18"Your instincts were right about her. Zara indeed contributed to her husband's demise. She included heart attack causing pills in his medication to get rid of him. It wouldn't have been tough for her to do it considering that she's a medical student. Faking his death as a heart attack was simpler for her because she was friends with a well-known doctor in Silverhills with whom she met during her marriage. More like friends with benefits.” Monty gave his insights while Claire and Penelope were reading Zara's husband's fake and real autopsy reports. Monty really did a great job. He got so many evidence, both faked by Zara and the real copy, along with his hand drawn connections and corrections in places where the information was inaccurate. "Zara left Hunter in greed of living an opulent life as her fiancé, Clifford Phillips, was at the peak of success and Hunter was still climbing the ladders to the same position. Hunter may have been an heir to the wealthiest family in Bloomcrest
19Zara was startled. Her eyes aimlessly stared at the floor while the position of her head froze to an angle overlooking the white tiles to her left. She refused to blink as the pain from the slap spread throughout her skull, making her cheek throb."Don't you dare try to lure me with that melodiously sweet voice of yours. I am not Hunter and it will not work on me, bitch!" Claire hissed, her voice full of malice.Zara slowly lifted her face, her eyes perused the woman standing in front of her closely. She saw a beautiful woman during her lowest. A woman who could have been the strongest if only the person she loved the most supported her.Claire kept her chest from heaving. The back of her eyes was searing. She tried to blink it away as she maintained eye contact with Zara."I know what you are, Zara Levine, and what intention you have come here with. But know that I will not back away easily. You can be a cunning whore for all I care. In front of me you are nothing." Claire said in
20Seeing her twisted expressions and hearing those mind-rotting words, Claire felt a shockwave pass through her. Even though she was aware of what she said, it still sounded disgusting and heart wrenching to her. She fisted her hands on her side and gritted.Was she even a human? A woman? She can't be. Because a woman would never talk like that to another woman let alone do it. Unless the woman is a loose woman. And to say, Zara seemed to be godmother of them all "You can never win from me." Claire stated. "Haha, you cannot win what is already a lost battle, Claire. This was a one sided battle from the very beginning. Don't embarrass yourself more. Be a good girl and stop thinking about Hunter. Divorce him and find yourself another guy." Zara said haughtily. "You better alter your intentions. Hunter will never be yours as I will not let your plan work.""Really?" Zara raised an eyebrow while her lips upturned into a smirk resembling Pennywise's smirk from IT. "Let me give you a
21Claire was brought towards a bench near her ward to the opposite side of the corridor. She was made to sit, which she ignored, as her chest was burning. Getting out of the hold of Cole, and turned to the whitewashed wall. Upon the blank wall she could see the scene playing. She thought back about how Hunter kissed Zara before the door closed, the burning sensation that was only in her chest began to envelope her entirely. "Claire, Claire..." Someone was talking to her. Although she heard Cole's name in Zara's ward, she still hasn't seen who it was. She only felt hands tugging at her wrists, trying to make her sit. "You are pale, Claire. Breathe deeply." She went back inside that ward homing that witch psychologically, her eyes brimming with new tears. Her body convulsed and the tips of her fingers burned with chills. The realization that the scarlet, beautiful flower has bewitched Hunter to hold it made her lips tremble. He was pricked by the flower's thorns. Its poison was
22His chest shuddered as he watched her unconscious body going towards the floor.He leapt forward and wrapped an arm around her waist before she went down. Pulling her to his chest, Hunter cupped her face as a serpent of regret coiled around his being.His throat felt dry and eyes hurt with heat of self-reprimand as he observed her ghostly complexion. A tear left the corner of her eyes, which he picked on the pad of his finger while his chest grew heavy.Her cheek was ghastly red, the imprint of his five thick fingers swelling on her white face. It felt like all the blood in her face accumulated in her cheek in the shape of a hand print. Hunter kept staring at it as he reflected back on his impulse. He hit his wife. He raised his hands on a woman for the first time. That too... his wife.While he was regretfully gawking at her red cheek, her head fell back, causing his breaths to falter. Gently, as though he was caring for a baby's head, he picked hers in his hand and rested it on
23Claire's POVI was reading a book, or rather I was trying to, when my mother walked in."I got you a cup of your favorite hot chocolate, bunny." She beamed while sitting on the edge of the bed. "Thanks, mom. Just what I needed right now to go with my book." I forced a smile, praying that it didn't look fake. It's been two days since I took a voluntary discharge from the hospital and came home. I wasn't supposed to be here, considering that my parents were already worried about me since Zara arrived in my life like a calamity, ruining my marriage. The last thing I wanted them to do was freak out, after learning that I starved myself for ten days like a stupid person. However, there's nowhere else I could turn to. No door that would open for me, talk less of arms that would embrace me in and pat my back while I cried to composure."I was wondering if you would like to go to an art exhibition with me." Mom said. "You remember my friend, Tilly, her daughter's been given an opportun
24(Flashback cont'd)"You are pregnant, Claire." My mouth hung open in bewilderment. I am pregnant. I am.... Pregnant!!! I touched my stomach. I could feel nothing there. But with the disclosure of the news, my body became highly conscious. "How could I still have him? I fell down the stairs and...." My words faded out as I was too startled to reason out how it was even possible. "The doctors are shocked too. But the baby is a persistent little devil. Definitely his father's offspring. He's holding onto you somehow." Penelope shrugged her shoulders. I didn't like her calling my baby a devil though. We both remained silent for a while. Sobs harrowed through my body as all the events that transpired in the last few days plummeted into my consciousness. I was pregnant. I had to find out about the baby moments after I decided to divorce his father. Would it have made a difference had I found out about him earlier? Maybe five minutes earlier. I clutched the cloth over my stomach
25I looked back at her and then my hand. "That's okay. Just... Just wrap it up quickly." "But sir, stitches have—" "I'll do it myself then.""I'll... I'll do it." She held my hand tight as I tried to take it back. Stacy quietly cleaned my wound and covered it with a thick layer of ointment. She then wrapped it carefully. Not even two minutes passed since the bandage was changed and it was dark red again. Stacy stared at it helplessly. On her way out, she requested me to see a doctor again. I ignored her and focused back on the papers. I cleaned the blood on the desk with tissues and discarded them. When I held the files again, and took a pen to scribble my signature, my eyes stilled on the freshly wrapped gauze on my hand. How did I get it? It's quite surprising because it was done to punish my impulsiveness for raising my hand on my own wife. Yes, I punished myself. I literally shattered a glass in my hand until the broken pieces penetrated my flesh half inch deep. Ever sin