The car’s frigid interior prompted a sneeze from Corrine. Nate’s hand found the climate controls, silencing them. Noting her trembles, he draped his jacket across her shoulders with surprising gentleness.
“Try not to catch a cold.”
“Thank you.” The garment carried his essence-both his scent and lingering warmth-sending her heart into an unexpected gallop.
A ghost of amusement flickered through Nate’s eyes as he noticed the color rising in her cheeks.
“I should be the one thanking you.”
Confusion painted her features
“What?”
His voice remained steady as steel.
“Thank you for accepting my apology and giving me a chance to make it right.”
They arrived at the nearest hospital, where Corrine insisted on walking despite her injuries. Nate matched her halting pace with patience until they reached their destination.
Upon her return from treatment, she found him on the phone, his tall frame cutting a striking silhouette against the stark hospital walls. At her approach, he ended the conversation and extended a business card.
“Here’s my contact information. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
“I don’t need anything else.” Her polite refusal carried finality-this chapter needed no epilogue.
She extended his jacket toward him.
“Here. I’ll cover the cost of cleaning it.”
Nate’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile as he glanced at the jacket in her outstretched hand.
“Keep it. You need it more than I do.”
His words, simple as they were, struck a chord she hadn’t expected. A lump rose in her throat as she struggled to suppress the sudden wave of emotion. She told herself it was the day’s events-the shock, the exhaustion, and the heartbreak. Surely that was why she felt so moved by a stranger’s fleeting kindness.
“Thank you. But I should go now,” Corrine said softly, her voice tinged with vulnerability. Straightening her posture, she walked away, determined to return to the Ashton family home and handle some important matters.
Nate remained rooted in place, watching her retreating form with an inscrutable gleam in his eyes.
“We’ll meet again.”
Corrine stepped through the doorway of what was once her shared sanctuary with Bruce. The emptiness of the room echoed her solitude-she alone would occupy these walls tonight.
Her gaze settled on the heart-shaped balloons adorning the walls, their cheerful shapes now a mockery of her pain. Without ceremony, she tore them down, their synthetic surfaces crinkling beneath her fingers. The room’s festive decorations only amplified her growing frustration. Methodically, she dismantled every celebratory touch until she found their photograph hanging on the wall.
She stood motionless before the captured moment of false happiness, watching as her pain crystallized into something harder, colder. The scissors moved through the photograph with quiet certainty, severing their smiling faces into irreparable pieces.
After erasing every trace of their shared past, Corrine sank into the sofa’s embrace. Time stretched endlessly as darkness crept across the sky, her vigil unbroken from dusk until dawn. Just as drowsiness began to cloud her senses, the door’s opening shattered the silence.
This time, no eager footsteps carried her to greet him. She remained still, a statue carved from disappointment and resolve.
Bruce entered with the confidence of the guiltless, dropping onto the nearest seat and massaging his temples with weariness.
“Get me a glass of water.”
A bitter laugh escaped Corrine’s lips.
“Bruce, we’re done!” Her words rang with the finality of a judge’s gavel
His dark gaze fixed upon her, unreadable as a moonless night.
Corrine met his stare, sarcasm pulling at her lips like puppet strings.
“Why that expression? Didn’t your decision crystallize the moment you abandoned me at the altar? Or perhaps it was settled the day Leah returned to our shores?”
Bruce retrieved a cigarette with practiced grace, the flame of his lighter dancing briefly in the tension-filled air. He drew deeply on the cigarette, exhaling words wrapped in smoke.
“This is the best choice. You’ve misunderstood Leah for too long. Continuing this charade would only deepen her wounds.”
Corrine’s unflinching gaze dissected the stranger before her as she sneered, “I wonder, is there anything you wouldn’t sacrifice at Leah’s altar?”
The cigarette died beneath his fingers as impatience flickered across his features.
“For three years, I’ve tried to bury my feelings for Leah, but love refuses to bend to will. I hope you can find forgiveness and spare Leah your anger. She bears no guilt in this.”
His words triggered a laugh that bordered on hysteria. Three years of devotion lay behind them-years where she had poured herself into loving him, believing that persistence could thaw his frozen heart. She had severed family ties, sacrificed her own dreams, all for the man who now dismissed their relationship with a cold “Love refuses to bend to will.”
Bruce observed her near-manic state, his frown deepening as an unexpected pain lanced through his chest.
“There’s a million in this card. Enough to ensure a comfortable life back in the countryside.”
In his mind, three years of her life apparently equaled a simple monetary transaction. He failed to comprehend that a million meant nothing to her.
“Bruce, I didn’t stay for anything but you. The Ashton family’s wealth and power meant nothing to me. I never craved the envied title of Mrs. Ashton!” Frost seemed to emanate from Corrine’s delicate features, her eyes hardening with glacial resolve.
“Keep your apologies and your compensation. Remember this-there will never be reconciliation between us!” Her words hung in the air as she rose and strode toward the door.
Bruce watched her determined departure, feeling an invisible vice grip his heart, stealing his breath. His hand reached out involuntarily, grasping at emptiness.
As Corrine departed, she carried nothing of her own, yet curiously, she ended up with that man’s suit jacket draped over her shoulders.
Hobbling down the street, she shivered, oddly chilled despite the glaring sun that bathed the city in warmth. Fumbling with her phone, she dialed the number of her best friend, Karina Brooks, her voice trembling slightly.
“Karina, do you think you can come and pick me up?”
Twenty minutes later, Karina roared up to the curb in a gleaming red car. As she caught sight of Corrine’s bandaged leg, she swiftly removed her sunglasses, her eyes widening with stark concern.
“Sweetheart, what in the world happened to you?”
“Karina, is it okay if I stay at your place for a bit?” Corrine murmured, her voice weak as she slumped against the comfort of the seat, recounting her ordeal with Bruce as though she were detached from the narrative herself.
“That Ashton family is just a bunch of fools!” Karina exclaimed, her temper rising swiftly
“Do they really think Leah can measure up to you?”
Her indignation built like a storm, and before she knew it, the car was hurtling forward. Her tirade burst forth, fueled by disbelief and anger.
“If it weren’t for your brilliance, Bruce would still be floundering. What, is he a clueless fool, or just shamelessly grasping for more than he deserves? How many times has that family exploited you? The second Leah walks through the door, they throw you out! The Ashton family truly has no decency.”
Corrine, ever stoic, responded calmly.
“Karina, it seems a life filled with loving parents and a joyful marriage just isn’t in the cards for me.”
When Karina reflected on Corrine’s tumultuous childhood, her expression softened, her forehead creasing with concern.
“Sweetheart, don’t let this break your spirit.”
“Now that I realize such a life isn’t destined for me, I’ve stopped hoping for it. There’s no reason to feel sad anymore,” Corrine replied, her voice a soft murmur. She offered a weak smile and then slowly closed her eyes.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.