Chapter 4
The moment Sophie said that, Edward almost instinctively looked at me.
When he saw my expressionless face, I could see the anxiety bubbling up inside him again.
As if he needed to prove something, he deliberately wrapped his arms around Sophie, making sure I saw it.
"It's my fault for making you uncomfortable. Next time, I'll make sure to keep it out of sight," he said.
His gaze stayed locked on me, as if he was desperate to catch any reaction, anger, annoyance, whatever.
But I didn't give him anything.
Watching him do whatever he wanted in this room, all I felt was pure disgust.
But I made sure not to let even a hint of that disgust show in front of him.
Seeing me so calm and expressionless, Edward was just about to snap when my phone suddenly rang.
I gripped my phone tight, stepped out of the room, and answered the call.
"Your visa's ready. You can leave whenever you want," the voice on the other end said.
"Okay," I replied. As I heard footsteps behind me, I hurriedly ended the call.
The next second, Edward snatched my phone right out of my hand.
"Who were you calling?" His voice was cold, with a hint of accusation. "Claire Linwood, when did you start making calls behind my back?"
As he said this, he tried to unlock my phone to check who I was calling, but he kept getting the password wrong.
He shot me a frustrated look, gritting his teeth. "What's the password?"
"Our anniversary," I replied calmly. "The day we met."
That date was etched in my mind, but to Edward, it might as well have been a total blank.
He kept trying, over and over, until the phone locked up on him.
His brow furrowed, patience wearing thin, he handed the phone back to me and demanded, "Who were you calling?"
"Vera," I replied. "I'm meeting her later."
I wasn't lying. I really was meeting up with Vera.
Since I was about to leave, I had to say goodbye to my best friend.
Maybe he didn't trust me, or maybe he just wanted to keep tabs on me, but for the first time ever, Edward personally drove me out.
As the car rolled out of the villa, I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Sophie standing at the door, her eyes burning with pure resentment.
*****
When we got there, Edward watched me get out, head into the café, and sit down with Vera. Finally convinced, he drove away.
Vera and I spent the afternoon together, having coffee and talking through my plans. She hated to see me go, but she supported me all the way.
After parting ways with Vera, I made a stop at Selah Chapel. I brought the crushed shalom charm back and asked the priest to repair it for me.
After I got everything sorted and stepped outside, I bumped into Sophie.
In a secluded spot by the temple entrance, her eyes were burning with malice as she snapped, "Claire, you really have no shame. You think coming here to pray is gonna win Edward back?
"Stop dreaming. Edward has only ever cared about me. You were never even in the picture.
"And do you know why you lost your baby? It was because I got furious when I found out and went off on Edward. He took you on that wild drive on purpose, just so he'd make sure you lost it.
"Claire, you were never supposed to have Edward's kid. That baby was doomed the second it landed in your messed-up life. Even if you got pregnant a hundred times, they'd all end up dead..."
She kept running her mouth, but her words just faded into static. I couldn't hear a damn thing anymore.
All I could see was that day playing over and over in my head, everything going blood-red. I snapped. I swung and slapped her hard.
Sophie was totally dazed, just standing there. The moment she tried to fight back, I grabbed her by the throat, snarling, "Sophie, I'm dragging you down with my child!"