Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Dumped in front of everyone on the day of my own proposal, by the man I'd loved for years. Everyone assumed I'd be furious. Heartbroken.

They all looked at me with pity.

But I just watched, calmly, as the bouquet of roses Lucas had brought for the proposal got tossed into a corner.

Trampled into pulp as people came and went, petals scattered across the floor.

Lucas had been an upperclassman at my college. Back then, he volunteered as a peer counselor on the campus crisis hotline.

Two months into my freshman year, late one night, I called that hotline. He was the one who picked up.

After that, Lucas became the only person I was willing to open up to.

It was a time when I depended on him completely.

I cut myself open and showed him everything. The Claire whose birth parents had abandoned her. The Claire who'd been shuffled from one foster home to the next and had to claw her way through growing up.

He held me, his eyes red with heartache.

"Claire, from now on, I'm your family."

"The family you chose for yourself. The one who will never leave you."

Lucas spent two years helping me climb out of severe depression.

I spent eight years by his side.

And before he ever proposed, our relationship had already reached its end.

Serena asked to meet me.

A coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan. When she saw me, she raised a hand to cover her belly, her eyes wary.

"Claire, I know you're angry with me. I've wronged you."

"But the baby's innocent. You wouldn't want him growing up like you did, without a mom or dad, in foster care. Would you?"

Her lashes trembled, and tears spilled over.

"Lucas is good to me. He loves me."

"Claire, you went to an Ivy. You're so capable. You can survive without anybody. I can't."

I looked at her quietly.

Serena suddenly grabbed my hand and begged in a low voice:

"Without Lucas, I'll die."

I shook my head.

"Serena..."

Before I could finish, the hand gripping mine suddenly let go, and she toppled backward.

Lucas burst out from nowhere, shoved me away, and wrapped Serena up protectively in his arms.

His eyes were blazing with rage.

"Claire, you psycho!"

"If you've got a problem, take it out on me! I'm the one who fell for Serena first. She didn't do anything wrong!"

I landed hard on the floor. Something tumbled out of my bag and clattered onto the floor.

A dagger.

I looked down at that blunt, unsharpened blade, my eyes dry and stinging.

That year, after he found the scars on my arm, Lucas had this dagger custom-made for me.

"Claire, what you need to do is beat it."

I reached out and picked it up.

Serena screamed and threw herself in front of Lucas, her voice shaking.

"Claire! I'm the one who wronged you. Lucas has nothing to do with it!"

I got to my feet with the knife in my hand and took one step forward.

Just one.

The next second, I was shoved so hard I went flying.

The back of my head hit the tile, and my ears rang.

Through my blurred vision, I watched Lucas shield Serena and turn to leave without a backward glance.

His voice drifted back to me, soft and tender.

"Did you get hurt anywhere?"

Serena shook her head, crying.

Not once, from start to finish, did he look back at me.