Chapter 7 You Disgust Me

Liam was wheezing, obviously infuriated. Standing beside him was Chantelle, who tried to mediate between them insincerely and soothe him. “Calm down, Dad. Don’t get worked up because of her. Now that she’s back, we can’t very well drive her away. Besides, the child is innocent. You have to remember that he’s your grandson.”

She deliberately stressed the word “grandson” to fuel her father’s rage.

Armand stood by the side as he watched the chaos that the Weiss family was in. As he focused on the large-eyed boy hiding behind Claire, he was suddenly reminded of the man who showed up beside her yesterday.

His fists clenched as a gush of resentment rose up within him. Waves of emotion roiled in his eyes.

He had, after all, been with Claire for several years. Though they had eventually broken up due to the incident, he still held a place for her in his heart.

Claire stared at the family before her emotionlessly as she struggled to push back the bitterness that threatened to take over her.

She had expected that this would happen, but it still hurt to actually see the situation unfold.

Nobody knew what she had gone through when she was banished abroad. She was so broke that she could not afford food and shelter. She had to make do with having one meal a day and sleeping in a shared bed.

She had been through so much suffering, and yet even then, not one person gave her a call to check on her and see how she was doing.

She had lost all hope in them. So what if her father did not accept her? She couldn’t care less.

“Ollie is my child.” Claire sighed as she willed herself to let go of the past. “It’s your choice whether you acknowledge him or not. It’s got nothing to do with me. I only came back for their engagement. Once it’s over, I’ll leave right away.”

Liam glowered at her with such disgust as though he was looking at a pile of trash. “I’ll tell you this. You may attend the engagement if you so wish. But under no circumstances is the child allowed to show up. You may be shameless, but we’d still like to keep our reputation intact!”

Claire had not been bothered by whether Ollie was allowed to attend the engagement from the very beginning.

She was sickened by everything that had happened, and there was nothing much left to say.

Thus, she simply agreed and turned to lead Ollie out. She had no intention of lingering in this place where she had lived for 20 years. Without even taking a step into the living room, she turned and left.

Taking a glance at her wristwatch, she found that it was still early. Claire decided to take the opportunity to return to her grandmother’s house. But first, she would get her some things that she would need.

Just as she was about to hail a taxi, Armand rushed out behind her and stopped her in her tracks.

“Is anything else the matter?”

Claire crossed her arms, giving off an air of indifference. It was obvious she did not wish to engage in a conversation with him.

Claire’s callousness seemed to enrage Armand. She was the one who cheated on him with another man. How dare she question him so boldly now?

“Tell me, what did you mean yesterday when you said Chantelle disgusts you?” he asked as he stared Claire in the eye, his voice laced with an undertone of uncontrollable rage.

It had never occurred to Claire that Armand would remember what she said out of indignation yesterday. She was momentarily taken aback before she lifted her head to meet his eye again.

“How dare you say that to Chantelle?” Armand roared with tightened fists as she gave him the cold shoulder. “Aren’t you the sickening one who cheated on me and slept with another man? And now you have the audacity to…”

“Have you said enough?” Claire cut him off with a frown. “You have no right to bring up what happened back then, Armand. We grew up together and knew each other for so long, but you had no faith in me at all!”

At the mention of the incident, a tightness formed in her chest from the anger.

The man whom she thought loved her deeply and she would spend the rest of her life with chose to leave her without the slightest hesitation when she was at her weakest.

“Back then, I was set up and taken advantage of, but you just left without a single word. We’re square now. From now on, enjoy your life with Chantelle.”

And with that, she took no further notice of Armand. She took Ollie’s hand in hers and turned to leave.

But Armand seemed to have picked up from Claire’s words that something was off, so he reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Set up? What do you mean you were set up?”

That did it for Chantelle, who had been eavesdropping on them from a distance away. She quickly made her way out of hiding and twined her arms around Armand’s waist before whining, “Armand, why are you out here? I thought that something had happened to you. Let’s go back, shall we?”

She looked flustered, obviously from rushing out to stop Claire from spilling the truth.

Claire shot her a mocking look, finding their current situation pretty ridiculous. “It’s amazing how you appeared at just the right time.”

The sardonic tone in her voice riled Armand up. “Why are you spouting all this nonsense? You’re just trying to make Chantelle look bad on purpose!”

Claire had no idea how Chantelle had brainwashed Armand, but he really trusted her.

“Since you’re so protective of her, then why did you chase after me? Go ahead and live your happily ever after and get the hell out of my life! You disgust me!”

Claire refused to put up with them any longer. She reached for Ollie’s hand and left.