After all, I had once loved Alexander madly.
Back then, everyone knew I was his most cherished treasure, his goddess.
He had even taken a bullet for me, endured kidnapping and humiliation, nearly dying in the process.
And I, too, had given him everything.
But all of that changed the moment Isabella returned from abroad.
Her presence turned our love into a cruel joke—made me into the cruelest joke of all.
So when Alexander appeared with Isabella, pregnant and glowing, the others were already waiting for a spectacle.
What had just happened only stoked their eagerness for drama.
Yet while I sat there calm and composed, Alexander grew restless.
Why had I changed?
Isabella, seeing his eyes still fixed on me, suddenly spoke.
“Alexander, my stomach hurts. Claire must have come here to harm our child.”
At her words, his agitation flared alive once more.
Yes—that must be it.
I was only playing hard to get, putting on this act.
If he thought I had gone after Isabella, then it meant he still cared.
But since I had indeed hurt Isabella and her unborn child, he had to stand up for them.
So Alexander Hughes helped Isabella to her feet and turned to me.
“Claire Bennett, apologize.”