Seven Years to Clear Her Name

I heard the sarcasm in his voice.

Unwilling to meet his gaze, I lowered my head and said,

"Mr. Chandler, hello."

After speaking, I tried to pull away and leave.

But he seized my wrist.

He pinned me tightly against the corner of the wall and sneered.

"This is your attitude? Not like you at all."

"What, did two years in prison break you? You didn't even let me know you were out?"

He moved closer, his hot breath fanning against my ear, his tone full of condescension.

"Short on cash? You should have told me. If I was feeling generous, I might have helped you out. Then you wouldn't have had to stoop to being a janitor here, right?"

He sized me up, his eyes full of disdain.

I was dressed simply today because I didn't want to attract attention, yet he mistook me for a janitor.

My tone remained calm, tinged with a distant politeness.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Chandler, but I won't trouble you."

Just then, Holly Quinn hurried over.

Only then did Liam Chandler move away from me.

He turned and pulled Holly Quinn into his arms.

He looked at me with a taunting expression.

"Holly, an old friend is here. Aren't you going to chat for a bit?"

Hearing this, Holly Quinn immediately put on a fragile, innocent expression.

She stepped forward and grabbed my hand.

"Claire, I'm so sorry! After you were… gone, Liam and I got together…"

"Don't get the wrong idea, we didn't betray you!"

"Also, Liam and I are getting engaged soon. I hope you can come, okay?"

As she spoke, her eyes actually reddened slightly.

Liam Chandler lit a cigarette, blowing out clouds of smoke, waiting to see my reaction.

After all, in the past, I would fly into a rage whenever I saw him get close to another woman.

But today, I just said lightly,

"Congratulations to you both."

The smile on Liam Chandler's face froze instantly.

He viciously ground out the cigarette in his hand.

He whipped his head around, his eyes piercing me like shards of ice.

"What’s with the act? You hear I'm engaged to another woman, and you're this calm?"

"Back then, you pulled every stunt imaginable to marry me, to become the mistress of the Chandler family—you even drove my mother to her death!"

His sinister eyes locked onto me, as if he wanted to tear me to shreds.

Seeing this, Holly Quinn quickly stepped in to play the peacemaker.

"Liam, don't say that to Claire. She probably just loved you too much back then and used some extreme methods, crossing your boundaries."

Chase Harlan followed them over.

He looked at me with the same expression of disgust.

"Holly, you're just too kind, that's why you get fooled by people like her!"

"You treat her like your best friend, but who knows when she'll stab you in the back?"

He turned to Liam Chandler, adding fuel to the fire.

"Your mother was so good to her, wasn't she? She even gave her the family heirloom! And what did she do? She lured your mother to the rooftop… and forced her to jump!"

Hearing Chase Harlan bring up the past again.

Liam Chandler finally couldn't take it anymore and roared,

"Enough!" He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.

His eyes were pure venom.

"I should have torn you limb from limb back then! Let you feel what it's like to fall from twenty-eight stories, to feel your bones shatter!"

Faced with his teeth-gritting rage, I just said lightly,

"It wasn't me."

But he scoffed.

"Heh, you haven't changed. Still so stubborn. You have the guts to do it, but not to admit it?"

I looked at him, my expression unchanging.

"And you're just like you were back then, never willing to believe me."

His expression stiffened, words of rebuttal catching in his throat. In the end, he swallowed them back down.