Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 299

Clairessa’s POV

The memories came in fragments that refused to hold together.

The restaurant, the waitress setting down the juice with a bright smile. My lips touched the glass, I had taken a few sips, then everything turned blurry.

Adrian’s arms steadied me when I swayed, keeping me from falling as I tried to make my way to the restroom. My legs felt shaky, the floor tilting under me. I dragged a hand along the wall to keep myself upright, my eyelids heavy, my chest tight.

The waitress appeared again, her smile gone, her voice low. “Let me lead you to the restroom.”

She guided me toward the back, down a hallway, dim light, the sink. My hand gripped the porcelain as I tried to breathe through the sudden dizziness.

And then, him, a man in a mask stepping inside as if he’d been waiting for me.

“Who are you? What’s going on?” The words came out slurred, weak, as though they weren’t even mine.

He lunged. A rough hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to scream, but the sound was smothered. I fought, twisting, shoving. My bracelet snapped, clattering to the tile. My phone slipped from my hand and smashed against the floor.

Panic tore through me, but his grip only tightened. His palm pressed harder against my lips, stealing my breath. The world tilted, spun, and then everything went black.

My eyes flew open to dim light. I felt a pounding in my skull and tried to raise a hand to my temple to soothe the pain, but nothing moved.

My wrists were tied.

The realization cut through the fog in an instant. I yanked, twisting, but the ropes only bit deeper into my skin. My chest tightened, my breath breaking.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, panic clawing up my throat. “No… no, no, no…”

I kicked against the chair, desperate, wild. “What is happening to me? Who did this?!” My voice cracked as I screamed. “Help! Somebody help me!”

My pleas echoed into the silence. No answer.

Until a voice slid out of the shadows.

“Quit crying for help, nobody’s going to help you.”

My blood ran cold. That voice… I knew it.

My head jerked toward the sound, and when she stepped into the faint light, my whole body went rigid.

“Nicole?”

She smiled like it was a private joke. “Hello, Clairessa. Welcome to your little hell.”

I tried to shake the strands of hair that blocked my face so I could look her in the eyes. My throat felt raw when I managed, “Why… why are you doing this?”

She came closer, her heels scraping the concrete floor until she stood over me. Her hand shot into my hair, yanking my head back so hard my scalp screamed. My cry echoed in the small space, but she only smirked.

“Because you, Clairessa Hartwood, stole everything from me. Gabriel’s respect. Adrian’s love. Every glance, every ounce of attention that should have been mine, you took it all.”

My eyes widened, my heart hammering. “I never stole anything!” I tried tugging free, pain shooting through me. “I did nothing to you!”

“Oh, you did,” she hissed, pulling harder until tears stung my eyes. “You think men like Gabriel looked at me twice after you showed up? Do you know how it feels to be invisible? To be tossed aside, like trash, while you…” Her voice broke into venom, “you walked in and had everything handed to you!”

Her bitterness cut deeper than her grip. My whole body shook, words spilling out in broken fragments. “Please… just let me go.”

She laughed, then finally released my hair. My scalp throbbed as I sucked in a breath.

“You think I’m stupid?” she snapped. “If I let you go, you’d run straight to almighty Gabriel and tell him everything. You think I’m stupid?”

I shook my head quickly, desperate. “I promise, I won’t—”

“Shut up!” she spat. “There’s no letting you go now. My work here is done.”

Confusion cut through the fear twisting in my chest. My voice cracked as I whispered, “What… what do you mean? Done? What are you talking about?”

Nicole’s smirk deepened. “After Gabriel cruelly sacked me because of you, some scary-looking man found me. Said he’d pay me one million dollars. All I had to do was bring you to him.” She let out a hollow, triumphant laugh. “And it was easier than I thought. I cloned Adrian’s phone, waited for the perfect time to strike, and when he messaged you about meeting up, I followed. Paid the waitress, set the whole thing up. So yes, Clairessa, I’m cashing in.”

Shock ripped through me, tightening my chest until I could hardly breathe. “A man paid you to kidnap me? That’s… that’s insane. That can’t be possible.”

“Oh, it’s very possible,” she sneered. “Seems like you’ve made a monstrous enemy for yourself, Clairessa.”

There was no reasoning in him, he was a narcissistic psychopath who got off abusing women and getting away with it.

My eyes darted wildly, fixing on Nicole, hoping that she would have some human sympathy.

“Shut up!” Nicole’s hand shot out, finger stabbing the air toward me, her face twisted with rage. “This isn’t about money! This is my revenge. About destroying you.”

Her words slammed into me like blows. My throat tightened, panic flooding every nerve.

“Revenge…” The whisper scraped out of me, trembling, weak. “Is this really revenge to you?”

She sneered, turning her back as if I were nothing more than trash. She started to walk away, heels clicking, voice cold.

“Yes. It is. Goodbye, Clairessa. Good luck with this scary dude.”

“Not so fast,” Marco’s voice cut through the air and made her stop. “You’re not going anywhere yet. We both started this, Nicole. We’ll end it together.”

Nicole spun back, brow creasing. “What do you mean, we both started this?”

Marco’s laugh rolled like gravel. “You can’t just walk away. You were the one who insisted she needed to die. You wanted her out of the way. So I haven’t killed her… yet.”

A cold well of fear opened inside me. Nicole was even more heartless than I imagined. She wanted me dead.

My hands clawed uselessly at the rope, fingers numb and slick. Every breath came shallow, tight, as if the room had shrunk around my ribs.

Nicole’s eyes glittered, and she shrugged like this was business, like she was bored with the whole thing. “Fine then. What are you waiting for?”

She tilted her chin, lips curling in a smile that meant nothing kind. “Shoot her.”

The words punched the air out of me. I choked on a sound that didn’t become a scream.

Marco slipped a hand to his back pocket. My heart stuttered when I saw the glint of metal, a gun.