Chapter 21
21
Claire 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.
âClaire, Claireâ¦â Someone was talking to her
Although she heard Coleâs name in Zaraâs ward, she still hasnât seen who it was. She only felt hands tugging at her wrists, trying to make her sit.
âYou are pale, Claire Breathe deeply.â
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 chill The realization that the scarlet, beautiful flower has bewitched Hunter to hold it made her lips tremble. He was pricked by the flowerâs thorns. Its poison was in his body. Alas, rather than killing him, it has consumed him fully. Hunter was consumed. He was consumed. He was⦠Gone.
Claire heard footsteps. This time she didnât care to look up. Itâs not like it was Hunter. By now, she had embraced the realization that no matter what happens to her, ye would never come in time.
âClaire, why are you shaking?â Penelopeâs voice flared in her ears
Raising her eyes Claire tried not to give in to her overpowering emotions. She stared at her face and pressed her lips together. She wanted to talk, share how intensely her heart was aching. Yet all she could do was stare.
âDid Zara do something! Iâm sorry. I was watching you from outside the door. I got a call and had to leave to attend it.â Penelope quickly hugged her.
She didnât wait for her response. It was etched in Chaireâs painful expression that she had fallen victim to Zaraâs deceit. She was holding her tight and rubbing her back when she heard a cough.
Claireâs back steeled and her breathing became uneven. Penelope clenched her jaw as the person who coughed was Hunter. The look on his face was staggering.
He pinned his own wife with a look of contempt and accusation. Also, his tightly set jaw indicated his irritation towards something he deemed Claire had done.
âBoth of you leave. I want to talk to her alone. When Hunter spoke, his voice was raw
âYes, guys. Leave. Thereâs so much that we need to talk about.â Chire shortly said after as she refused to look away from him.
The blacks of his eyes stared deeper in the icy blues of hers. It was as though the dark sky was casting a smoldering gaze down on the calm ocean moments before a stormâs occurrence,
Penelope knew it was wise to keep quiet and leave.
Incarnate.
âWhat you did inside is truly horrendous. You will go inside with me and apologize to Zara now.â Hunter gripped her wrist when Penelope and Cole had departed.
1/3
Before he pulled her with him, Claire held his wrist in turn as she said in a heavy voice, âDid you give her a ring?â
Hunter tur
around and stared at her. It hurt to see that his gaze was deadpan and devoid of emotion.
Claire suffocated from within, observing that her husband had no emotion on his face. He was holding her hand, and unlike other husbands who glow and grin in excitement of holding their wives, he was looking down at her rather plainly. It was as if she was not his wife but some other woman
âCome with me now,â
âFirst answer my question, Hunter Macintyre. Claire looked stright in his dark eyes.
She held back sobs. Unfortunately, she failed to keep her tears locked in. They trailed down in streams.
âDid you give her a ring?â
âSo what if I did?â It hit her where she was already wounded⦠Her heart.
Her body felt limp. All the resistance she had developed inside her came tearing apart and falling around her.
âHâhow could you? Even after you had me yâyou gave her a ring! Her voice trembled
Hunter ignored her as the right corner of his mouth twitched.
âI donât see any sense why I shouldnât have given her a ring. Itâs not a big deal.
âItâs not a big deal? So you think itâs not a big deal?â Claire snatched her hand out of his hold.
She pushed her hands against his chest to shove him. Hunter didnât budge. She held his collars and seethed in his face while tears poured from her eyes.
âHunter MacIntyre, it is a big deal to me because you cannot just give a ring to any woman while I am still with you. You know what it means when a man gives another woman a ring, donât you?â
Hunter kept quiet as he didnât feel the need to correct her.
He obviously knew what it meant. And he would never do it before they were legally divorced. Thatâs why he had bought a ring that was the least expensive so it wouldnât raise doubts or wrong notionsâ¦. Talk less about onlookersâ curiosity.
The ring was merely a medium to hide a tracker in it for Zaraâs safety. It was meant to be used for a purpose beyond the one she was implying to.
It was useless explaining to her. He deemed Claire to be jealous and held her hand again.â
âCome with me.â
âNo, I will not.â She used all her strength to put distance between them.
She wanted to be away from the man with whom she had once wanted to stay closer with
His hold felt like a furnaced iron rod cuffed around her wrist. She didnât want to feel it again hence she moved far away against the wall.
âI will not apologize because I didnât do anything wrong.â She said between her tears.
Hunter stared at her coldly and folded his hands, âCarving her face and attacking her like that was not wrong? Thatâs what you want to say.â
âI didnât do that, alright! She did that to herself. She wanted to show me my place. She wanted to show me that⦠That my
á
husband doesnât trust me enough and that. That Iâm wasting my time. She was sobbing by now.
âAnd probably sheâs right. It was a whisper, referring to the last sentence.
Her words made Hunter freeze. Her tears did something to him. Pain lanced through him at the view of her paleness but he didnât take an initiative to soothe her.
According to him Zara was wronged. She was a victim of rape and later on, attacked by his jealous wife for not being able to get his enough attention.
He avoided her tears completely and tried to get a hold of her wrist again.
âI told you Iâm not going to apologize to her. If anything it should be her apologising to me for destroying my weddingâ Claire moved away.
âDo you even know that she has fooled you? Zara wasnât gang raped, Hunter. It was not a gang rape.â She wiped her tears as she walked towards him to add, âWhat you have seen as a gang rape was actually a gang bang that she-
âCLAIRE!â A loud shriek expelled from Hunterâs mouth.
His hand flew like a vengeful gust against her face, sending her against the wall where she hit the same wounded corner of
her head.
Atormented moan tore from her throat before Claire passed out
Tbc.
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