Chapter 4

My vision blurred. I couldn't read another word.

The world tilted on its axis, leaving me shivering in cold shock.

I marched into the living room, slammed the journal onto the table in front of Elena, and confronted her directly.

"Elena, I brought you out of the dirt and gave you an education so you could grow up and steal my fiancé?"

Elena turned ghostly white at the sight of her diary.

Then, the timid, rustic shell fell away completely, replaced by a reckless, desperate sneer.

"Claire! Yes, you saved my life!"

"Does that mean I have to spend the rest of my life acting like your servant?"

She gestured wildly toward the glittering city skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows, screaming at me.

"You gave me the name Elena to keep me chained to that miserable town! You wanted me to remember where I came from! But I’ve tasted this life now! Why should I ever go back to that rotting trailer park? I have every right to fight for my own happiness!"

I stared at her in utter disbelief.

"I gave you that name so you wouldn't lose your soul! I wanted you to gain the power to save other girls like you! Not to turn into—"

"Save them?"

She cut me off with a piercing laugh, tears spilling down her cheeks alongside a venomous smirk.

"You just wanted me to live under your shadow forever! You wanted me beneath you! Julian can give me everything I ever dreamed of. He’s my ticket out of poverty!"

Hearing the commotion, Julian rushed into the penthouse.

Seeing the confrontation, his instinct was immediate: he stepped forward and pulled Elena protectively behind his back.

The sight felt like a blade twisting in my chest.

I looked at him, my voice trembling.

"Julian. Even now... you’re still protecting her?"

"Are you really that desperate to love a cheap, hollow copy of me?"

Julian took a sharp breath, dropping his facade.

"Fine! I admit it! In the beginning, I only helped her because her eyes looked so much like yours."

"But she isn't ruthless and cold like you! She needs me, Claire! She depends on me for everything! I molded her into who she is. I taught her how to speak, how to dress, how to survive in our world!"

"Needs you?"

I repeated the words, and then I began to laugh. A hollow, broken laugh.

"So you never loved me, Julian."

"You just loved the idea of a weak, helpless Claire that you could rescue and control."

I turned my burning gaze back to Elena, my voice shaking with raw disgust.

"And you, Daisy. You took the lifeline I handed you and turned it into a stepping stone to crawl into a man's bed."

After that night, I locked myself in my bedroom for three days. My entire world felt ruined.

Just as I was trying to scrape myself together, my phone rang. It was my father.

"Claire... the company is gone. Daddy failed you..."

Cruelty didn't stop there.

The sudden bankruptcy triggered a massive heart attack. The doctors couldn't save my father, and my mother, unable to bear the grief, followed him shortly after.

Within a single week, both of my parents were dead.

Creditors pounded on our front gates day and night. I liquidated every asset I had, but the predatory debts were suffocating. I didn't even have enough cash left to pay for their funeral plots.

Exhausted, broken, and pushed to the brink of collapse, I swallowed my pride and dialed Julian's private number.

Every ring felt like a sledgehammer hitting my chest.

Finally, the line clicked open.

It wasn't Julian. It was Elena.

"Hello? Claire?"

"Julian is in the shower. If it's important, I can take a message."

My throat was parched, my voice cracking.

"I need to speak to him. It’s an emergency. My parents..."

Elena cut in smoothly, her tone light and devoid of any sympathy.

"Oh, we heard about your parents. Our condolences."

"But Julian is terribly busy right now. We're on vacation in the Swiss Alps to clear his head. It took him weeks to recover from the stress of your breakup. You should really handle your own family matters, Claire."

"After all, an adult has to learn to stand on their own two feet. You can't keep depending on other people forever."

She hung up.

Ten minutes later, a notification pinged on my phone. A wire transfer of ten thousand dollars had landed in my account—from Elena. It was just enough to cover the bare-bones costs of the burial.

The memo line had only two sentences:

*Consider this repayment for the tuition you covered years ago.*

*Now, we are completely even.*

Looking at the words *completely even*, shame burned through my veins.

Yet, crushed under the weight of reality, I had to swallow the humiliation and accept the money to lay my parents to rest.

No sister. No lover. No family.

At twenty-two, my entire world turned to ash.

Thankfully, my aunt in London heard the news, flew in immediately, handled the remaining creditors, and took me abroad with her to start over.

Five years passed. I never thought I would return to this city. But with my wedding to Sebastian approaching, I needed to visit my parents' graves and tell them the good news myself.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

A soft knock sounded on my office door. It was nearly evening.

At this hour... could Sebastian have arrived early?

A spontaneous smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I pulled open the door, laughing.

"How did you get here so—"

The words died in my throat.

Standing outside wasn't Sebastian, smiling and weary from his flight.

It was Julian.

He offered a faint, hollow smile, his eyes bloodshot and lifeless.

"Claire. I'm divorcing Elena."