All Chapters of Ex Had Childhood Sweetheart, I Had Brilliant Future: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The other end of the line was noisy — Vivian's laughter mingling with children's voices drifted through the phone.Dominic was silent for a few seconds, then lowered his voice."Claire, don't do this. You know my hands are tied."I'd been hearing that line for five straight years. The old me would've torn the world apart, demanding to know what excuse the almighty Harrington family could possibly have.But now.I pulled the blanket over my legs — long since stiff and unresponsive — and took a deep breath."If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up. I need to rest."On the other end, Dominic was rushing out the door, his patience already wearing thin."I made you a promise, and I'll keep it. But the children are still young — taking them from their mother would hurt them. If you're so petty you can't even tolerate a couple of kids, how do you expect to run the Harrington household?""I have things to deal with. Think it over, and stop being so unreasonable."The line went dead. For the fi

Chapter 2

Being with Dominic — you could call it an accident.The day we met, my best friend Vivian and I were waiting tables at a restaurant. A drunk customer started groping me. Dominic saw it, kicked the guy across the room, and just like that, forced his way into my life.After the chaos died down, I brought him back to the apartment. But the place had been cleaned out — every last thing. That's when I realized Vivian had panicked about getting dragged into the mess and disappeared with all the money.I said nothing and quietly tended his wounds. Under the lamp light, his eyes caught the glow — bright and shining, more brilliant than anything I'd ever seen."I mean it — I've got nowhere to go. Let me stay. I'll protect you from now on."Dominic was spectacularly bad at holding down a job. He burned through cash faster than I could earn it. I had no choice but to pick up two extra shifts just to keep us afloat.During that stretch, all I did was work. When my body couldn't take it, I popped p

Chapter 3

When I woke from the dream, I was still in a daze. That line — "You've got nothing without me" — kept echoing in my head.I turned and froze. There, sitting right beside my bed with his legs crossed and his laptop open, was Dominic. Two years since I'd last seen him.He heard me stir and started to speak with a frown, but then he noticed the tears still wet on my face.Whatever he'd been about to say, he swallowed it. Stiffly, he reached out and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.His fingertips were ice-cold. I flinched.He felt me recoil. His hand paused, and his gaze drifted to the wheelchair beside the bed."When did you get hurt? Why didn't you tell me?"The concern in his eyes looked genuine.But Dominic — if you'd come even once, if you'd been anything less than dismissive on a single phone call, you would've seen what was happening to me.Dominic, the time when I needed you is long past."It's nothing. I hurt my foot on the stairs a while back. It's fine now.""You are

Chapter 4

The room fell deathly silent. This time, I was truly alone.My throat had swollen so badly I could barely breathe. My vision blurred, and hallucinations began creeping in at the edges.I dragged myself into the wheelchair and barely managed to call out:"No... Nora..."But Nora had already been taken away by the bodyguards Dominic brought with him. My voice echoed through the vast, empty sanatorium with no one to hear it.A crushing wave of panic consumed me. I regretted putting on a brave face and telling him it was just my foot. I regretted not grabbing the hem of his coat when he turned to leave.I was terrified of ending up like my mother -- collapsed somewhere no one could find her, crying for help that never came, lying dead for seven days before anyone discovered her body.I remembered there was a first aid kit downstairs that might have medicine. I gripped the wheelchair and inched my way toward it, but the wheels caught on the carpet. The chair tipped, and I tumbled down the s

Chapter 5

Dominic stood in the doorway for a full ten minutes, unable to make himself step inside.In his memory, just days ago I'd been alive and fiery, arguing with him, pushing back at every word. Now I was nothing but a cold, crumpled body, abandoned in this desolate place for God knew how long."How did this happen?"He staggered forward and dropped to his knees beside me. He lifted the wheelchair off my body, then gathered me into his arms with painstaking care.Rigor had already set in. My hands were still frozen in a crawling position, reaching toward the first aid kit that sat just one step beyond my grasp.My face was so swollen from the allergic reaction it was barely recognizable. My bare legs had withered to half their former size.The truth was, Dominic had noticed that day. He'd assumed I'd been skipping meals again and had simply lost weight. Then Vivian walked in carrying a glass of milk, and his anger at what I'd said blotted out every other thought. It never once occurred to h

Chapter 6

After I died that day, my soul drifted free of my body. I hovered beside Dominic and watched as he walked through the door, laughing one moment and weeping the next. I spoke quietly into the silence:"I told you more than once. You just never listened."He seemed to hear my voice. His head snapped up, eyes searching the space where I floated:"Claire, I think I just heard your voice. Is that you? Were you waiting for me?"Then he let out a bitter, self-mocking laugh:"Look at me -- hearing things now. And even if you were here, you probably wouldn't want to see me anyway."The heavy door was locked again behind him. He took my body to the morgue, and I had no choice but to follow.The whole ordeal took the rest of the day. By the time he returned to the Harrington Estate, it was deep into the night. Dominic had spent the entire afternoon moving my belongings from the sanatorium, piece by piece."I'm sleeping in the study tonight. Don't wait up."Vivian stood in the bedroom doorway, wa

Chapter 7

Dominic stood in the living room, barely able to believe what he'd just heard.The children sleeping in the nursery—the ones he'd raised for four years—weren't his. And the woman he'd thrown away a good, stable marriage for had never truly loved him at all."What have I done?"He'd still been holding onto the thought that Vivian had, at least, genuinely carried and borne him two children. That her life had been hard enough to deserve some mercy—a sum of money large enough to keep her comfortable for the rest of her days.But now.Dominic drew a deep breath. Then his voice cut through the silence like a blade:"Vivian, what the hell are you doing?"Vivian flinched at the sound of his voice. Her body went rigid. She had no idea how much he'd overheard, so she steadied herself and slowly turned around:"Dominic? I couldn't sleep, so I came down for some water. Do you want some? Let me pour you a glass—"Dominic ignored her performance entirely. He just stared at her, unblinking."You knew

Chapter 8

The first light of morning fell through the window onto Dominic.I hovered beside him, watching him stare at the paternity test results in his hands. Neither child shared his blood.He sat in the hospital corridor with his head bowed, his eyes dark and unreadable.Ten years of knowing him—I understood him too well. This was how he always looked when he was hurting.Ever since he'd taken over the family company, he'd carried the weight of it all behind a polished exterior. Joy and grief alike had become things he could never freely show."Claire, if you were still here... would we still be that happy? When I was sad, would you still smile at me and coax me out of it?"Too little, too late. Even now, all he could think about was how useful I'd been to him.Disgusting.The Dominic in front of me was drowning in anguish, but all I felt was that he'd brought this on himself."No—" He caught himself and let out a brief, self-aware laugh. "A man like me would never have appreciated what you w

Chapter 9

The day I was buried, it rained in Chicago for the first time in weeks—a soft, fine drizzle.Dominic had cleared his entire schedule. He didn't tell anyone he was coming. He arrived early, wearing the same outfit he'd worn the day we first met.The woman in the photo on the headstone was smiling brightly—young, radiant.He'd had yellow roses flown in from across the country, my favorite flower, and laid them out himself, one by one, until the entire cemetery was carpeted in gold.It was nearly noon by the time he finished. He wiped the sweat from his brow and spoke quietly:"Claire, Vivian's dead. By the end, she was barely recognizable. I avenged you. I know you're kind—I know you wouldn't have wanted it—but I couldn't let it go.""Claire, everyone says you're supposed to bring lilies to a grave. But I won't. You were born to live loud. I was the one who took that from you.""These are your favorite flowers. A worthless man like me can only selfishly wish that from now on, you'll go w

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