Chapter 2
That was when it hit me. I was already someone else’s wife.
It happened so fast, and I hadn’t adjusted to the role yet.
But when I answered Levin’s call, I felt more relaxed than ever.
“Who was that?”
Caelum opened the car door just as I hung up.
His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“Just a friend.”
I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to tell him I’d gotten the license with Levin.
Vivienne got in too, carrying the gift box.
After setting it down, she kept rubbing her hands together, blowing on
them.
“So cold.”
Caelum immediately wrapped her hands in his, “Let me warm them.”
As if I wasn’t even in the car.
In that moment, I felt lucky he left me at the City Hall.
If we’d really gotten married, how could I survive decades of this kind of intimacy between them?
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Chapter 2
I gently shook my head.
“Caelum, it was freezing outside just now. Is my baby okay?”
At her words, Caelum looked visibly nervous.
He quickly took off the rosary on his wrist and fastened it around Vivienne’s.
She glanced at me through the rearview mirror with a smug smile.
That rosary–I had climbed the steps of a hillside chapel while on my period, all 999 of them, just to beg for it.
It rained on the way down. I nearly got swept away.
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When I gave it to him two years ago, he’d cried and said he’d wear it for life.
This book had been added on your bookshelf.
Just two years later, and he gave it away like I was nothing.
The memories flashed past like shooting stars. I fought back tears.
Then I grabbed Vivienne’s wrist, ripped off the rosary, and flung it out the
window.
A flash of anger crossed her face. Then she blinked away fake tears. “Caelum, why’s Clarissa mad? Is it because you gave me the rosary? Even if she’s upset, she shouldn’t throw it away. It was yours. She really doesn’t care about you at all.”
Caelum’s face turned stormy. “Clarissa, what nonsense are you pulling now? It’s just a stupid rosary, not some priceless heirloom. Why can’t I give it to Vivienne? If you keep being like this, I can’t marry you.”
I sneered. “Then don’t. Big deal.”
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Chapter 2
He got even angrier.
But wasn’t I the one who should be mad in the first place?
He clenched his jaw and started driving fast, blowing through two red lights.
When we arrived, Ronald had already pulled Vivienne into a room.
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“Whose baby is it? If you can’t get engaged, get rid of it. No daughter of the Powell family has a child out of wedlock.”
Even from afar, I could hear him shouting–and her sobbing.
Caelum looked deeply worried.
He pulled me aside and spoke solemnly.
“Clarissa, you see how hard things are for her.
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“Go tell Grandpa you can’t have kids. Say she’s carrying ours–she’s just a surrogate.
“You’re afraid of pain anyway. This way, you won’t have to give birth.”
I shook off his hand.
“You want me to lie and say I’m infertile? Just to help Vivienne? Are you insane? Or is that your baby?”
His face went dark. He clearly wasn’t pleased.
“Clarissa Juventino!” he barked.
“What the hell are you talking about? How could I do something like that?
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“Weren’t you the one in the car just now agreeing so nicely?”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Everything you’ve done–I couldn’t list it all in one day if I tried.”
He suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Clarissa, if you still want to marry me, you’ll accept the baby and stop making things up about me and Vivienne. Otherwise, we’re over.
“Think carefully.”
Before I could reply, he shoved me away and walked off.
Near the end of the party, I was about to say goodbye to Ronald.
But as I turned the corner, Caelum suddenly grabbed me and dragged me out to the terrace.
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