Building Her Throne Burying My Heart (Claire) novel Chapter 41

She finally agreed, but not without putting her own condition on the table. If I wanted her forgiveness, I had to go kneel at her father’s grave.

As soon as she spoke, I could see her whole body trembling, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles looked pale. I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel the anger in her voice, heavy and raw.

Back when we were together, Ableson treated me like family. He never cared about where I came from or that I didn’t have a penny to my name. He even went out of his way to help me. But when he got sick, when he was lying in that hospital bed, I didn’t visit him. Not even once. Worse, I left Claire right when she needed me most.

She had every reason to hate me.

I squeezed my hands, trying to steady myself, and looked at her. She wouldn’t face me.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” I said quietly. “If kneeling can take away some of your anger, I’ll stay until you say I can get up.”

Claire suddenly let out this bitter, almost mocking laugh. Then her voice broke. “Until I’m satisfied? Do you really think you only hurt me?”

She turned her head a little, her voice shaking. “Did you forget how good my dad was to you? He was ready to trust you with the entire Gates family.”

“But what did you do? You left when he was dying. You disappeared right when I needed you the most.”

I walked out at the worst possible moment, left her all alone to face everything.

And before she even had time to process it, the hospital called with terrible news. She barely had a second to accept that I was gone before she was rushing to the hospital, trying to look after her father and run the company at the same time. She got through all of it by herself, fighting through the hardest, loneliest days of her life.

“You didn’t just hurt me, you betrayed my dad’s trust too!” she snapped, her eyes rimmed red and shining with tears. Seeing her like that, my chest tightened. It hurt so much it was hard to breathe.

But I couldn’t step forward and explain everything. If she knew the truth, could she even handle it? Everything she believed in would just fall apart in front of her. If she ever found out the real story, how would she live with it for the rest of her life?