Chapter 5 5

You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and most beautiful person I have ever known and even that is an understatement.

~~~

"Hello, Aunty Claire," Tracy said holding onto Claire's cloth with her tiny fingers. Claire looked at her and gasped.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she carried the little girl in her arms, using her eyes to check if her mother was in sight. "Where is your mummy?" She asked.

"Here you are." A young woman stopped in front of Claire and hugged her. "Tracy recognized your figure and ran off."

"She is smart." Claire smiled as she dragged Tracy's cheek softly. "What are you doing here Cameron?" She asked her best friend "And where is Tianah?"

"She is at grandma. I know it will be hard to get into this company without having a strong connection or lots of money, but luckily for us, they were having a sale and we got a coupon so we wanted to have mother and daughters shopping." Cameron said. "By the way, what are you doing here?" She asked Claire.

"I work here. I was lucky."

"Oh my God, dreams do come to true Claire. I know how much you've always wanted to meet Laura Cohen and even Elijah and now... you got that. I will listen to the details of your story later and since you are here, why don't we grab some coffee?"

Claire glanced at Tracy. "I've missed you."

Tracy opened her white baby teeth and smiled at Claire and giggled as Claire tickled her.

"Come with me," Cameron said and they both stopped in front of the coffee counter.

At this time the place was practically deserted, and they settled into a pair of upholstered wing chairs, facing each other across a low table. Claire cradled her coffee cup in both hands, legs crossed, back straight, elegant even in her vintage shirt.

"Tell me your story, Claire," Cameron said. She shifted, balancing her coffee cup on the arm of the chair.

After some time, Claire told her friend how she got the job and about the incident that happened yesterday.

"Happy birthday bestie," Cameron said after a long talk. "I am sorry about Micheal. He is an asshole. By the way, I didn't forget your gift but I didn't think you would be here so I didn't bring anything." Cameron said and immediately Claire's phone rang.

It was her lawyer.

"Please excuse me. I need to settle some things." Claire said to Cameron. "I will make sure to come and visit you this weekend. Okay?" Claire said to Tracy as she kissed her cheek and waved goodbye.

***

Claire looked at the faded grey mansion in front of her. She couldn't believe it will be gone in a week. She walked over to the colored chair swing and she traced her hand to it.

Memories.

She sat on it. Claire began to remember the moment her dad finished building the swing. He had asked her if she liked it and she nodded. He'd called her over to sit on it as he began to swing it. Claire's smile was the brightest thing he had seen.

She entered the house and walked to his office and when she opened the door, she smiled.

The office was empty but her father's movements will always be there.

Her busy father working day and night on that same chair had tapped on his working table just to wake her up after she'd slept off on the chair opposite his while doing her homework.

She was a brilliant person, Clever rather and she loved to explore and she hadn't been home for a year after her father's death.

Her lawyer had called her earlier to mortgage the mansion and that way, she would be able to pay the debt her father owed. She didn't think the day would come when she would have to sell her father's house.

Never in Claire's dream would she think of taking over her father's business. Although she learned a little about what he does during her internship and now she had to earn money somehow just to start over from scratch which won't be easy but as a good older sister, she made sure her younger sister attend the world's best university of law. Harvard.

Claire doesn't seem to have much money but she promised to give her sister a good life and not make her lack anything.

Louis had been a very good friend of hers and right from high school, he had defended her against bullies and now he understood her situation. He wanted to loan her enough money just to restart her father's business but she had turned him down. Claire wasn't sure if she could pull it off but she figured she had to find a way to build her father's company back up without recovering loans from other people and she couldn't be more grateful when Mrs. Cohen had told her to submit her resume to The Cohen's fashion company and now that she got the job, Claire felt everything will be alright.

She opened the fridge but it was empty. Her father was more of a water and coffee person.

The moment Claire moved out of the mansion, the only person who stayed in the house was her parent and her siblings. She couldn't have thought Charlie was plotting to steal from the family the moment she found a place for herself and now that the house broke apart, Her younger sister Rita stayed in the dorm at her school and no one bothered coming back home after her father's death. Her sick mother got admitted due to shock and had been in a coma ever since.

Charlie didn't bother to come back home and Claire haven't had any news about him even after searching for him for a whole year. She wanted to ask her brother why he did it. Why he stole and she would have told him that he could have told her he couldn't handle the business and she'd have left her dreams and taken over. She would have listened and forgiven him.

Claire cried as she sat on the sofa. In just a year, everything collapsed. Her father was forgotten by people he had helped in the past, Micheal had left her after finding out Charlie stole the rest of the company's money.

He wanted her for her father's money because marrying the heiress of Hutton's family would have helped his own business in a good way and now that there is a low chance of bringing the Hutton's company back up, he left Claire.

Two years of being together were wasted. He had promised to get married to her. They had planned on where they would live after marriage, Micheal had bought a house for her and now she couldn't go there because of what he did to her and she would never forgive him for that.

He had left her helpless, under the rain without listening to her side of the story, without bothering to ask if she had been doing well or if she was okay.

He just left.