From His Puppy to His Brother’s Diamond Chapter 07
Claire’s POV
That nationwide broadcast marks the start of Ethan and Lily’s nightmare.
Lily gets hauled in by the cops for harassment and defamation. NYU kicks her out fast for damage control. Her whole Cinderella act crumbles. She becomes a joke.
Ethan has it worse.
Dominic stops playing around. Goes straight for the throat. Within three months, that startup Ethan built on the Caldwell name gets shut down. The money runs out, violations stack up.
Old man Caldwell cuts ties with Ethan to calm
Dominic down and protect the company. Disowns him completely.
The guy who thought he owned the world hits rock Bottom. Drowning in debt. Everyone hates him.
Three years later. Graduate at the top of my class from USC’s master’s program. Land the lead designer position at Whitmore Group’s top architecture firm.
Graduation day. It’s drizzling in LA.
I walk out of the auditorium in my cap and gown. A man stands in the rain, gaunt, unshaven. Cheap jacket washed out and threadbare. Eyes dull. Back hunched It’s Ethan.
He sees me. Something manic flashes in his eyes. He stumbles toward me.
“Claire! Claire!” His voice sounds like sandpaper. Desperate. Pathetic.
I stop. Security moves between us.
“Claire, I was wrong! I know I was wrong!” Ethan reaches past security, clutching a faded velvet box. “Look! The purple diamond ring I promised you for your sixteenth birthday. It took me forever to save up for this. I finally got it!”
His hands shake as he opens it. A tiny purple chip sits inside, barely qualifies as a diamond. Terrible quality. Probably sold everything he had left for this pathetic gesture.
Claire, that bitch Lily was lying to me the whole time. You’re the only one who ever really cared. Can we start over? I don’t need anything, Just you!” He’s crying, snot running down his face. Thinks this performance will bring back old feelings.
I look at that cheap ring. Feel nothing. Almost want to laugh.
“Ethan, do you actually think I’d just wait around for you to come back?” I hold my umbrella, look down at him. My eyes look at him like he doesn’t exist.
“No, I know I was an asshole before…”
“Company’s bankrupt and you’re out here buying garbage diamonds. Scraped together your last few bucks for this?” I cut him off, mockery dripping from word.
Every I turn. A man steps out of a black sedan parked nearby.
Dominic walks toward me, black umbrella in hand. Each step deliberate. His suit fits perfectly. Authority
radiates off him, but when he looks at me, his eyes go soft.
He reaches me, takes my umbrella without a word. Pulls me close. Glances down at Ethan, his expression ice cold.
The contrast becomes painfully obvious in that moment. Class. Power. Everything. Ethan can’t even lift his head under the weight of it.
“Keep the ring. Pawn it, buy yourself a meal or something.” I look away, voice flat. “Because on my sixteenth birthday, I already had purple wind chimes. Three years before you showed up with this.”
Ethan freezes. Eyes go wide,
When I turned sixteen, I mentioned once that I likedpurple wind chimes. Ethan promised he’d get me some. Forgot about it five minutes later. But that birthday morning, a set of delicate amethyst wind chimes appeared on my windowsill.
I thought they were from Ethan. Took me years to
find out Dominic hand–carved them on a business trip overseas, flew back overnight just to leave them there.
He loved me longer than Ethan ever did. Deeper too.
“No… that’s not…”
Ethan breaks. Collapses into the puddles, watching us walk away side by side. His screams sound hollow.
Too little, too late. And it’s not even love. Just desperation from a guy with nowhere left to go.
I settle into the warm car. Dominic dries the rain from my hair with a towel.
“All done?” His voice drops low, almost fishing for praise.
Yeah. Completely done.” I lean in, press my lips to his. “Thank you, Dominic.”
His eyes darken. He kisses me back, harder, until I’m breathless.
Then he pulls a velvet box from his pocket. Drops to one knee right there in the car.
A massive purple diamond sits inside. Flawless. The real thing.
“Claire Bennett, will you marry me? I’ve been patient long enough.” His gaze burns into mine. Voice steady, focused.
I look at him, eyes stinging. I smile and hold out my hand.
“I will.”
Outside the window, the rain stops. Sunlight breaks through the clouds, spills over the LA streets.
Without all that toxic bullshit dragging me down, my world’s finally bright.