Chapter 2

Claire Ashford POV

Everyone said Vincent Grey's love for me was incomparable.

When I casually mentioned wanting to see the Northern Lights, he postponed his meetings and chartered a private jet, flying me all the way to Scandinavia to chase the aurora.

When I said I missed my grandmother's apple pie, he flew in seven master pastry chefs from England, all to recreate that familiar taste.

He spoiled me endlessly. Even when I coughed, he would panic like it was a crisis.

But that same Vincent eventually cheated on me.

He was drugged by a rival at a business gala and slept with a college girl who was working part-time at the event.

When I found out and packed my bags to leave, he sent the girl away overnight. Then he knelt outside my family's house under the scorching sun until he collapsed.

He said, "Claire, I have been tainted. You can hit me, scream at me, punish me. But please don't leave me."

Looking at his cracked lips, I softened in the end.

But less than five months later, I accidentally ran into Vincent at a mall with that same college girl, her belly slightly swollen, shopping for baby supplies together.

He rushed to explain. "Claire, she got pregnant that night. Grandfather found out and threatened his own life if I didn't keep the child."

"Grandfather raised me. He has been the best to me since I was young. I can't just ignore his life. Please don't leave me, okay?"

He held me tightly, his eyes red as he promised.

"I swear, once she gives birth, I'll send her abroad. Grandfather will raise the child. They will never appear in front of us again."

Seeing the deep pain in his eyes, I softened once more.

I thought if I could just endure until Chloe Rivers gave birth, this absurdity would end.

Until this time, at a private collector's auction on a cruise ship, Vincent actually competed against me for my mother's keepsake, just to make Chloe happy.

It was an antique pocket watch, the last thing my mother left me before she died.

After my family went bankrupt, the watch was forced into collateral and had been lost ever since. It became my deepest regret and obsession.

I'd been searching for three years before it finally reappeared at this auction.

But Vincent kept raising his paddle, and finally bought it from me at an exorbitant price.

I followed him out of the auction and confronted him on the cruise ship deck.

Vincent sighed helplessly. "Chloe wanted to pick a gift for the baby, but couldn't find anything she liked, until she saw this pocket watch. She fell in love with it at first sight."

"Claire, can you just let her have this one?" His eyes were gentle, his voice soft and coaxing. "I'll find you a better one later, okay?"

I clenched my fists, my heart turning cold. My face was icy. "Vincent, you know perfectly well that this watch is my mother's keepsake. You know exactly how long I've been searching for it."

"I know it means the world to you, but Chloe has her heart set on it. Giving it to her is just to help her stay calm and safely deliver the baby."

Vincent reached out to take my hand, but I dodged.

He rubbed his temples instead. "Claire, don't throw a tantrum over something this small. Chloe only has a few more months before she gives birth. Once she has the baby and leaves, everything will go back to how it was before."

I suddenly laughed. "Go back to how it was before?"

What were we like before?

Was it when he set all his passwords to my birthday?

Or when he drove across half the city in pouring rain during my period, just to bring me a hot water bottle?

But ever since he slept with Chloe Rivers, that Vincent who only had eyes for me was gone.

I should have understood earlier. Once a crack forms, it can never be restored.

We could never go back to before.

"Oh no!"

Suddenly, Chloe, standing at the edge of the deck, cried out.

"What's wrong?" Vincent panicked and rushed over immediately. "Are you feeling sick?"

I instinctively turned to look.

I remembered Chloe had just been holding that pocket watch, playing with it lovingly.

Now her hands were empty.

An ominous feeling crept over me.

I quickly approached Chloe and asked urgently, "Where's the watch? Weren't you just holding it?"

"Mr. Grey..." Chloe's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked helplessly at Vincent. "I'm so sorry. When I was looking at the watch just now, the baby suddenly kicked me. I couldn't hold on properly, and it... accidentally fell into the ocean."

Vincent froze. "Fell into the ocean?"

I felt a roaring in my ears. All the blood in my body rushed to my head.

I lunged forward and grabbed Chloe's collar, my eyes blazing. "That was my mother's keepsake! Chloe, was that an accident or on purpose?!"

Chloe flinched, tears streaming down her face, looking even more pitiful. "Miss Ashford, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was so important to you... I'll go get it back for you right now!"

She struggled against me, as if about to climb over the railing and jump into the sea.

"Chloe, stop this nonsense." Vincent pulled Chloe into his arms and snapped at me disapprovingly. "Claire, you're scaring her. It's just a watch. If it fell, it fell. Is it really more important than her and the child? She's pregnant. How can she do something so dangerous?"

Just a watch.

Every word was like a needle stabbing into my heart.

"Calm down first. It's windy on the deck. I'm taking Chloe back to rest."

With those words, Vincent didn't spare me another glance. He walked away with his arm around Chloe.

He didn't notice that the second he left, I climbed over the railing and jumped into the pitch-black, freezing ocean without hesitation.

As seawater flooded into my nose, I suddenly remembered. Five years ago, when he proposed to me, it was also on a cruise ship like this.

He said, "Claire, from now on, even if you want the stars in the sky, I'll get them for you."

But now, he didn't even care about the keepsake my mother left me.