Chapter 2 Exiled

Claire's head snapped up to look at Chantelle. She bit her lip firmly, so enraged that she couldn't utter a word. Her body trembled with anger. She couldn't understand why Chantelle would ruin her life like this.

"So what if you're mad at me?" Chantelle twirled a finger around her curly hair and sneered. "Both your fiancé and your father don’t believe you. Just give up and leave the country quietly."

Claire seethed in fury. "Chantelle, why are you doing this to me? Why?" She rushed forward hysterically and grabbed Chantelle by the neck. The latter didn't resist, however, and only put on an innocent expression as she sobbed pitifully, "Claire, don't hurt me… It really wasn't me who did that to you last night…"

"Claire, what are you doing?!" Liam barked. He'd rushed over upon hearing the commotion, and with a shove, he angrily pushed Claire to the floor. "Are you crazy? Do you want to strangle your sister to death?"

Claire collapsed on the cold tiles. She felt so hurt that her eyes teared up instantly. All of a sudden, she thought of her mother and the memories from her childhood, but no matter what, there was no going back to those times.

Her stepmother, Jeanne Briggs, quickly showed up after Liam. At the sight of the bruise forming on her daughter's neck, she lost her temper and kicked Claire out of spite.

"You slut, you're as disgraceful as your mother! Die!"

Each kick became more and more forceful, yet Liam stood idly by and turned a blind eye to it. Instead, he only worried about Chantelle's bruise. Claire felt dizzy from Jeanne's merciless beating, and her heart turned completely cold.

…

Meanwhile, at Marquez Group, Javier Marquez was in his office, staring at his assistant with a sullen expression.

"What happened?" His dark gaze nearly penetrated Henry, his assistant, as he questioned, "Did you find anything about the matter I told you to look into?"

Henry broke out in a cold sweat under Javier interrogating eyes. He gulped and quickly informed the latter of the news he had just received, saying, "Yes. Samuel Quincy of Quincy Group was behind it."

Javier knew Samuel from the previous project collaboration between their companies. That sly man had made quite a large sum from bribery. As Javier couldn't tolerate his misconduct, he'd instructed his subordinates to bring Quincy Group down. Now that Quincy Group was on the verge of bankruptcy, Samuel was very likely having a hard time as the company's president.

"Samuel bought off a hotel staff to drug you. He probably wanted revenge…" Henry's voice became smaller as his intimidation grew, to the point he was holding his breath. The situation at hand was now as clear as day. Samuel devised the whole thing, and no one had expected things to go wrong this abruptly.

"From my investigation, Samuel booked a room at Sanctum Hotel last night." Henry reluctantly sneaked a peek at Javier before looking downward again. "But it seems like you didn't actually enter the room…"

Javier's face fell as he growled. "What do you mean?"

Frightened by his unpleasant tone, Henry had no choice but to repeat himself, "Sir, you didn't enter the room last night."

If he hadn't entered the hotel room, then what about the woman he saw on the bed? Javier was deep in thought, images of last night's incident flashing before his eyes. Soon, he remembered that right before leaving the room, he'd noticed the bright red spots on the bedsheet. The woman had been a virgin.

Javier frowned. "Go and find out about the woman in my room," he ordered Henry. He wanted to know who exactly she was.

Henry complied immediately. Nonetheless, despite his efficiency, he couldn't discover anything useful about Claire. In fact, the hotel’s security footage had long been erased by Chantelle since she didn't want to leave behind evidence of her scheme against Claire.

After giving the order, she proceeded to act the innocent. She silently gloated as she watched Claire get kicked out of their home and sent abroad.

Laden down by heavy luggage, Claire boarded the one-way plane, forever exiled from the Weiss family.