Chapter 396: Inspection Time?
Frederick was seething, veins pulsing in his neck as he grabbed at Claire’s clothes. It was broad daylight, with the staff still doing their cleaning rounds. One of the maids was coming downstairs when she caught this crazy scene. Her broom clattered to the floor with a loud smack.
“Get out! Everyone get the hell out of here!” Frederick snapped his head up, shooting a murderous glare at everyone in sight. In seconds, all the servants grabbed their cleaning supplies and scrambled back to their rooms.
Meanwhile, his hands hadn’t stopped their assault.
“Frederick, you’re hurting me.”
Claire winced in pain as the fabric roughly scraped against her skin, her eyes welling up with tears.
“Did that hurt? Good. That’s what you get for hooking up with Antony,” Frederick snapped. His mind replayed sickening videos of Claire and Antony being cozy together these past few days. The thought of them spending 24/7 together at the hospital, possibly becoming intimate, made his blood boil.
“Hooking up?” Claire let out a harsh laugh. She summoned every ounce of strength she had and shoved Frederick away. “Oh, please. Is that what you think because that’s what you would do? I’ve already told you. Nothing’s going on between me and Antony. He’s like a brother to me.”
“It’s not the nasty situation you’re imagining. We’re completely innocent. Do you want proof? Fine, I’ll give you proof.”
Claire didn’t know where this rage came from, but she stripped off every piece of clothing right there in front of Frederick. She gestured at her body. “Take a good look. Go ahead and see if you can find a single mark anywhere. Or better yet, why don’t you just do me right now so you can check if I’ve been sleeping with Antony?”
“Ha, you think I don’t want to be with Antony? No, actually, I’d love to be with him. We went to high school together, so we knew everything about each other. He’s been amazing to me, even risking his life to save me. He fell off that cliff trying to protect me. But I can’t. I just can’t be with him.”
“Because I’ve got nothing left to give. Every ounce of love I had went to you, Frederick. All of it. I spent half my life—over twenty years—loving you. Pretty much since my first memory, I’ve been loving you nonstop, silently giving everything I had, putting my whole heart out there with no way back! I poured everything into you, and now, I’m so broken I don’t even have the energy to love someone else!”
“Funny how you’re suspicious of me and Antony. But of course you are. You never loved me, so how could you possibly understand what this feels like? Great. Just great. Perfect!”
As Claire spoke those last words, she realized tears were silently streaming down her face. Maybe she just felt sorry for her past self. After all, she had loved a man who didn’t care about her with everything she had.
But when Claire finally came to her senses and wanted to turn back, she realized it was already too late. Claire wiped the tears from her face with a quick swipe of her hand. “Want to check me out?” she asked Frederick. “If not, I’m heading back to my room.”
Without waiting for his response, she scooped up her clothes from the floor and headed upstairs. Frederick stayed rooted to the spot, watching as Claire climbed the stairs without a stitch of clothing on, and her words echoed in his mind: “I’ve got nothing left to give. Every ounce of love I had went to you, Frederick. All of it. I spent half my life—over twenty years—loving you. I poured everything into you, and now, I’m so broken I don’t even have the energy to love someone else!”