Chapter 1015

“Men have a deep obsession with their first loves, especially their old flames. So, when your grandfather ordered him to marry you, Felix fought back violently. They had a massive falling out. He was even willing to throw away his position as the heir to the Quigley Group just to be with her.”

“Then why…” Claire’s voice trembled.

She had never known Felix possessed such a tragic history.

From the day he was born, Felix had been groomed to take over the Quigley Group.

Leading the company was a duty carved into his very bones.

Yet, for his first love, he had been willing to throw away the destiny he’d prepared for his entire life…

He must have loved her incredibly much.

Old Mrs. Quigley knew exactly what Claire was thinking. She let out a long sigh before continuing, “His grandfather gave him a life-or-death ultimatum. That’s the only reason he surrendered.”

“No wonder,” Claire murmured, finally understanding.

“You can probably guess the rest. He was forced into the marriage, which is why he resented it so much. He never put any effort into the relationship and always treated you with such indifference.”

Recalling the past broke the old woman’s heart.

Claire had been kept in the dark the entire time.

She was the most innocent victim in all of this.

That was why Old Mrs. Quigley felt so deeply indebted to her, why she wanted to make up for it however she could.

“He could have just told me.” Though Claire understood Felix’s predicament, she felt he should have been honest from the start.

If he had, she could have simply played her part until the contract ended and walked away without getting in his way.

She would have kept her distance and maintained strict boundaries.

“Well, the tragedy is that the girl drowned herself on the exact day you two signed your marriage papers at city hall.”

A loud ringing filled Claire’s ears, the shock so profound she forgot how to breathe.

She remembered the day they made their marriage official.

Felix’s grandfather had gathered the entire extended family for a lavish dinner to formally welcome her into the Quigley family.

But the food grew cold, and Felix never showed up.

As his new bride, her position at the family dinner was humiliating.

The extended relatives looked at her with blatant schadenfreude.

Claire felt utterly mortified, though thankfully, with the patriarch present, no one dared insult her to her face.

That night, a massive torrential downpour struck Northcrest. Exhausted and in an unfamiliar house, Claire couldn’t sleep.

Half-awake, she heard a commotion downstairs.

She slipped out of her room and peered down from the staircase landing.

Felix was standing stubbornly in front of his grandfather, his white dress shirt completely soaked and ruined.

His grandfather lashed out at him, striking his back with a heavy cane.

Felix didn’t make a single sound. He just gritted his teeth and took it.

Later, his grandfather banished him to the family estate’s courtyard,

forcing him to stand, the pine?

ran all night.

The next morning, it was Old Mrs. Quigley who found Claire, asking her to bring Felix some food.

When she went out, Felix was still standing rigidly in the gloomy courtyard.

His clothes had been soaked through, dried to his skin, and soaked again by the relentless rain.

He looked broken in a way she couldn’t even describe.

Yet he seemed entirely numb to it.

The

maned by a hollow shell

dressed, cet

predatory gaze

opre,

soul had been ripped away.

His hair was a mess, his eyes were bloodshot and terrifying, and a suffocating aura

of devastation radiated from him.

Claire’s heart had seized in her chest.

At the time, she hadn’t known about

the girl’s

existence, nor did she know

the horrors Felix had endured the

night before.

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Seeing him so utterly shattered, she had naively assumed he was just tormented by

the reality of their arranged marriage.