All Chapters of Claimed By My Ex’s Rival: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

ELYRAThe rain had started as a soft drizzle when I left the office, but now it had turned into something else entirely. It was heavy, relentless, pounding against the roof like thousands of tiny fists. The road still looked lonely and empty, and the few streetlights that worked barely cut through the darkness.I sat in the driver's seat with my head ducked low, my eyes barely peeking over the steering wheel. The windscreen was covered with thick streams of rainwater, making everything outside look warped and distant. Every shadow seemed to move.My hands were shaking so badly that I had to press them against my thighs to steady them.“Calm down, Elyra,” I whispered to myself, though my voice trembled.I shouldn't have stayed late at the office. I knew that now.A sudden crack of thunder made me jump. My hand jerked, and I accidentally pressed something on the car key fob.The next second, my car alarm exploded into the night.The loud, sharp blaring made my heart slam against my ribs

ELYRA.The gunshot cracked through the cold night like a piece of glass shattering.For a moment I didn’t even understand what had happened. The sound echoed in my ears while the world around me seemed to slow down. Before I could turn to look at Radiel, he slammed his foot on the brakes. The tires screeched loudly against the wet road as the car spun around in a sharp turn.My heart jumped into my throat.In seconds we were heading back the way we had come.I was still trying to process the fact that Radiel had just fired a gun when I saw the man again, stepping out from behind my car.The streetlight barely touched him, but I could clearly see that Radiel’s shot had hit him. One of his shoulders was hanging strangely, and blood darkened the fabric of his jacket. But the injury hadn’t stopped him.If anything, it had made him angrier.“You bastards!” he roared, his voice rough with rage.My stomach dropped when I saw the gun in his hand.Even with one arm injured, he raised the weapo

ELYRA.The sharp ringing of the alarm dragged me out of sleep like someone pulling a blanket off my body in the middle of winter.I groaned and buried my face deeper into the pillow, hoping the sound would magically stop on its own. It didn’t. The shrill noise kept echoing through the quiet room, stabbing into my head again and again.“Ugh… shut up already,” I muttered.With a loud hiss of annoyance, I reached out blindly toward the nightstand and smacked the alarm until the sound finally died. Silence returned to the room, and for a moment I just lay there, breathing slowly, trying to reclaim the peaceful warmth of sleep I had just lost.It didn’t come back.Grumbling under my breath, I forced my eyes open and glanced toward the clock.My brain took a second to process what I was seeing. Then I shot upright.“Almost eleven?!”My voice cracked in disbelief. I rubbed my eyes, thinking maybe I was still half-dreaming, but the time stayed the same.Eleven in the morning.“Great,” I groan

ELYRAThe evening was quiet in that calm, lazy way that made time feel slower than usual.I sat at the dining table with my laptop open in front of me, a half-eaten bowl of chips resting beside it. The screen’s light reflected faintly on the glass table, and the only real sounds in the room were the soft tapping of my keyboard and the occasional rustle when I reached into the bowl for another chip.The house was peaceful. Too peaceful.I had spent the entire day doing almost nothing.At first, it felt amazing.There were no calls, no meetings, no rush to meet deadlines. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Jane was standing in front of me with her tablet, waiting for my approval on a design she was working on or clients demanding changes to already made designs.All I had was just silence and time to breathe.But now that evening had arrived, guilt had slowly crept in like an unwanted guest.Which was exactly why I was sitting here with my laptop.I sighed quietly and leane

RADIEL.For a moment, I didn’t move. I leaned back against my bedroom door, pressing my shoulders into the hard wood as if it could somehow hold me up. My chest rose and fell slowly, but it felt like there wasn’t enough air in the room.“This can’t be happening,” I muttered under my breath.I closed my eyes and dragged a hand over my face. The conversation I’d just had with her replayed in my head again and again, each word sharper than the last.How had we even gotten there?One minute we had been talking like we always did—careful, distant, controlled—and the next minute everything had exploded. Her words at the end had been raw, painful and full of emotions she clearly hadn’t planned to reveal.But the worst part?She had only said out loud what I had been feeling for weeks. Maybe months, even though I hated to admit it.I exhaled slowly and tipped my head back against the door.I had broken the contract—not by accident, not by a misunderstanding.I had broken it on my own terms.A