Chapter 3

A rare flicker of guilt crossed Lucas' face.

He glanced at Nora, and his voice came out stiff as he tried to comfort her. "Don't be too upset. I'll find the best doctors to treat your father."

Nora's eyes were bloodshot and rimmed with red. She stared at him, her voice trembling as she demanded, "Don't be too upset? My father could have been saved. He didn't have to end up like this!"

Lucas faltered, and an awkward expression flashed across his face. "But Claire needed me to save her too."

Nora looked at him as tears rolled down her cheeks. "My father was actually dying, Lucas. And Claire? Would her own father really have killed her?"

Her voice cracked, but she kept going. "In your eyes, Claire can't suffer even the smallest scratch. A single strand of her hair matters more to you than my life and my family's lives combined."

Lucas pressed his lips together and said nothing. For once, he didn't argue back.

His gaze shifted away, and guilt crept into his tone. "I never said that."

A soft, delicate voice drifted in from the doorway. "Lucas."

Claire stepped inside, wearing a cream cashmere coat and slender heels.

She walked toward them with slow, graceful steps.

Her complexion was rosy, and her expression relaxed. There wasn't a single mark on her, not even a hint that she had ever been in danger.

Tracy's temper flared the moment she saw Claire walk in. She snapped, "What are you doing here?"

Claire flinched and turned to Lucas with a wounded expression. "Mrs. Evans, Lucas came to me and said Mr. Evans might be sick. I was worried, so I came to check on him."

Nora watched Claire's little performance and let out a cold scoff. "You don't need to come here and show off how important you are to Lucas. He left us while my father was fighting for his life, just to go find you."

Her voice hardened. "You've already won. Don't worry. I'll divorce him and get out of your way."

Lucas frowned. He couldn't quite pinpoint the source of his irritation.

Maybe it was hearing Nora speak to Claire that way, or maybe it was how casually she had thrown the word "divorce" around.

He said, "Claire came here out of kindness, and you're giving her attitude for it? If you want to blame someone, blame me. Don't take it out on her."

Nora's eyes turned an even deeper shade of red, and all the anger she had been holding back finally erupted.

She cursed, "You're both terrible people. If you hadn't said those awful things to my father, he never would have collapsed from the anger. And if Claire hadn't called you, none of this would have happened!"

Lucas paused for a few seconds before he spoke in a measured tone. "What you said about me is fair. I shouldn't have said those things and upset your father."

But the moment the words left his mouth, he shifted right back to defending Claire. "But you and your father had no right to accuse her. I'm the one who told her to come to me if she ever needed help."

In five years of marriage, Lucas had never seen Nora like this.

She had never been this agitated, this confrontational.

She had always been the patient one, the gentle one.

But now, watching her unravel before him, something strange and nameless stirred inside his chest.

Lucas said, "This whole thing isn't Claire's fault. You're too emotional right now, so just take a moment and calm down."

He paused, then added, "Once you've cooled off, you owe Claire an apology."

Tracy felt the rage explode inside her chest.

Nora was the one who had been wronged. The entire Evans family had been wronged. And yet Lucas had the nerve to demand that Nora apologize to Claire?

Tracy's voice shook with fury. "You want Nora to apologize to this shameless homewrecker? You have got some nerve."

She took a step closer and pointed at both of them. "You two disgusting cheaters destroyed her father, and now you want to ruin my daughter too."

Her hand swept toward the door. "Get out. Both of you, get out of here!"

But Claire didn't back away. Instead, she stepped forward and deliberately walked into Tracy's outstretched finger.

Then she grabbed Tracy's shirt and pulled them both toward the ground.

Tracy didn't see it coming. Claire's weight dragged her off balance, and she crashed down hard, landing right on top of Claire.

Claire let out a piercing scream. "Mrs. Evans, stop hitting me! Lucas, help me!"

"Claire!" Lucas had been staring at Nora this whole time, but Claire's shriek snapped him back.

He rushed over in three quick strides and yanked Tracy off of Claire with so much force that Tracy stumbled backward.

If Nora hadn't reacted fast and caught her, Tracy would have slammed straight into the wall behind her.

Lucas pulled Claire to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, shielding her like she was made of glass.

Then he turned to Tracy, and his eyes were ice cold.

He spoke through clenched teeth. "Don't think your age gives you the right to push people around and put your hands on someone. I swear, you're going to pay for what you did today."