Chapter 15
Ethan sat in the car in the Linwood family’s garage, reviewing the footage from the dashboard camera.
During the fifteen–minute drive home from the prison, Claire had kept her hands on her lap, her body pressed against the window. maintaining that position the entire way. She hadn’t even glanced at the dress, let alone tried to adjust it.
He recalled how they had falsely accused her, how she had confronted them with a cold, unyielding expression.
A heavy sense of guilt and remorse weighed on Ethan’s chest, almost overwhelming him. His gaze was vacant as he stared ahead, Claire’s indifferent and resolute eyes replaying in his mind.
He remembered her as someone who loved to smile. Whenever he came home, she would greet him with a bright smile, calling him “brother” warmly, bringing him tea, bustling around, and saying, “You’ve worked hard, brother.”
But now, she seemed like a completely different person.”
Ethan felt a headache coming on and closed his eyes, leaning back wearily against the leather seat.!
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Claire’s gentle voice suddenly reached him from afar, “May, you don’t have to see me off. You should head back.
“Miss Claire, please be careful. Call me if you run into any trouble.
Ethan snapped his eyes open and saw Claire and May standing at the front of the villa.ll
After exchanging a few more words, Claire turned to leave.!
Seeing this, Ethan hurriedly got out of the car and shouted, “Claire, where are you going?”
you doing here?
His voice thundered through the quiet courtyard like a clap of thunder, causing May to jump. “Master Ethan, what are you Aren’t you supposed to be…”
A sharp look from Ethan silenced May immediately. He then turned to Claire, commanding coldly, “Claire, stop right there.“] However, Claire continued to limp forward, as if she hadn’t heard him. Her disregard struck a chord in Ethan’s heart.8 A thought flashed through his m
mind: Claire was going to leave the Linwood family.
Panic overtook him as he quickly strode after her and grabbed her arm, “Are you deal? Didn’t you hear me tell you to stop?” Claire turned, her expression shifting when she saw Ethan.8
Indeed, she hadn’t heard him. During her first year in prison, her left ear had been beaten deaf, and the hearing in her right ear wasn’t much better after enduring countless slaps. Unless someone spoke to her face–to–face, she often couldn’t hear clearly.
Claire pulled her gaze away and stubbornly tried to free her arm, “Let me go.”
Seeing Claire’s defiance, Ethan’s guilt was suddenly replaced by a surge of anger. “Are you done with your tantrum? Today is Vanessa’s birthday, and you already made a scene in the ballroom. Now you’re pulling this stunt, wanting to run away? How can you be so unreasonable?“%
With that, he ignored her protests and yanked her back toward the house, “You’re coming home with me right now.“% His grip was like b vice, growing tighter, and Claire felt a sharp pain in her arm, as if her bones were about to shatter.
Her heart was full of grievance, her eyes reddening, tears welling up as she cried out, “I’m not going back. Let me go.” Her body swayed with Ethan’s pull, every step agonizingly difficult, her injured leg buckling under the strain. May pleaded anxiously from the side, “Master Ethan, please be gentle. Miss Claire is still hurt”
At her words, a flicker of regret passed through Ethan’s eyes. He loosened his grip slightly but didn’t let go.
He looked at Claire, his brow furrowed, “Come home with me.”
“I’d rather die out there than stay with the Linwood family,” Claire retorted stubbornly, wrenching her arm free.
Ethan was pushed to his limit, his reason consumed by fury in an instant I
In a moment of anger, he kicked Claire’s log, demanding. “Are you coming or not?”
He only meant to give her a small punishment but was shocked when Claire cried out and fell heavily to the ground.
