Her Fiancé Was Given To Me, I Married Him

Chapter 4

Adrian's offer was generous. Along with shares in Hale Group, he gave me an estate worth more than 15 million dollars.

He said, "We've been happy together, and I believe you feel something for me too. Maybe we could try becoming a real married couple.

"Chloe and I had a relationship once, but I'll let her go. I'll do everything I can to be a good husband. Will you build a life with me?"

Adrian looked almost nervous. How could I refuse?

Everything he offered should have been mine in the first place.

After quietly registering our marriage, Adrian and I began trying for a baby.

Chloe still had no idea what had happened back home. She was in Paris, waiting for her Prince Charming to defy the world and sweep her into a magnificent wedding.

She didn't know that her Prince Charming was already in bed with me, trying to make a baby. She continued sending me taunting messages.

Chloe: I already gave you your chance. Too bad you still couldn't win Adrian's love—or Mom and Dad's.

Chloe: Don't think being their biological daughter means you get everything. I'm going to prove that you'll never measure up to me, no matter how many chances I hand you.

I didn't reply. I studied the intimate marks reflected in the mirror, took a photograph, and sent it to her.

Chloe went silent for a long moment. Then my phone began chiming nonstop as one abusive message after another poured in.

I answered none of them. Calmly, I blocked her and deleted the conversation.

Chloe's favorite tactic had always been retreating in order to advance.

On my first day home, she announced that she would return her place as the Bennett heiress to me—then slit her wrist in front of everyone. My parents panicked and spent the entire next week caring for her without saying a single word to me.

When the servants saw how little my parents cared about me, they fed me cold leftovers for a week.

After Chloe came home from the hospital, she put on another act. She offered to give me her bedroom and every expensive gift my parents had bought her over the years. That made their hearts broke, and they immediately branded me aggressive and grasping.

"Claire, you are our biological daughter, but what did Chloe do wrong? She's already trying so hard to be considerate. Can you please stop targeting her?"

Between the two of us, she always won. She was always the one "making sacrifices", and every sacrifice drove my parents and me further apart.

It was her way of staking her claim and showing me that my parents would only ever love her. The fiancé who should have been mine would belong to her too.

But this time, she wouldn't win.

Not everyone in the world would indulge her forever the way my parents did—the ones who had raised her for more than 20 years.

She had used me to test Adrian over and over. Even when she dressed us in identical gowns, even when she drugged Adrian and locked him in a room with me, he still chose her without hesitation.

Then she would shriek with delight and throw herself into his arms.

Every time, I stood awkwardly to the side, reduced to nothing more than a prop that made her look desirable.

After indulging herself again and again, Chloe forgot one simple truth: nothing was more fragile under constant testing than the human heart.

One month later, I found out I was pregnant.

When Adrian's grandmother heard the news, she became so excited that she immediately demanded to leave the hospital and hold a celebration.

The Hale family hosted a lavish banquet. Every relative, friend, and business partner was invited.

Adrian's grandmother refused to let go of my hand. She repeatedly asked whether the doctor had given me a due date and how I felt.

I answered each question with a smile and sat obediently beside her. Satisfied, she patted the back of my hand and declared in front of every guest, "Claire is the only granddaughter-in-law the Hale family recognizes. No one is to mention any of that old nonsense again."

The guests raised their glasses in tacit agreement. No one dared challenge her.

Just then, a commotion broke out near the entrance. I looked up instinctively—and someone slapped me hard across the face.

"Claire Bennett, you shameless b***h! How dare you steal my man!"