Chapter 33: Chapter 33: I’ll Send You In to Keep Him Company
Even through the phone, Claire Sinclair felt an intimidating presence.
She snapped her head up, searching for anything that looked like a camera.
’Getting caught by him this early in the morning... she was most likely under surveillance.’
’Damn it...’
’Luckily, from yesterday until now, she hadn’t secretly picked her nose or her toes, nor had she run around her room naked. Otherwise, she would have died of embarrassment!’
’Wait, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that.’
With him not physically present, Claire Sinclair grew a little bolder. "Mr. Quincy," she said, throwing caution to the wind, "I believe I made myself perfectly clear last night. I’m not used to living in such a large house by myself."
Adrian Quincy’s voice was cold. "You have two choices: move out and live with your ex-boyfriend, or stay."
’Logan Linden was released this quickly?’ The thought was Claire’s immediate reaction.
"I can send you to join him."
"..."
’That damn man, always using his power to bully her!’
Claire Sinclair didn’t say another word. She hung up on him, then started taking her things out of her luggage and putting them back where they belonged.
’If he can see me, then I’ll give him a good show!’
All the trips up and down the stairs left Claire Sinclair exhausted. After finally finishing the last one, she began to feel a bit giddy, her spirits lifting as she headed down the stairs.
Her foot missed a step. Her petite frame lost its balance and pitched forward, tumbling end over end. The world spun around her until she finally slammed into the floor and came to a stop.
The violent spinning stopped, and the world returned to a state of stillness.
...
「Quincy Manor.」
A second before the girl tumbled down the stairs, Adrian Quincy had been about to close the surveillance feed. The next instant, his hand clenched uncontrollably around the mouse. His heart felt as if it had been thrown into a meat grinder, the churning, tearing pain leaving him reeling.
’Damn that woman! She can’t even walk down a flight of stairs properly!’
He was about to call and check on her, but on the monitor, the girl suddenly lifted her head. She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows, a look of pure misery in her eyes.
’When you’re in a bad mood, you can even manage to fall down the stairs.’
’It hurts so much...’
Claire Sinclair lay on the floor for a moment. When she tried to sit up, she discovered her legs were unresponsive again. She couldn’t move them at all.
Resigned, she lifted a hand and slapped her legs a few times, but it was useless.
’Whatever. It’ll be fine in a little while. I’ll just stay here.’
Just then, her phone, which had been knocked into a corner, suddenly began to ring.
Claire Sinclair stared at the phone, which lay several feet away. She hesitated, debating whether to crawl over and answer it. ’It’s too much effort. I’ll just call back when my legs are working again.’
But the phone kept ringing, on and on.
Unable to stand it any longer, Claire Sinclair pushed herself up with her arms and began to crawl painstakingly toward the phone.
After what felt like an eternity of crawling, she exhausted nearly all of her strength, but she finally reached the phone.
It turned out more than one person had been calling her. Besides Adrian Quincy, her father, Peter Sinclair, had called as well.
Adrian Quincy had only called once; the subsequent calls were all from her father.
Claire Sinclair thought for a moment and decided to ignore Adrian Quincy. She would call her father back first.
The call connected, and her father’s furious voice immediately assaulted her ear. "You useless thing! What took you so long to answer the phone? Where the hell have you been?!"
Claire Sinclair was long accustomed to her father’s vile attitude. "Dad," she replied calmly, "I didn’t have my phone on me. Is there something you need?"
"I heard Logan Linden was arrested?"
’Heh. Her father never cared about her and Logan Linden before. The fact that he was suddenly calling now meant that Melanie Sinclair was almost certainly behind it.’
’That little vixen. Did she really think getting Father involved would force my hand?’
’Tch...’
Claire Sinclair nodded calmly. "Yes, I’d heard that as well."