The Belated Bride: Becoming My Own Muse Chapter 17

The Belated Bride: Becoming My Own Muse Chapter 17

I put the white dress into my bag. I didn’t take many other clothes.

When I walked out, Christian was standing in the hallway.

“That’s all you’re taking?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the jewelry? The bags? You don’t want any of them?”

I looked at him.

“Most of the things you gave me were things your secretary picked out.”

His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

I headed for the stairs.

He followed.

At the top of the staircase, he suddenly said, “Claire. What if I said I’m serious about giving you that wedding? And doing it right?”

I stopped walking.

Downstairs, Eleanor and Bianca were both watching us.

I turned around to face him.

“Christian, do you know why I wanted a wedding so badly?”

He didn’t answer.

I said, “It’s not because I needed the ceremony.”

“It’s because I wanted proof that I wasn’t just an invisible woman you’d stashed away on a piece of paper.”

His gaze flickered, just slightly.

I went on, “But what you proved to me instead is that I can’t even protect my own wedding dress.”

The air was dead silent.

This time, even Bianca said nothing.

I picked up my bag and walked down the stairs.

At the door, Bianca suddenly spoke. “Claire. Can you really just walk away like this?”

I turned back.

Tears were still hanging in her eyes, but beneath them was a sliver of something testing.

“You’ve loved Chris for so many years. Can you really bear to just leave?”

I looked at her.

And then I smiled.

“Ms. Moore, have you misunderstood something?”

Her face faltered.

I said, “What I couldn’t bear to leave was never Christian.”

“It was the version of myself who kept swallowing her own pain for his sake.”

Bianca’s expression changed.

I pushed the door open and walked out.

The rain had stopped outside.

Grant’s black Maybach was parked on the circular driveway.

He got out and took the bag from my hand.

Christian followed me outside. When he saw Grant, his entire body went rigid.

“What exactly is going on between you two?”

Grant opened the car door for me and looked calmly back at him.

“Mr. Van Ness, asking that now is a little late.”