Building Her Throne Burying My Heart (Claire) novel Chapter 119

Claire knew exactly when Elaine’s Pierogi closed, so she was convinced there was no way I could have gotten the real thing. Yet there I was, walking in with a bag straight from their shop. She stared at me, totally stunned.

“This isn’t just from some random place, right? I can tell Elaine’s flavor from a mile away. No other shop in the city could ever get it right, so don’t even try to trick me,” she said.

Turns out Claire never forgot that taste. It was the same one she’d craved for so long, the one that kept lingering in her memory.

The moment she thought of it, flashes of the past started creeping in, but she pushed them away as quickly as they came. She needed to focus on reality, not get lost in memories that had already faded away.

“If you’re faking it, you might as well just admit it now,” she said.

“Relax, just give me a second,” I replied.

I went into the kitchen and followed Elaine’s recipe step by step. In no time, I had a steaming bowl of pierogi ready.

When I placed it in front of Claire, she just stared, frozen. She hadn’t even tasted it yet, but the familiar scent was already filling the room.

I set the bowl down and told her, “Everything’s done. I’m going to bed.”

It was already after midnight, and I’d been running around all night. I had nothing left to say.

As I turned to go, Claire stopped me. “Hold on. I have something to ask you.”

She pulled out a car inspection report from the last accident—the official police report from the crash.

“This is the investigation from the car accident. Read it.”

I just glanced at it, not bothering to reach for it. “I’m not interested. It won’t change anything.”

How did it come to this? This wasn’t what she wanted, but she couldn’t get past the hurt.

***

Garrison realized that nothing he did could make me leave Claire, so he started digging around in my past. He was looking for my weak spot, and sure enough, he found out about Darleen’s illness. That’s when he learned I’d sold a year of my life to Claire, just so I could pay for Darleen’s treatment, which was finally reaching its most critical stage.

“So that’s what you care about most,” he muttered.

But what he didn’t know was that Claire had set up the whole contract from the start. Garrison made sure to let Halley in on the secret, just in passing. When Halley heard, she was furious.

“Back then I begged him to donate a kidney, and not only was he against it, he demanded fifty million from me. Now he’s willing to sell himself for some stranger? Has he forgotten who his real family is?”