Nothing.
But then — another.
Her breath caught. “If you can hear me,” she whispered, “please know I’m not your enemy.”
It happened again days later. Then again. And then—
One afternoon, Daniel Mercer opened his eyes.
Doctors rushed in. Family crowded the hallway.
Clara stayed back.
Veronica Hale pushed to his side. “Daniel, thank God. The board needs you immediately—”
“Not now,” he rasped.
When Veronica’s eyes darted to Clara, her smile turned venomous.
“How convenient,” she said coldly. “Marrying you while you slept.”
Daniel frowned. “Enough.”
“She stayed,” he said. “When all of you left.”
Brooke’s laugh sliced through the air. “Do you even know who she is? That’s not your fiancée. That’s her sister!”
Clara froze.
Daniel’s gaze turned to her. “Is that true?”
Her voice shook. “I didn’t trick you. They forced me. My mother’s life depended on it.”
Veronica pounced. “She deceived you—”
“Stop!” Clara cried. “I sat here every day, not for money, not for them. For you. Because I couldn’t leave you alone.”
Daniel stared at her, unreadable.
Finally:
“I need time.”
The words shattered her.
The Boardroom Battle
Days later, at Mercer Enterprises, the board demanded an annulment.
Veronica snapped, “It’s a scandal.”
Clara stepped forward. “I never lied. I only signed to save my mother. But once I did… I stayed because he had no one.”
She opened her sketchbook—
Page after page of Daniel’s face.
A diary of devotion.
Even Veronica fell silent.
Daniel’s hand tightened around the book.
