Claire walked in the rain for a full hour before she finally made it back to her apartment.

The moment she got inside, her strength gave out and she collapsed.

But early the next morning, she still showed up at the office on time. That evening, the Sterling family and Quinn Group were holding a joint annual gala, and every employee was required to attend.

Claire wore the plainest little black dress she could find and kept to the corner, trying to stay unnoticed.

But with a face like hers, blending in was never really an option.

"Look, the Sterling daughter who ran from her marriage is back."

"I heard she dumped Mr. Quinn and ran. And now she's back?"

Claire lowered her eyes and took a sip of champagne, trying to steady herself.

"Shut up."

A cold voice cut through the whispers. The people gossiping fell silent at once, terrified Ethan might turn his eyes on them next.

A faint ache tightened in Claire's chest. When she looked over, Ethan was already walking toward his business partners with a glass in hand, as if the one who had stepped in for her a second ago had never been him at all.

"Claire!"

A syrupy voice rang out.

Sophie walked over holding two glasses of wine, smiling brightly. "Here's to your return."

Claire instinctively wanted to refuse, but with so many eyes turning toward them, she could not afford to make a scene.

"Thanks." She took the glass.

Something flickered in Sophie's eyes. Her fingertip brushed lightly over the rim of the glass, where a colorless, tasteless powder had already dissolved into the wine.

"Cheers." Sophie tipped back her own drink in one go, smiling all the while.

Claire took a sip as well.

Seconds later, the room began to spin.

She caught herself on the edge of the table, her vision blurring. Through the haze, she heard Sophie murmur to two men in suits, "Take her to the side room. Mr. Brooks is waiting."

She tried to resist, but her whole body had gone weak.

The two men hoisted her up and dragged her toward the far end of the corridor.

"Let... go of me..." she murmured, before her consciousness slipped into darkness.

In the side room, Harold rubbed his hands together as he walked closer. "This is her? Ethan's woman?"

"That's right," Sophie said over the phone. "Take a few intimate photos and send them to Ethan. Let him see just how cheap the woman he keeps protecting really is."

Harold hung up and moved closer to Claire with a filthy grin. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she cooperates."

He reached for the buttons of Claire's dress.

Then the door slammed open.

Ethan stood in the doorway like death itself, his eyes bloodshot. "Who the hell touched her?"

Harold stumbled back in fright. "M-Mr. Quinn! This is a misunderstanding!"

Ethan did not waste a word. He drove his fist straight into Harold's nose.

The crack of breaking bone was sickeningly clear.

He strode to Claire, took off his suit jacket, wrapped it around her, and swept her into his arms.

Curled against his chest, she blinked her eyes open in a daze, tears slipping down her face. "You promised me... Why didn't you come for me? I waited at the old harbor until dawn..."

Ethan's whole body stiffened. He had not caught her words clearly. "What did you say? Where were you?"

Claire was too dazed to notice anything else. All she could do was pour out the hurt she had carried for years.

She sobbed, her voice broken. "But you didn't come... You left me behind."

Listening to her slurred whispers, Ethan felt panic claw at his chest. He wanted nothing more than to shake the woman in his arms awake and force the truth into the open right then and there.

"Claire!" Sophie rushed in with two maids behind her, her face painted with concern. "You've had too much to drink. I'll take you to a guest room so you can rest."

She turned to Ethan and forced a smile. "Ethan, she's not in her right mind right now. You can't take what she says seriously. You should go. I'll handle things here."

Ethan sensed something was off. "Who handed her that drink tonight?"

Sophie's expression tightened. She could not let Ethan learn the truth. If he did, her dream of marrying him would be shattered for good.

"If you don't let me take her away, tomorrow the whole internet will be full of stories about Claire getting drunk and throwing herself at you. Your career will be ruined by this woman."

Ethan was not afraid of what might happen to him. But Claire was still tied to the Sterling family, and he could not ignore that.

The Sterling family controlled the largest media network in the city. If they leaked even the slightest rumor, the career Claire had fought so hard to rebuild could be wiped out overnight.

"Claire," he called softly.

She looked at him through blurred eyes, tears shimmering within them. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Sophie cut in at once. "She's exhausted. Take her to rest, now."

The maids half-supported and half-dragged Claire out of the room.

Once Claire was gone, Sophie seized the moment and threw herself into Ethan's arms, clinging to him tightly. "Ethan, I'm the one who's been by your side these past five years... I've treated you better than Claire ever did. She gave up on you a long time ago. I'm the only one who's always loved you."

Ethan's eyes darkened. He pushed her away with controlled force. "Don't touch me."

He turned and walked away. Sophie remained where she was, her nails digging into her palm, the hatred in her eyes impossible to hide.

From the shadowed end of the hallway, a man dressed in black stepped out and handed her a memory card. "The photos are done."

Sophie let out a cold laugh. "Send them to Claire."

Claire woke in the hotel room with her head splitting apart in pain.

She thought of Ethan's expression before she blacked out, the way he had seemed to want to say something, and the confusion in his face that had not looked fake at all.

A bold thought rose in her heart. Maybe Ethan had never received her messages back then. Or maybe something had happened to him on the way.

Maybe he had his reasons. Maybe he had not abandoned her on purpose.

At the thought, her chest tightened with sudden hope. She wanted nothing more than to find him that instant and clear everything up.

Then her phone vibrated.

It was an anonymous picture message. In the photo, Ethan was looking down at Sophie in his arms. Their foreheads were pressed together, their lips less than an inch apart.

And the timestamp on the photo was unmistakable. It had been taken five years ago.

Claire stared at the photo, her fingers trembling.

So it wasn't that he never got her messages. It wasn't that he had a reason.

He had already given his heart to someone else.

She thought of how he hadn't come after her in the rain, of the way he had said he had no interest in her, of how he had stood by while she was dragged away…

Now everything made sense.

Had the pain she endured for five years meant nothing to him at all?

She had to get answers from Ethan.

Claire rushed out of the room and headed straight for the Quinn estate.

She had just reached the main building when two maids came out from a side entrance carrying a black garment bag, whispering to each other.

"Did you hear? Mr. Quinn's getting engaged."

"Yeah. Sophie said this is the engagement outfit. Mr. Quinn is trying it on today."

Claire froze as if struck by lightning, her feet rooted to the ground.

Ethan was getting engaged?

To Sophie?

All her courage drained away in an instant. She no longer wanted to face him.

She turned to leave, but footsteps sounded behind her.

"Claire?" Ethan's voice was low, with a trace of restrained urgency. "What are you doing here? Did you come to see me?"

Claire turned slowly.

He stood in the morning light, his shirt slightly open, his expression unreadable.

She stared at him, her voice shaking. "That outfit just now… is it yours?"

He frowned. "Which one?"

"The one the maids were carrying." Her voice almost broke into a shout. "Is it yours or not?"

Ethan paused for a second, then let out a cold laugh. "If it's not mine, whose would it be, yours? Do I need your permission to have an outfit made now?"

The words cut into Claire like a blade.

Five years ago, they were supposed to run away together, and he vanished without a trace.

For five years, ninety-nine emails, all unanswered.

And now, five years later, all he gave her was mockery and humiliation.

Everything inside her snapped at once. Her eyes burned red as she raised her hand.

A sharp slap landed across his face.

Ethan froze. One side of his face burned, but he did not move.

Claire's eyes were red as her voice shook. "I must've been blind to fall for someone like you five years ago!"

With that, she turned to leave.

Ethan stood there, his cheek still burning, yet something in his chest loosened unexpectedly.

She had just said she loved him five years ago?

For a moment, he felt the slap had been worth it.

But when he saw the finality in her back, panic set in.

He caught up, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her into his arms. "You're still the same spoiled rich girl. Slapping me without even asking what really happened?"

Claire had never seen anyone this shameless. Yet the more she struggled, the tighter his hold became.

Feeling the familiar warmth she had not known for five years, the steady beat of his heart beneath his chest, she suddenly broke down. "Ethan..."

Ethan felt dampness spreading against his chest. Panic flickered through him. Without thinking, like he had done countless times before, he reached up and gently wiped her tears. "Claire, don't cry..."

Before he could finish, Sophie rushed out from the corridor.

The moment she saw the mark on Ethan's face and Claire in his arms, she let out a sharp scream and lunged at Claire.

"You dared to hit him?"

Claire had no time to react before Sophie's hand was already raised.

Ethan reacted instantly, grabbing Sophie's wrist with enough force to make her cry out.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped coldly.

But in Claire's eyes, he was protecting Sophie, afraid she might get hurt.

Claire broke free from his arms and walked away without looking back.

Ethan moved to follow, but Sophie wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, crying out, "I'm the only one who deserves you! She'll only hurt you!"

Claire's figure disappeared beyond the gates of the estate.

Ethan's expression darkened. He shoved Sophie away hard, his voice ice-cold. "If you try anything like that again, you're out."

Sophie collapsed to the ground, staring at him in disbelief, before scrambling up and running off in tears.

Ethan stood in the middle of the garden, the morning wind ruffling his hair.

His assistant hurried over. "Mr. Quinn, the outfit for tomorrow night's dinner with the four major families is ready. As for your face..."

"I know." He cut him off, touching his still-burning cheek. A faint smile curved his lips. "It's nothing."

The assistant was stunned. He had just been slapped by Claire, and he was… smiling?

Ethan looked toward the gate, his gaze deep. "As long as she can still get angry because of me, it means she still cares. I can forgive her for leaving without a word five years ago, as long as she's willing to speak now, willing to stay by my side. I can forgive her anything."

Claire returned to the office and sat at her desk, staring at the computer screen, her fingers cold to the touch.

Her whole body trembled with anger, but the weight of her workload pressed down on her, forcing her to rush through the report.

The day after the data submission, the annual key account she was responsible for, Aurora Group, flagged irregularities and accused her of falsifying the data.

The penalty for breach of contract was thirty million dollars. If she failed to clarify the situation today, the company would pull out immediately, and her career would be over.

"Ms. Sterling, are you certain these user growth figures are real?" The client representative asked coldly, "We checked the backend. The numbers don't match at all."

"I'll check it again," Claire said, biting her lip.

But she knew very well the data had only been uploaded yesterday, and she had personally verified it three times.

Unless someone had tampered with it.

Suddenly, she remembered Sophie "kindly" offering to back up her files yesterday.

It had to be her.

But if she said it now, no one would believe her.

The only person Claire could think of now was Ethan.

If Ethan was willing to believe her and pull up the original backup data, it would clear her name.

Claire walked into Ethan's office, her heart pounding. "Mr. Quinn, could you pull up the data backup? I think someone tampered with my data..."

Ethan lifted his head from the documents and looked at Claire without a trace of emotion, yet it still sent a chill down her spine.

"Your mistake, why should I be the one to pay for it?"

Claire froze for a second. "It's not a mistake. Someone altered my data..."

Ethan cut her off. "Where's your proof?"

Claire's face turned ashen. He didn't believe her.

Ethan noticed the change in her expression and spoke slowly, almost like a reminder. "I'm the CEO. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to interfere in disputes between employees. But you could always go to your ex-boyfriend. I hear he's loaded. He could cover the penalty for you, as long as you're willing to ask."

Her ex-boyfriend.

That was Ethan.

Claire understood now. All of this was just to humiliate her.

Claire shoved the door open and walked out. She would rather quit than lower herself to beg Ethan.

At that moment, the assistant walked in. "Mr. Quinn, Aurora is preparing to withdraw their investment. Ms. Sterling's project probably won't survive."

Ethan recalled the way Claire had walked out without looking back. His fist tightened, then slowly loosened.

He remembered what she had said last night when she slapped him. "I must've been blind to fall for someone like you five years ago."

He actually let out a quiet laugh. It didn't matter. She loved him.

That was enough.

The assistant hesitated. "This is Ms. Sterling's hard work. If it's destroyed..."

Ethan turned away, his tone casual. "I already told her how to solve it. She can ask her ex for money. He has plenty. As long as Claire is willing to ask, her ex would give everything to help her."

The assistant froze. "Isn't that... a bit much?"

Ethan's lips curled slightly. "But if she's willing to bow her head just once, I'll forgive her for leaving without a word five years ago."

But Claire never came.

3 p.m., meeting room. The client representative stood up, his tone final. "Ms. Sterling, unfortunately, we've decided to terminate the partnership."

Claire's face went deathly ashen as her nails dug into her palm.

At that moment, the meeting room door was pushed open.

Ethan walked in slowly, followed by the legal and finance teams.

"The original data is here. This wasn't Claire's mistake." His voice was calm, yet carried undeniable authority. "Quinn Group will fully fund this project and assume all risks."

The room erupted in shock.

The client representative stammered, "Mr. Quinn? Why would you..."

His gaze swept over Claire's ashen face, and for a brief moment, his tone softened. "I trust her ability."

Claire stared at him in a daze. He was about to get engaged to Sophie, so why was he helping her?

She wanted to go thank him, but the moment she stood up, Ethan was already surrounded by investors asking about the next steps.

She would have to thank him another time.

As Claire walked out of the meeting room, a man stopped her.

"Ms. Sterling!" Adrian Cole, the investor, smiled as he draped an arm over her shoulder. "The project's safe! Dinner tonight to celebrate?"

She hesitated. Adrian had helped her a lot. It was only right to treat him to something.

"Let me buy you a coffee instead."