared even worse.

An anonymous email containing evidence that she had falsified company accounts and accepted kickbacks

was sent to everyone at the company.

She was fired and faced fraud charges.

They all searched for Claire with growing desperation.

Ethan waited outside her old house for three days and three nights.

When the door finally opened, a young woman he had never seen before stepped outside.

“Claire Bennett? Oh, the previous owner. She sold me the house three days ago.

The woman eyed him warily.

Ethan broke down and called Claire.

Every call ended with the same cold recording: “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

She hadn’t blocked them.

She offered no explanation and said no goodbye.

Claire vanished from their lives like the wind.

She couldn’t even be bothered to take revenge herself. She had simply discarded them where they stood, as

though they were trash.

One year later, on New Year’s Eve, heavy snow blanketed Denver,

Grant walked down the courthouse steps in a coat far too thin for the weather.

The court ruling in his hand was soaked with melting snow.

He had lost.

He now carried a felony assault conviction and owed a staggering amount in damages.

Mercer Group had shorted Prescott Group’s stock into the ground and then taken over the company.

Grant, once the center of everyone’s attention, was now just another man buried in debt.

Abitter wind swept past him, and he pulled his coat tighter.

His thoughts drifted to all the New Year’s Eves he had spent with Claire.

She would prepare a table full of his favorite dishes and wait for him until late at night.

Even when work kept him out late, she would quietly warm everything again and say softly, “You must be

freezing. Have some soup first.’

She really had been easy to calm down.

So easy that he had convinced himself she would never leave.

Across the street, a massive LED screen in the downtown plaza was showing a year-end interview with one

of the year’s leading business figures.

Grant stopped without thinking.

Julian stood on the screen in a perfectly tailored black suit, smiling as he held a beautiful baby in his arms.

The woman beside him was Claire.

She wore a simple white dress, her hair loosely pinned up.

She had no heavy makeup and still carried the same cool, understated elegance.

But now there was light in her eyes-a relaxed, gentle glow that came from feeling completely safe.

That light had once belonged to him.

The interviewer smiled.

“Mrs. Mercer, that pink diamond is stunning. We heard Mr. Mercer went to extraordinary lengths to win it

at auction.”

The camera cut to a close-up of Claire’s hand.

Claire looked down at the ring, then raised her eyes and exchanged a smile with Julian.

“Yes,” she said softly to the camera.

“He told me a promise shouldn’t be a cheap lie. It should be a choice you stand by.”

She never mentioned Grant.

There wasn’t even a trace of hatred.

There was only peace–the complete indifference of someone for whom he no longer existed.

Grant stood in the snow, staring blankly at the screen.

Snowflakes landed on his glasses and melted into water, blurring his vision.

With a trembling hand, he reached into his pocket.

It was empty.

He suddenly remembered his sophomore year of college, when he first confessed his feelings to Claire.

“Claire, from now on, I’ll protect you.”

Eight years later, he had personally pushed the woman who had once had eyes only for him into someone

else’s arms.

The image on the giant screen changed to the New Year’s Eve countdown.

“Ten, nine, eight…”.

The crowd erupted in cheers as fireworks burst across the night sky in brilliant color.

Grant slowly crouched in the dirty slush and buried his face in his knees.

On a night when everyone else was celebrating with the people they loved, he suddenly realized that nothing

in the rest of his life would ever matter again.