The next morning, I sat in a law office, waiting to be told what I already felt…something was wrong

“Miss Claire the marriage certificate you have appears to be forged. You were never married to Xander Hart.” I stared at the man infront of me, numbness slowly seeping into my bones.

“We had a small wedding, I-I decorated the chapel myself.” I said, voice oddly detached like I was speaking about someone else’s life.

“Miss Claire you were never the wife, the children born from this union can only be illegitimate.”

The room spun around me as my entire body trembled when he continued.

“Do you still not wish to abort and completely erase your identity along with the baby’s?”

A small tear trailed down my eyes as I nodded.

“Yes, prepare everything in two days.”

For the first time, I didn’t know what part of my life had ever been real.

As soon as I walked outside, a sickly sweet voice called out to me.

“Claire, wait.” Victoria stepped out of her mercedes with a wide smile.

“What a coincidence! Were you here for… legal stuff?” She kept going, breezily linking her arm with mine before I could retreat.

“Yes.” I said almost too tired to pretend.

“Anyway, there is a special party at the Hart penthouse today.” Her tone turned sugary, eyes gleaming with mock warmth. “Xander decorated everything himself.”

“And since we are practically family now, I thought we should bond, Xander’s father insisted” she added sweetly. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint him, would you?”

I raised my eyes and on the large billboard behind was written today’s date: July 27th, my birthday.

“Also, can you do me a favor? Bring a birthday cake from the exclusive Juno bakery, The birthday girl loves it.”

Juno Bakery was the place where Xander first kissed me, celebrated my first birthday with him. So for the next five years it became our tradition to cut a cake from there.

A tiny spark fluttered before I could crush it completely.

One last time.

“Okay” I murmured, before turning away and not being able to see the wide smile on Victoria’s face.

An hour passed slowly as I entered the penthouse, draped in silk ribbons and helium balloons.

I was almost smiling until my eyes fell upon the large celebration banner before my blood ran cold.

[Happy Birthday, Princess Bella!]

With wide broken eyes I saw the gold-glitter banner at the door with the photo of a chihuahua in tiara.

A dog’s birthday.

I didn’t move…didn’t even breathe as a body collided with me from outside. Unlike my plain clothes drizzled in slight rain, the woman was dressed in gorgeous sequins.

“Claire!” Victoria spotted me and lit up like a chandelier, a spark of viciousness flashing in her eyes “You look so…. pretty tonight…almost made me recall my grandma’s dress.”

She looped her arm through mine and dragged me inside the room. “You are here with my dog’s cake!”

The laughter stopped and even the music seemed to mute behind the silence. Xander turned, glass pausing halfway to his lips. His eyes met mine, a flicker of irritation passing through them.

“Why are you here?”

“Xander, I invited Claire. I just wanted her to see how much you adore your future wife.” Victoria eyes flashed with victory as she dragged me toward to sit amongst the crowd who looked at me in disdain.

“Lets begin the game.”

Soon, the game bottle spun and stopped, its neck pointing directly at Victoria.

The host grinned. “Let’s spice it up. Ten minutes in the closet. Victoria and…” he glanced down. “Me”

Gasps sounded as Xander turned, his jaw sharp.

“Like hell she is going in.”

The host laughed. “It’s just a game.”

“Fine! Then I will go with her!” Xander said, coldly. He dragged Victoria beside him, brushing past me without a glance.

The crowd whooped and hollered as a girl said loudly.

“It is only Victoria who suits beside Xander, she saved his life… no wonder he loves her deeply.”

“Or what? Do you think he would fall for a lowly girl from the gutter who only knows how to spread her legs and seduce men?” Another chimed in with a mocking laugh.

“What to fall, with someone like, who knows how many diseases they are carrying.”

The words jabbed my heart as they didn’t even bother to hide the contempt. Regarding their words, I was almost ready to leave so why should they matter anymore.

I stood up without a word making the chatter stop abruptly before turning to walk away.

That night there were no knocks at my apartment door, Xander simply took the spare key and entered with the intention to see me as I had left abruptly.

It was until he saw the small cake still sitting on the table, misshapen. Melted with pink icing dripped down the side.

At that moment a horrified expression covered his features as he rushed inside the kitchen to see me do the dishes without even bothering to acknowledge his presence.

“Claire…” His voice came low. “July 27. Fuck! Today was your birthday! I-”

I didn’t turn around “It’s okay.”

“It’s not-” He stopped. “I should have remembered.”

“Claire listen…the party organizer had bad intentions and Victoria….she saved my life once and I am indebted to her-.”

“I understand.” Utter silence covered the surroundings as Xander opened his mouth to explain further but no words came out.

When I turned to leave Xander held my arm, a strange ache twisting his heart.

“Claire, why are you acting like this?” He said, hugging me tightly but I didn’t move…almost like a ghost in his arms, unmoving, unfeeling.

When he pulled back, seeing that I looked at him with my eyes were empty, he reached out to press a kiss to my lips to which I turned my head away.

“I am tired, I just want to sleep. When you return to the Hart estate, just lock the door properly.”

And just like that when I went inside the bedroom, not waiting for his reply, Xander looked at my back stunned, unable to understand the uncomfortable feeling blooming in his heart.

The next day I was folding the last of my clothes into a suitcase when my mother called.

"Claire, my dear." her voice was sickly sweet "Tonight is Xander's cocktail party with Victoria. I want you there, after he is married tomorrow… mom will start searching for marriage candidates for you as well."

I almost smiled, a miserable tear slipping free.

The last time she sent me on a blind date just to get ‘acquainted’ with the chairman of Holler group, the man old enough to be my grandfather, I was drugged and sent to his hotel room.

If it wasn’t for Xander rushing to save me at the last moment, I would have been raped and long become the fourth wife of the man who was my assaulter.

"I am not coming."

"It's not a request." My mother’s voice turned cold. "You must think that now you have become something after seducing Xander but remember a worm like you will never become the madam of the Hart family.

Xander’s dad is getting suspicious about the relationship between you two so if you have even a bit of shame left, come and perform at Xander’s engagement so that those stupid rumors around you two quickly die down-”

“I don’t care.” How could I? When everything was already over?

“Claire!” My mother quickly turned her approach to a soft one “Mom was harsh on your previously, how about you come and perform today and I transfer you your father’s money fund he specifically deposited for your twentieth birthday.”

With that she hung up, making me stand frozen in my place, no tears left to shed before slowly checking the time..

24 hours until my flight.

My father’s love was the only true emotion I received all my life, I didn’t care about the money in the fund but…his warmth before he died was true. Dad, I will do it for you.

After that, I dressed like a ghost.

Black lace. Red lipstick, the shade Xander once said, made me look like sin. I hadn't worn it for years but tonight I dressed as the black swan for my performance- the pure white swan had lost all her hope and love turning her white feathers dark, her heart was dead.

The banquet hall was decorated with white roses and crystal chandeliers as people laughed, celebrating the grand event.

A second later I entered the large venue, disappearing into the crowd when Xander’s business partner asked casually.

“Xander, we heard that you are terminating Claire’s ballet contract and giving her position to the new girl?....are you completely abandoning her?”

"So what? The fairy-like ballerina everyone talked about is no longer here. She has gone out of shape and has started gasping after two flights of stairs, she even trembles during rehearsals…she might be an adopted daughter but Mr.Hart won’t show any favoritism.”

“She tries.” Xander’s voice wasn’t particularly low. “But no matter how much I invest in her… she just keeps failing..At first I thought it was because of fatigue but maybe she is just too lazy and has lost her shine…”

The words that have once pierced through my heart like an arrow, now merely left a dull ache as I walked onto the stage with water fluid rhythm and slowly the song began like a war symphony.

The movements made me body crumble with pain and yet I danced like a puppet on strings.

I had once danced across global stages until Xander was caught in a car accident two years ago and his heart was failing.

When the doctors told me I was a match and cutting half of my heart could buy him a future I signed the documents without any hesitation.

And now in my place, Victoria stood at the center in a gown that cost more than my entire childhood, her hand resting on Xander's arm as she gave me a smile flashing with victory.

Every second passed in agonizing pain as the crowd chanted “KISS! KISS! KISS!”

And then I saw Xander kissing Victoria.

In front of everyone, his hand cupped her face like she was a treasure unlike me.

Moments passed as I stood like a broken rag doll when Victoria walked on stage

“Claire! Thanks for your lovely dance. I want to give you a embrace for your performance.”

Stepping closer, almost like a friend in the viewer’s vision her voice dropped venomous.

“Oh dear, I never thought I would thank a slut one day but Claire, if you hadn’t readily become my stepping stone, I wouldn’t have risen to the position of Mrs Hart.

Two years ago, the doctor who told you that donating half your heart to Xander was futile and the surgery failed….guess who paid him to lie…..ofcourse it was me.

The surgery was successful, half the heart beating inside Xander is yours.”

My pulse roared louder than the malicious taunts as Victoria clenched my hand, digging her fingers in my flesh.

“But I couldn't have that, could I?” Her red lips curled in a mocking smile “So I paid the surgeon to keep you on anesthesia for a month.

And when Xander woke up, I was the one by his side as the doctors told him that I was the one who found him a donor abroad at the last minute. That I saved him.”

My eyes that were long devoid of tears recalled the painful memories almost like they belonged to someone else.

Two years ago, after I woke up from the coma, each step hurt, but I told myself I was grateful that at least my husband was alive, even if it wasn't because of me.

When Xander didn’t come home for two long months, accompanying Victoria all across the world as the rumors of their love affair spread, I soothed my heart, thinking that he was merely thanking his savior.

When I swallowed the truth and lied about the chest scar- “a mentally ill beggar stabbed me.” Xander never investigated more.

All these years I endured thinking the surgery had failed…my sacrifice was worthless. Telling him would only make him feel guilty for no reason. He didn't owe me anything

Now I knew, the life Xander Hart was living so well was borrowed from me and if he had even cared to find out the truth, considering his power in the city, it was easy.

Just that he never cared enough.

For a moment I looked at the woman standing infront of me and found her as heartless as Xander, both of them were truly a perfect match.

“Xander will never choose a whore-”

“The whore is you, don’t tell me there is nothing between you and Xander’s friend Thomas.”

“You!” Victoria’s face turned ashen as soon as I mentioned that name.

“You stay out of my way, I will stay out of yours. If you want Xander that badly, you can have him.” Victoria’s eyes flashed in fury as she scoffed before turning away.

When the family dinner began, I didn’t say a word and just silently counted minutes till I received my father’s fund.

Xander looked at me as I refused to utter a single word and for a moment his jaw clenched. It was then amidst chatter and laughter, a waiter approached with a bouquet in his arms. A vibrant, striking one- lilac roses with stark snow tulips.

Victoria sneezed just as the bouquet neared.

“Oh no.” she laughed, scrunching her nose. “Xander, honey…I think it doesn’t suits me.”

“I told you not to get too close to them, why can’t you take care of yourself?” he said lightly and without missing a beat, took it from her hands and dumped the flowers in my arm, his fingers brushing against me like a cheap compensation.

“Here, you like flowers, don’t you?” Absentmindedly, my fingers wrapped around the stems.

Tulips.

A chill spread across my spine, but I couldn't speak as my body swayed, my eyes stinging with burn.

A scream cut through the laughter as someone gasped in horror.

“Xander!” A voice yelled. “She is bleeding through her nose!”

I blinked. My vision was fogging as my hand went to my nose and came back red.

Xander’s head turned sharply and the moment his gaze landed on me, a flash of recognition struck like lightening.

“Claire damnit!” He snatched the bouquet away, tossing it away. “Why didn’t you say something?!”

He knew I was deathly allergic to tulips since I was sixteen. He was the one who had driven me to the ER the last time it happened, he held my hair back while I vomited blood on the hospital floor.

I looked at him, trembling, as the blood dripped past my lips and stained the front of my dress.

“Don’t touch me.” I whispered, stepping back just as he reached out.

The color drained from his face. “Claire-”

“AH!” A sharp clattering of glass echoed as Victoria’s champagne glass fell down at the same time, piercing her hand. The atmosphere buzzed as Xander pushed my body to rush to her side without a moment of delay..

“Quickly, bring a car. I will take Victoria to the doctor.” He ordered hastily before his conflicted eyes fell upon me.

“Father…you take Claire to the hospital.”

“You rescued me from an assault, saved my life once so with this, I have repaid all your debts Xander.”

I whispered at last before completely passing out.

When I woke up in the hospital, it was already morning. With nobody by my side I signed my discharged papers myself as messages one after another chimed on my phone.

[Xander: Claire, how are you? I am sorry to leave you behind yesterday.]

[Xander: There were alot of eyes watching us.]

[Xander:After this fake wedding with Victoria is done, I will accompany you to Paris for your ballet event and would definitely compensate you.

Today is my wedding so come to the venue without delay, there will be many eyes watching.]

With hollow eyes I read the texts one by one before my lips quivered.

I have already paid for all my sins, I have paid for my folly to enter your family along with my scheming mother but even now you are not done with your revenge?

Coaxing me to come attend the wedding was all for the sake of exposing our intimate photos to the world and destroying me thoroughly.

I could no longer care at all.

My father was dead, my mother hated me and there were no friends except Ava…who was already coming with me to Nigeria for social work.

I don’t need to beg for mercy anymore.

An hour passed slowly as I gently hollowed out the apartment I shared with Xander and signed the property papers to my landlord, selling the apartment that was a witness of my shame.

I took a cab to the airport, passing right infront of the wedding venue that was decorated lavishly, for a brief moment I saw Xander’s visage before closing my eyes and bidding my farewell..

“In this life or others, I hope we never meet again.”

When my flight took off, I snapped the phone SIM and threw it away.

At last, I was free.