Chapter 10

Richard actually believed her. He didn't give it a second thought and turned to leave.

Claire called after him. She was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, bathed in warm sunlight, her voice impossibly soft. "Dad. This is the last time I'll call you that."

For a moment, Richard thought he was looking at Grace in her younger years. His mind went blank.

When he came back to himself and looked at his daughter, his expression softened slightly. "Once you're married, settle down and behave. You won't have anyone cleaning up your messes after that."

Claire lowered her eyes and let out a bitter, almost imperceptible laugh.

On the fifth day, while everyone was busy preparing for Vivienne's birthday celebration, Claire was putting the finishing touches on a very different plan.

She compiled every piece of evidence of Ethan's affair—photos, videos, all of it—and paid a fortune to have the media blast it across every platform. She even bought out the digital billboards lining the city streets. She wanted the whole world to see exactly what Ethan and Vivienne had been doing.

But that wasn't all. During this time, she'd also investigated every scheme Vivienne had orchestrated against her. The evidence was irrefutable now—all of it had been Vivienne's doing from the start, every incident staged and manufactured.

By the time anyone found out, they'd already be at the private island estate. After all, Richard was planning to publicly acknowledge Vivienne's identity at the birthday gala that evening.

None of it mattered to Claire anymore. She'd already booked her ticket. She boarded a plane to London and never looked back.

Meanwhile, on the island, Ethan had been searching everywhere for Claire. He finally tracked down Julian, who told him she wasn't feeling well and hadn't come.

Ethan blinked. "Claire's not feeling well?"

Julian's handsome features flashed with impatience. "That's just her excuse. She's probably off somewhere doing God knows what."

Ethan couldn't hold back. "And you're not the least bit worried about her?"

Julian scoffed inwardly, surprised by the question. "You know how she is—headstrong, always throwing tantrums. She's probably just upset about the Vivienne thing again."

"Besides, today is Vivienne's birthday. Don't ruin it for her, alright?"

Ethan's face darkened. He stared at Julian with undisguised displeasure. "Julian, Claire is your sister. Your actual sister."

His jaw tightened as he clenched his fists. "She's been off ever since she got out. Something's clearly wrong. And now she's suddenly disappeared from the house, and it doesn't even occur to you to wonder why?"

Julian stood there as if struck by lightning, the smile frozen on his lips. For a long time, he said nothing.

Ethan didn't wait for him. Scowling, he dialed Claire's number over and over, but every call went unanswered.

Something had been wrong all day. A gnawing sense of dread had been building in his chest since morning.

That dread peaked the moment he learned Claire hadn't come to the island. He started mentally retracing the past few days and felt a sickening wave of guilt.

He'd been so caught up with Vivienne's birthday preparations that he'd barely spent any time with Claire. Looking back now, he realized she'd stopped talking to him almost entirely.

When she came back, he'd make it up to her. But before he could find her, his phone buzzed with a message from his secretary: "Mr. Holloway, your photos with Vivienne Sterling are trending everywhere. You need to see this. Now."

Photos with Vivienne? What could possibly— But when he tapped the link, his mind went blank.

His intimate photos with Vivienne were plastered across every corner of the internet. The comments section was an avalanche of people demanding to know the nature of his relationship with Vivienne.

His response was immediate. "Kill the story. Scrub everything. Claire cannot see this."

By the end, his voice was shaking. She absolutely could not see this. He forced himself to stay calm. "It'll be fine. If we move fast enough, Claire won't know."

But his secretary's next words shattered that hope. The man's voice was panicked. "Mr. Holloway, the story's too big. We can't take it down."

Ethan hurled his phone to the ground, his face contorted with fury. "Useless. All of you."

He pulled strings and finally got the trending topics removed—but they reappeared almost instantly. Seething, he fired off a message to Claire:

"Claire, everything online is fake. There's nothing between me and her. You have to believe me."

He knew Claire had despised cheaters ever since she was young. He couldn't bear to imagine how she'd react if she saw any of this.

But the moment he hit send, he went completely still. A single line appeared on his screen:

You have been blocked by this user.