Chapter 3 A Brooch
Grace stood on the curb. The chilling wind felt like a knife on her cheeks. She stared at the end of the street. The street lights blurred. Heartbreak washed over her. Grace took a deep. breath to suppress it but failed.
“Grace.”
A familiar voice called her from behind.
Grace turned and watched Antonio hurry toward her. Claire followed behind him with faked anxieties. Claire kept her down like a guilty child. Grace felt a pang in her heart. The cold spread from her limbs to her body.
“Claire is drunk. It’s not safe for a woman to go home alone at this hour. So, I took her home,” Antonio explained hastily as if he didn’t want Grace to get the wrong idea.
Grace said nothing and shifted her gaze between Antonio and Claire.
Antonio seemed to notice something. His tone became more anxious. “Claire is your sister. I have to look out for her too. Anyway, she’s a sensible girl. She insisted on leaving because she didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.””
The more he explained, the more guilty he was.
Grace scoffed, her tone icy. “Claire isn’t my sister. She’s a homewrecker like her mother.”
Antonio’s expression darkened immediately. His shoulders
Chapter 3 A Brooch
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tensed as he hid Claire from Grace. He said with suppressed
anger, “Cut it out, Grace! Claire did nothing wrong. How could you be so mean to her?”
Grace thought, “I’m the mean one?”
Grace’s heart broke a little. Looking into Antonio’s eyes, Grace chuckled bitterly, “Antonio, you’re right.”
Her words were barely audible but Antonio felt like he had been slapped. He swallowed hard and tried to say something. Claire’s sudden cry stopped him.
“Grace, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t come back, right… I just wanted to help,” Claire sobbed, her voice trembling. She didn’t finish and ran to the middle of the road. She covered her face with her hands.
“Claire!” Antonio shouted and followed her without thinking.
Antonio knocked into Grace. She staggered and fell to the floor. Her knees hit the rough pavement and she immediately felt a piercing pain. She propped herself up gingerly and saw a paper bay by her feet.
Grace noticed a familiar pattern inside the bag. She hesitated before picking up the paper bag and opened it. There was an iris–shaped brooch. The slightly chipped edges of the brooch didn’t undermine its fineness. Grace’s hands shook as she started having flashbacks of the past.
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