My Boyfriend Gave Our Home Access Card To My Best Friend Chapter 06

My Boyfriend Gave Our Home Access Card To My Best Friend Chapter 06

Her phone was off. None of his messages received an answer.

He raced to the hotel, the hospital, the office, every place he could think of. No one knew where she’d gone.

In the early hours of the morning, he returned to the apartment, dazed and empty. Only then did he realize

he’d forgotten his elevator card.

He had to take the stairs.

By the eighth floor, sweat soaked his clothes and his legs were shaking. On the tenth, his chest burned. Every

breath left a metallic taste in his mouth.

He braced a hand against the wall and couldn’t make himself take another step. Seventeen floors. He’d never

understood how far that was.

This was what every step had cost Claire when she’d had a fever, when her cramps were unbearable, when she’d injured her ankle. For four years, he’d told her to stop being so dramatic.

Ethan sank onto the cold steps, buried his face against his knees, and finally broke down.

“Claire, I was wrong…”

Only his sobs answered. The woman who’d climbed seventeen floors for four years just to come home to

him wasn’t coming back.

Whatever was falling apart back there had nothing to do with me anymore.

In Seabrook, I got a new number and moved into an apartment filled with sunlight. My coworkers knew

something of what had happened, but no one pried into my love life or looked at me differently.

After reviewing my past results and proposals, my new boss said only, “Claire Bennett, you’ve earned this

position.”

Here, my work spoke for itself. No one stole it or played favorites. Every late night, every revised proposal,

had my name on it.

My project partner, Daniel Hayes, was considerate, too. If I missed a detail, he pointed it out gently. When we

worked late, he’d bring me warm soup because he knew I had a sensitive stomach, but he never pushed past

my boundaries.

For the first time, I realized that being seen and respected wasn’t too much to ask. I could survive without

Ethan.

I was doing better every day.

One night, while I was working late again, an unfamiliar number called. Vanessa’s hoarse voice came

through the speaker.

“Happy now, Claire?”

I could hear the hatred in her voice. “I lost my job. No one in the industry will hire me. I have to pay the

company back, and Ethan won’t even see me. I’ve got nothing left!”

I let her finish screaming. “I didn’t do this to you. These are the consequences of what you did.”

As I moved to end the call, she cried out, “Claire!”

There was a long silence, then the sound of her trying not to sob.

“Do you remember when we first met? The other kids shut me out. Someone put a caterpillar in my breakfast

as a joke, and you gave me half of yours.”

Her breath caught. “I thought you were so kind. So brave. You always looked happy. The teachers liked you, everyone wanted to be your friend, and then even Ethan loved you so much.”

Bitterness crept into her voice. “Why did you get everything? I just wanted to take a little of it. To prove I

could beat you at something. I never meant for you to lose your baby. Claire, I’m sorry…”

She broke down completely. “You’re the only friend I’ve ever truly cared about. Please forgive me.”

Holding the phone, I remembered the crisis in my family twelve years earlier. I’d been so overwhelmed and

helpless that I couldn’t sleep. For a while, I’d even thought about ending my life.

Vanessa had dropped everything and traveled all that way to look after me. She’d sat beside me through one sleepless night after another.

She’d once cared about me. She’d wanted to destroy me, too. Both were true.

People changed. The fact that she’d once been there for me didn’t give her the right to hurt me now.

“Vanessa.” I tightened my grip on the phone. “I won’t come after you. But I’ll never forgive you, either.”

I ended the call and blocked the number.