He Mistook Her for Me, Now He Regrets

Chapter 3

By the time I arrived, my father's grave had been torn open and his headstone smashed to pieces.

My father had jumped from a high-rise three years earlier. Whenever I came home hurt or in tears, he would smile, stroke my hair, and make everything feel better.

Now even in death, he wasn't allowed to rest.

I had lost one shoe on the way there. Barefoot, mud-streaked, and breathless, I stood before Ethan and Vanessa.

"Who told you to come?" Ethan frowned, irritation hardening his face.

Vanessa looked me up and down, pinched her nose, and laughed.

"Ethan, look at her. She's filthy. It's about to rain, so let's scatter the ashes now before they bring us even more bad luck."

"Ethan Caldwell!" I forced myself forward and limped in front of the grave, my voice breaking. "My father is already dead. Please, just let him rest in peace."

Ethan looked at me with nothing but hatred.

"Rest in peace? Why should he? If it weren't for him, my mother would still be alive! The Caldwell family would never have gone bankrupt! Why should he get any peace?"

Then he turned to the bodyguards.

"Do it. Get the urn out."

The bodyguards pinned me to the ground. With bloodshot eyes, I watched them drag my father's urn from the grave.

A burning pain tore through my chest, and blood ran from the corner of my mouth, but I barely felt it.

Vanessa walked over and crouched in front of me.

A platinum bracelet dangled from her fingers.

It was my mother's keepsake.

When Ethan and I became engaged, I gave him the only bracelet my mother had left me.

After the Dawson family went bankrupt and Ethan imprisoned me, I begged him over and over to return it. It was the only thing I had left of my mother.

All this time, the bracelet had been with Vanessa.

Why? Why would he give it to her?

The shock of one blow after another became too much, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood.

One of the bodyguards flinched and loosened his grip. I lunged at Vanessa and seized her wrist with both hands.

"Give it back! You have no right to touch my mother's bracelet!"

"Get away from her!" Ethan shoved me away, but when he saw the blood covering the front of my clothes, his face changed. "What is wrong with you?"

"Ow! That hurts!" Vanessa suddenly cried.

A faint scratch marked her arm. She looked at me with wounded innocence.

"Claire... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get blood on you."

I didn't care about her transparent act. I wanted only my mother's bracelet back.

At Vanessa's words, Ethan withdrew the hand he had been about to offer me.

He took the bracelet and held it high over the stone path.

I froze.

"What are you doing? No... please don't."

Ethan stared at me without expression, then opened his fingers.

The platinum bracelet struck the stone and snapped into pieces.

The last fragile hope inside me shattered with it.

"Consider that a lesson," he said. "Maybe now you'll learn to behave."

I sank to my knees and gathered every broken piece. The sharp edges sliced my palms until blood covered them.

Some things, once broken, could never be put back together.

Ethan's eyes widened. He strode over and seized my wrist.

His grip was painfully tight, but his fingers trembled. Instinctively, he avoided the cuts in my palm.

"Claire Dawson! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

A flash of panic and pain crossed his face before he could hide it.