Chapter 2: Claire Stops Holding Back She Fights Back

Something cold flickered in Claire's eyes.

Diane froze at the resistance. "You"

Before she could react, Nathan's younger sister, Jessica Wade, shoved Claire aside.

"Claire, what do you think you're doing?"

"This is the Wade house! Are you seriously about to hit your mother-in-law?"

Claire nearly lost her footing.

A hand caught her from behind steady, strong.

Nathan. Just walked in from the other room.

He frowned. "Why weren't you being more careful?"

It sounded like concern.

To Claire, in that moment, it sounded like an accusation.

Ever since she'd learned the truth, the sight of Nathan turned her stomach. She shoved his hand off without a word.

Nathan barely had time to register the gesture before Jessica scoffed. "Look what you've turned into, big brother. Look at this" she jabbed a finger at Claire, "this piece of trash."

"She just disrespected Mom, and now she's giving you attitude too."

"Who does she think she is?"

"She's a fake heiress the Bennetts didn't even want. Years of living off a name that was never hers, and the second the truth came out, they tossed her out like garbage. She's a stray."

"She's lucky the Wades even took her in."

"And this is the thanks we get disrespect, attitude, the whole nine yards."

"You need to get her in line."

Jessica's accusations made Nathan's frown deepen.

"Claire, how could you talk to my mother like that?"

"Even if she said a few sharp things you're her daughter-in-law. Can't you just let it go? For me?"

Claire's hands curled into fists at her sides, swallowing down the anger clawing up her throat. She should've seen through his act a long time ago. She used to admire how he "struggled" between his mother and his wife. Now it just looked pathetic.

She looked him dead in the eye. "Let it go? I've let it go for an entire year. Every snide comment from your mother, every insult from Jessica. Isn't a year enough?"

Her gaze dropped to the apple still rolling on the floor. "Your mother came at me swinging things, and Jessica just called me a slut. That's what you're calling 'a few sharp things'?"

Jessica opened her mouth to fire back, but Claire cut her off cold. "Jessica. I am your brother's legal wife. You're the one being disrespectful here not me."

That single line left Jessica flushing red and Nathan momentarily speechless.

Claire didn't wait around for a rebuttal. She walked out, spine straight, none of her usual meekness left in her posture.

Behind her, Jessica shrieked something incoherent while Diane's voice rose even louder. "This is unbelievable! Nathan, are you seriously going to let her walk all over us like this?"

"What exactly do you want? Keep this fraud around, refuse to divorce her are you trying to put me in an early grave?"

Nathan, freshly scolded, rubbed his temples, expression dark.

"Enough, Mom."

"She's pregnant. Her hormones are everywhere. Just give her some room, okay?"

He turned and went after Claire.

Diane and Jessica stood frozen.

Pregnant?

That woman is pregnant?

Nathan found Claire in the kitchen. He shot a look at the cook helping there, who quietly slipped out.

He grabbed her wrist and yanked her close, jaw tight. "Okay, Claire. Enough."

"What's gotten into you?"

"Is this about me not being around much lately? So you decide to mouth off at my mother and my sister?"

"I already told them you're pregnant."

"From now on, the whole family's going to back off. That's what you wanted, isn't it? Happy now?"

Claire almost laughed out loud.

"Nathan, you really do care about this baby."

Ever since her fake identity had come out, her standing in this house had dropped below the housekeeper's. Every visit, she swallowed insult after insult in silence.

And today, he'd actually stood up to his own mother and sister?

Only because he thought this baby was his and Vanessa's. That had to be it.

Realizing exactly what kind of man she'd married, disgust rose in her throat so fast she turned and retched into the sink.

Nathan's face darkened. "You"

He caught the smell and couldn't hide the flicker of revulsion crossing his face.

He was about to snap at her again when the housekeeper, Mrs. Parker, appeared in the doorway, flustered.

"Mrs. Wade, you're still back here?"

"Grandma Wade has been waiting. Come with me, please."

Claire rinsed her mouth at the sink, face pale.

"Wait I had lily soup made for Grandma."

She'd called ahead in the car and had the cook prepare it, which was why it was ready now.

Grandma Wade lived in a small guesthouse on the back of the property, staying at the main house one day a week from the care facility she otherwise lived in.

Her face lit up the second she saw Claire.

"There's my girl. Come here, let me look at you."

"Why do you look so worn down? Is Nathan giving you trouble?"

Grandma Wade's health had been declining for years she spent most of her time at the facility but she came home weekly, and Claire always made a point to be there for her.

Grandma Wade adored Claire. More, honestly, than she adored Jessica.

She was also the only person in the entire family who hadn't changed how she treated Claire once the truth about her background came out.

Nathan trailed in behind them, a hint of jealousy on his face. "Grandma, you get a granddaughter-in-law and suddenly your actual grandson doesn't matter anymore?"

"Nobody in this family would dare lay a hand on her now."

"Claire's pregnant. We're all thrilled. We're taking good care of her."

Grandma Wade's whole face brightened.

"What? Claire is that true?"

There was no hiding it anymore. Claire nodded, reluctant. "Yes, Grandma."

Grandma Wade was so overjoyed she immediately sent Mrs. Parker to fetch the family heirloom bracelet from the safe.

Diane, who'd rushed in at the commotion just in time to witness this, nearly screamed on the spot.

She never even gave me that bracelet and she's handing it straight to that disgusting woman!

Jessica shot her mother a look, eyes red with fury. "Mom, Grandma actually gave the family bracelet to that little tramp."

"You gave the Wade family two children. She's given them nothing. You've run this entire household for years, and she just skips right over you and hands it to Claire?"

"I genuinely don't understand what's gotten into Grandma."

Diane's face cycled between white and crimson, her shoulders trembling. "It's that vixen. That's what it is."

"She's barely pregnant and already Nathan's snapping at his own mother and sister to protect her. Now Grandma's handing her the family heirloom!"

"If she actually delivers the Wade family's first grandson, where does that leave us? Where does that leave me and my daughter?"

"No. That baby cannot be born. Not that one."

Something ugly flashed across Diane's face.

Jessica went pale hearing her mother say it out loud and her hatred for Claire deepened right alongside the fear.

Claire felt a chill crawl down her spine.

She turned toward the shadows near the hallway and caught two figures slipping quickly out of sight.

Dinner was flavorless. Nathan's father, Richard Wade, never showed. So at the entire table, only Grandma Wade was glowing, celebrating the pregnancy like it was already a birthday party.

After settling the old woman for the night, Claire climbed into the car outside the Wade estate and immediately slid the bracelet off her wrist.

Nathan's brow shot up. "Claire. What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't even like the bracelet?"

The Wade family's money was only three generations deep. The bracelet itself wasn't particularly fine its only value was age and the "heirloom" label slapped onto it.

But Claire had grown up surrounded by real jewels since childhood. The Bennetts had spoiled her rotten for years.

Nathan read her silence as condescension.

Fury crossed his face, and he slammed a palm against the back of her seat.

Before she could get a word out, his voice was already sharp. "Claire, don't push it."

"Don't forget the Bennetts threw you out. My family still took you in as their daughter-in-law."

"What gives you the right to look down on that bracelet?"

Something dark and hungry flickered in his eyes. He'd played the gentle, devoted husband for so long was this finally the real him showing through, now that he thought she was trapped by the pregnancy?

Claire swallowed the storm inside her and forced her expression into something wounded.

"Nathan. Is that really how you see me?"

Eyes glassy, she carefully wrapped the bracelet in a handkerchief and tucked it into her bag.

"I just didn't want something so precious to get damaged."

"I'm overwhelmed that Grandma would trust me with it how could I possibly say no to her?"

"But Grandma called it the heirloom for the eldest daughter-in-law. I think it's safer in our home safe for now."

"Only once the Wade family's first grandson is actually born should his mother get to wear it properly."

"Don't you think so, Nathan?"

She kept her face carefully wounded but held back the tears, gaze locked on him.

Reading exactly what she meant, Nathan's expression softened.

He tugged at his collar, matter-of-fact. "You're right."

"Only the real mother of the eldest grandson should get that bracelet."

Claire nearly laughed out loud internally. Is he picturing Vanessa right now?

Too bad. Too bad your precious heir with her never actually existed.

She was going to shatter that fantasy of his at exactly the right moment, when it would hurt the most.

Her cold expression must have unsettled him, because Nathan shifted, suddenly uneasy.

"Okay I was out of line back there. I shouldn't have raised my voice."

"But you were wrong too, talking back to my mom. I'll let it go this once."

"Don't let it happen again. Understood?"

He reached over and touched her cheek, like the gesture might pass for humility.

Then he had her dropped off at home, claiming he had more work at the office, sending her back in the family driver's car instead.

The second his car turned the corner and disappeared, Claire pulled out a handkerchief and scrubbed hard at the spot on her cheek where his hand had been.

Her skin burned before she finally flung the handkerchief to the ground in disgust.

Back home, Claire didn't put the bracelet in the safe at all.

Instead, she dialed a number she hadn't used in years.

"Tina. It's been a long time."

"I have a set of jade design sketches. Any chance you could help me have them made?"

Tina Marsh nearly dropped her phone. "Claire? Is this actually you?"

"Oh my god you're Vivian. The Vivian. The one who vanished off the map years ago. If you're coming out of retirement, of course I'll help you."

"But are you serious? You're actually doing this?”