Chapter 5

Clara POV

I didn't leave quietly. No. The next few weeks were a spectacle of vengeance, a whirlwind of destruction that would leave no stone unturned. The phone in my hand felt like a weapon. I scrolled through Camden' s cloud storage, his private messages, his intimate photos with Hailey. My fingers, steady despite the tremor in my soul, captured every damning image, every incriminating text. I printed them, hundreds of them, turning their sordid affair into a public scandal.

His company, the one my family helped build, was plastered with flyers overnight. His colleagues, his investors, his entire network, woke up to the graphic details of his betrayal. I stood across the street, watching the chaos unfold, a grim satisfaction in my heart. The whispers, the horrified glances, the outright disgust on their faces-it was a bitter balm to my wounded soul.

Hailey' s prestigious art school wasn't spared. I sent them everything. Every email, every photo, every piece of evidence of her duplicity. The school forums exploded. Her name became a byword for scandal, a cautionary tale. I wanted her expelled, her dreams shattered just like mine.

Then came her gallery debut, the culmination of her thesis. Camden had funded it, of course, a grand gesture for his new love. The advertisements were everywhere: "Hailey Tanner: The Ascendant Artist." I saw them, and a fresh wave of nausea washed over me.

Camden called me, a rare occurrence since the fateful day. His voice, usually so calm, was strained, a hint of desperation in it. "Clara, don' t do this. Don' t ruin her exhibition. Please."

My laugh was hollow, devoid of humor. "Don' t ruin it, Camden? You ruined my life. She helped you. You think I' m going to sit back and watch her bask in glory?"

A thick file landed on my table, a thud against the wood. I looked at it, then back at Camden, who stood across from me, his face grim. "If you touch that exhibition, Clara," he said, his voice low and menacing, "I will sell your mother' s grave site. I will make sure she has no resting place. You know I can do it."

My breath hitched. My mother. Her final resting place, a peaceful plot I had painstakingly chosen, one that Camden, with his family' s connections, had helped me secure under my name when I was still too grief-stricken to manage the paperwork. He knew. He knew that was my ultimate weakness. He had bought it for me, a seemingly kind gesture, but now it was a chain around my neck.

A cold rage surged through me. I picked up my coffee cup and, with a swift, deliberate movement, splashed it across his immaculate white shirt. The dark liquid spread, a stain on his carefully constructed facade. "You bastard," I rasped, my voice trembling with fury.

That night, I curled up at my mother' s graveside, the cold earth a poor substitute for her embrace. I cried until the sun rose, my tears watering the barren ground. The next day, I went to the civil registry office.

The divorce was swift, brutal, and entirely one-sided. I walked out with nothing but a small, dilapidated house, the one my mother had inherited. "The company's assets are frozen, Clara," Camden had explained, his voice devoid of sympathy. "It's a temporary liquidity crisis. This is all I can give you. And frankly, if Hailey hadn't pleaded for you, you would have nothing at all."

I looked at him, truly looked at him, and saw a stranger. He was a master manipulator, calm and calculating, always two steps ahead. I was impulsive, emotional, a whirlwind of raw feeling. I was no match for him. I knew it then, with a chilling certainty. So I was quiet. I said nothing. I signed the papers.

I sold the house, packing what little I had, and left for a distant city, hoping to bury the past and start anew. But before I left, I made one final detour. Hailey' s art exhibition.

The advertisements were everywhere, a celebration of "Hailey Tanner: The Ascendant Artist." The main piece, the one on all the posters, was titled "Key to My Heart." I remembered. It was a phrase Camden used to say to me, a secret language of love, a promise of forever. Now it was hers.

I walked into the gallery, cloaked in a dark hoodie, my face hidden behind oversized sunglasses. I felt like a ghost, a voyeur in my own stolen life. The air was filled with hushed whispers, the clinking of champagne glasses, the scent of expensive perfume. My eyes found it, the centerpiece, "Key to My Heart."

It was a painting of Camden and Hailey, intertwined, naked. And the background. My living room. The one with the climbing roses outside the window. My home. My sacred space. My heart turned to ice. It wasn't just a painting of them. It was a painting of them in my bed, in my house, the very spot where they first consummated their betrayal, the anniversary of my mother's death. The realization slammed into me with the force of a physical blow. The bile rose in my throat, hot and bitter. My stomach heaved.

I turned quickly, desperately, stumbling towards the nearest planter, and vomited. The sound, wet and guttural, echoed through the quiet hum of the gallery, drawing every eye.

"Oh, Clara!" Hailey' s voice, sickeningly sweet, cut through the sudden silence. She stood beside Camden, a hand fluttering to her chest, where a delicate silver key charm hung, precisely matching the silver key on Camden' s cufflink. "Are you alright, darling?"