Chapter 5 - The Masterclass In Silence
"Let me speak to her!" I yelled, stepping toward the threshold, but Liam's boot came down firmly against the limestone, blocking my path like an iron gate.
"She isn't here, Daniel," Liam said calmly. "She boarded a private charter for Zurich two hours ago to sign the European deployment contracts for her platform. She was done with you the second she walked out of that courtroom."
"She set me up!" I cried out, the hysteria finally breaking through my desperate facade. "She acted like she didn't care! She smiled at me! She told me to take care!"
Liam chuckled, a deep, humorless sound that sent ice down my spine.
"Claire didn't set you up, you fool," Liam replied, shaking his head. "She spent six years enduring your family's vicious comments at Thanksgiving. She spent four years secretly taking hormone shots to protect your fragile masculine ego because the fertility clinics told her you were sterile."
The words felt like a series of heavy, physical blows to my face.
"She protected me?" I murmured, the memory of her injecting herself in our bathroom while I watched television suddenly flashing before my eyes.
"She protected your reputation among your high-society friends," Liam continued, his jaw tightening into a hard, unforgiving line. "She paid off your debts so you wouldn't get disbarred from the architectural board. And how did you repay her? You brought a twenty-four-year-old junior associate into her favorite Italian restaurant and bragged to your friends that my sister was dried-up timber."
I fell back a step, the snow soaking through my Italian leather loafers, freezing my toes.
"She never fought back because she was waiting for you to prove her wrong," Liam whispered, leaning forward just enough so I could see the cold contempt in his eyes. "Every time you lied, she put another receipt into the folder. Every time you left her alone in a clinic waiting room to meet Tessa, she bought another share of your firm's debt."
"She didn't surrender today, Daniel," Liam smiled grimly as he began to push the heavy mahogany door shut.
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"She just finished paying the price for her freedom. And now, you're the one left with the bill."
The door clicked shut with a heavy, final thud, leaving me standing in the blinding snow alone.
