Chapter 95: Moving

Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Moving

Regency Gardens.

It was past midnight when she got home. Claire Kendall changed into her loungewear and curled up on the sofa.

The driver who came to pick her up was very kind. He had the heat turned up high, making the car toasty warm. He even gave her his wife’s coat and a pair of shoes.

They fit perfectly. Claire Kendall thanked him profusely and paid him a fare several times the value of the clothes. The driver then handed her a small cake to tide her over.

She opened the ride-hailing app and wrote a heartfelt, glowing review.

"I’m so grateful the driver accepted my request. If he hadn’t, I would have been stranded at Lunelle Bay and unable to get home tonight."

Her phone vibrated.

It was a message from her best friend, Sharon Carter.

"Girl, are you okay? Where are you? I’ll come keep you company."

"I’m fine. I’m home."

Even Sharon, who never paid attention to social news, knew about it. The story about her and Miles Warren must have blown up all over the internet.

Claire Kendall lowered her gaze, her fingertip hovering over the screen. She typed and deleted, typed and deleted, but finally sent the message.

"Sharon, can you help me find an apartment? My mom is being discharged tomorrow, and we’ll move in directly. I’m not staying at Regency Gardens for now."

"OK."

Claire Kendall turned off her phone screen and curled into a small ball on the sofa.

With everything ripped open so crudely, there was no going back for her and Miles Warren.

-

「Lunelle Bay.」

The tide had mostly receded, revealing a wide expanse of wet sand.

Miles Warren had been searching for a full two hours. His feet were covered in cuts, but he paid them no mind.

He clutched 18 beads in his hand. He was still missing two.

He retraced his steps dozens of times, following the line of the receding tide from where he had thrown them, before he finally found the last ones.

One had been carried further out by the tide; the other was stuck in the crevice of a reef.

All twenty of them. He carefully put them back in his pocket, drove back to the city to have them restrung, and by the time he returned to Regency Gardens, the sky was beginning to lighten.

He entered apartment 501. The prolonged exposure to the sea wind had left him feeling a bit feverish. He sank onto the sofa and closed his eyes.

The next day, Miles Warren was woken by the sound of wheels rolling over the tile floor outside his door.

He sat up with a slight frown, feeling top-heavy and unsteady. His ears were ringing.

The door cracked open. Claire Kendall was carrying out a cardboard box and placing it on a dolly.

Miles Warren threw the door wide open.

Claire Kendall hadn’t expected him to be there. Her movements faltered as she went to pick up a second box.

The elevator doors opened, and a mover in a work uniform urged, "Miss, could you hurry it up?"

Miles Warren’s eyes were frighteningly dark, the muscles in his neck taut. A scornful smirk twisted his lips.

"Moving out? In such a hurry you couldn’t even wait one night?"

"Eager to go catch up with your old flame?"

Claire Kendall stood up straight, her fingernails digging into her palms. Her voice was muffled. "You’re overthinking it. I just wanted to find a place closer to the hospital. I’ve already transferred the rent to you."

Miles Warren’s phone vibrated. He glanced down, and the money transfer notification in the chat window was particularly jarring.

He sneered. "Fine. Good to see we’re keeping things so clear-cut."

He turned around and came back out of apartment 501 carrying a pile of things.

A bear-themed mug, a plush pillow, refrigerator magnets...

All things she had bought.

CRASH—

Miles Warren threw the pile of items on the floor by the door. "You bought them. I don’t want them."

Claire Kendall bit her lip and said nothing. She opened a cardboard box and squatted down to pick up the items, intending to pack them and take them with her.

They were, after all, part of the good memories she had with Miles Warren.

But the man grabbed her by the wrist, his voice low and his eyes glinting with cruelty.

"I threw this trash out. Why are you picking it up? The cleaning staff will be up in a bit to take care of it."

Claire Kendall’s chest tightened. He was being so childish and heartless.

"Fine, I won’t take it."

She pulled free from his grip and wheeled the dolly into the elevator.

The elevator doors closed, and the floor numbers descended one by one.

Only when it reached the first floor did Miles Warren slowly look away.

He looked at the pile of things he had just thrown out, found a cardboard box, and packed them up, piece by piece. Finally, he picked up the box and carried it back into 501.

Miles Warren looked down at the assorted items in the box, his throat tightening as he muttered,

"We’re all just things she doesn’t want anymore."

Sharon Carter found a two-bedroom apartment near Aethel General Hospital. Claire Kendall cleaned it up and then went to pick up Shirley Kendall, who was being discharged.

Shirley Kendall looked puzzled. "I haven’t seen Dr. Warren in a while. Has he been busy?"

Claire Kendall’s fingers tightened on the bags she was carrying. "He has a lot of patients, so he must be very busy."

"I see. Well, don’t forget to invite him over for a home-cooked meal. I’ll cook myself," Shirley Kendall instructed. "Without Dr. Warren, I wouldn’t even be alive."

"Claire, Dr. Warren has helped us so much. We can’t be ungrateful people."

Claire Kendall nodded with difficulty.

’I’m already the ungrateful one,’ she thought.

After getting her mother settled, Claire Kendall went to Moonstone. The incident at the Warren Group anniversary celebration had caused a huge stir. Miles Warren had warned them, but that only stopped the public discussion; it still affected Moonstone’s orders.

"Claire, we had eight returns yesterday, but we’ve already cut the fabric for them."

"Let them return it, then." Claire Kendall didn’t want to pursue breach of contract fees, wanting to avoid making things even uglier.

The door to Moonstone was pushed open. A customer had arrived.

Claire Kendall rose to greet them, only to see it was Jacob Sinclair’s mother and Yvonne Warren.

Yvonne Warren had her arm linked with the older woman’s, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "What’s with that look, Ms. Kendall? Mrs. Sinclair is here to pick out some clothes."

Wendy White stepped forward, ready to throw the two of them out.

Claire Kendall stopped her with a shake of her head. ’Their showing up at a time like this means they’re deliberately here to cause trouble for Moonstone.’

She curved her lips into a faint smile. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Mrs. Sinclair. Please, take a look and see which fabric you like."

Evelyn Sinclair pointed casually. "That one. Bring it over for me to try on."

Claire Kendall took down the qipao. "Mrs. Sinclair, if you could please change your shoes before trying on the dress."

Evelyn Sinclair shot her a glance. "I want you to kneel and help me change them." Yvonne Warren stood by, smirking and biting her lip to hold back a laugh.

Claire Kendall set the qipao down. "Since Mrs. Sinclair doesn’t wish to try it on, Moonstone won’t insist."

She handed the qipao to Wendy White. "Just wrap it up for Mrs. Sinclair. That will be thirty-six thousand. Will that be cash or card?"

"You..." Evelyn Sinclair was speechless, the gentle facade on her face finally cracking.

"Claire Kendall, you knowingly became the other woman, and you still won’t let go of our Jacob. I came here today to tell you that you will never marry into the Sinclair family in this lifetime!"

Claire Kendall remained expressionless, finding the woman rather laughable.

"I’m the other woman? Why don’t you ask your precious daughter-in-law if she knew I existed when she got together with Jacob Sinclair? If I am, then what does that make her?"

"And another thing, is the Sinclair family home The Palace or Heaven itself? Why would I be desperate to get in? A place like a garbage dump is best left to the garbage."

"You..." Evelyn Sinclair was so furious her chest heaved violently.

"Wendy, show our guests out!"

Wendy White snorted coldly and ushered the two of them out.

Across the street.

Miles Warren sat in the driver’s seat of his Phaeton, the window half-lowered.

He had turned off the engine but didn’t get out. Through the shop’s display window, he could occasionally catch a glimpse of Claire Kendall’s busy figure.

It was as if she hadn’t been affected by anything at all.

He saw Yvonne Warren and Evelyn Sinclair walk out of the store.

Yvonne was patting Evelyn’s back. "Mrs. Sinclair, don’t be angry. She’s just a crude and disrespectful person. Asking her to kneel and change your shoes was doing her a favor."

"Don’t worry. My uncle is just infatuated with her for the moment. After something like this, who would dare to want her?"

"Actually, dealing with her is simple. We just need to hire some people to stir up yesterday’s news again. Expose her shop’s address and her home address to the paparazzi. Do you think Claire Kendall will have a moment of peace after that?"

Evelyn Sinclair nodded repeatedly as she listened. "Yes, Yvonne, you’re the clever one. That’s a brilliant idea."

After Yvonne Warren’s engagement was broken off, Victor Warren had been extremely displeased. He forbade her from making public appearances and cut off her financial support.

That was why she had to rely on others to do her dirty work.

And Evelyn Sinclair was a foolish but fast-acting weapon.

"Mrs. Sinclair, the sun is too harsh out here. Let’s talk in the car."

Yvonne Warren put on a show of being considerate, dutifully opening the car door for the older woman. The two of them settled into the back seat of the Mercedes.

The driver had just started the car and glanced instinctively at the rearview mirror. A cold sweat instantly broke out over his entire body!

Before he could even react—

BANG!

A deafening crash suddenly erupted.