The One He Dismissed Became The One He Died For novel Chapter 26

Claire's hand jerked, nearly dropping her phone on her face.

She frantically scrambled to unsend the message.

There was no way he saw that, right?

It had been a minute, and surely he wasn't just staring at his screen.

Abandoning her careful phrasing, Claire quickly hammered out two words: [You're welcome.]

Every ounce of energy she had was drained the moment she hit 'unsend' on that sticker.

She swore right then and there to never save any of Betty's weird reaction memes ever again.

But to her absolute horror, a new message popped up on the screen.

[Ms. Jenner, no need.]

No need for what?!

Claire screamed internally. No need to rock his world?!

The next day, at Sterling Holdings' design department.

The second Claire walked into the office, she saw a crowd of people gathered around Yvonne, practically squealing with envy.

"That diamond is absolutely massive! This is the first time I've ever seen a rock this huge in person."

"How much did this cost? Director Zimmerman, your husband spoils you so much."

"Yvonne is gorgeous and comes from an amazing family. Honestly, her husband is the lucky one!"

"But seriously, who is your husband? You're keeping him such a secret. Is it someone we know?"

At that, the crowd exchanged knowing smiles. Everyone already knew the answer.

Yvonne's gaze cut through the crowd and landed squarely on Claire.

She purposely raised her right hand, waving it gently so the diamond caught the light, sparkling with magnificent brilliance.

Her voice was sickeningly sweet. "He just bought this for me to play around with at the engagement party. For the actual wedding, we're going overseas to get custom bands made."

"Remember, girls, a ring is a very important commitment. Don't be stupid and waste years dating someone if you can't even get a ring out of it."

The insult was painfully deliberate.

Claire's expression didn't change. She offered a faint, dismissive smile and turned to walk straight into the Luna Atelier studio.

Why would anyone brag about bagging a piece of trash?

During the lunch hour, Jefferson walked into the design department and headed straight for Luna Atelier.

He shut the door behind him.

The smug smile on the man's face shattered.

"Not for me?" His eyes turned lethal, his tone laced with absolute danger. "Claire, this is not a funny joke."

He stepped around the desk, cornering her.

"If it wasn't for me, then who the hell was it for?"

"Claire, over all these years, if any other man so much as breathed in your direction, I knew about it!"

Claire looked up, meeting Jefferson's furious, predatory gaze head-on, her voice perfectly calm and clear.

"Jefferson, we're broken up. Whether there are other men around me or not has absolutely nothing to do with you."

He lunged forward, grabbing her wrist and yanking her toward him. His other hand roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

He was searching for any sign that she was lying.

"Claire, who else besides me would you spend so much time designing a custom shirt for?"

"You're just escalating your little games. You knew I saw the shirt, so you purposely withheld it just to bait me, didn't you?"

His voice was deadly low, clearly suppressing his rage because they were at the office.

"But playing hard to get loses its charm when you take it too far."