Building Her Throne Burying My Heart (Claire) novel Chapter 33

"It's over for us."

Claire heard those words the second she clicked on, and somehow, that was all she caught. She missed everything before, just this one line echoing in her ears.

Her face twisted, disappointment and anger mixing together. He'd actually said it himself. Fine, she thought. If it's impossible, then that's it.

No matter how sweet the memories used to be, or how deep the love once felt, it didn't matter anymore. When someone stops loving you, that's the end. Especially when that person lied, when he hurt you as badly as he did.

Any hope she had just disintegrated. She wouldn't even bother listening to his excuses.

Claire slammed the device off, her hands shaking.

***

Once I gave my answer, Garrison finally let go of me.

"Hope you stick to your word," he said, his voice cold. "Or else, crushing you would be as easy as stepping on an ant."

I rolled my eyes. "Is that right? Then you’d better choose someplace with no cameras next time."

I added, "Otherwise, it won't be hard for someone to catch you in the act."

I rolled the window up, shutting out his angry shouts.

He looked around, eyeing the security cameras and the dashcam inside the car. He bit back whatever else he wanted to say. I wasn’t the same person he thought I was.

I just sat there, watching him fume and pace, until he finally stalked off, totally defeated.

Not long after, my phone buzzed. Claire again. "Go buy me a coffee. I want it in half an hour."

I handed her the receipt. "Here. This is from the shop."

She barely glanced at it. "Receipts don’t prove anything. You could have picked one up from the floor."

I pulled up my payment records and showed her the transaction, matching the time and the amount. "See? This lines up. No way anyone else would have this."

She still wasn’t convinced. "There were so many people. The line should have taken at least an hour. How did you get it?"

"Don’t tell me you actually waited like everyone else," she said, eyeing me. "If you don’t explain, drink it yourself. And I’ll take a thousand off your pay this time."

Clearly, she thought I’d cheated or maybe even tampered with the coffee. She wasn’t going to let it go until she got an answer, but I was ready.

When I got to the shop, I saw the sign for their half-price new drinks, which explained the long line. I did wait for a few minutes, honestly.