Chapter 5 - The White Knuckles
Ethan couldn't breathe. The realization crashed over him with the weight of a freight train.
He looked back at Claire. Her knuckles had turned stark white as she gripped the edges of the heavy champagne tray, her fingers trembling ever so slightly beneath the strain of holding back a decade of accumulated pain.
Claire looked away, deliberately avoiding Ethan's intense, burning gaze. She stared across the crowded ballroom, her jaw tight, refusing to let him see the vulnerability hidden behind her professional server facade.
She had worked every double-shift, cleaned luxury hotel rooms, and waited tables in cheap diners just to ensure her three boys had food on the table, a safe roof over their heads, and an education. She had built a quiet, honorable life with her bare hands, completely independent of the billionaire who had tried to throw her away like trash.
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Ethan felt a crushing wave of profound sickness wash over him. He opened his mouth, but the words caught in his throat, blocked by the sheer scale of his own unforgivable guilt.
👉 Read Part 6 to hear the agonizing question escape the billionaire's lips.
