Chapter 3A World Away from Him

"Claire, have you made enough of a scene?" Liam's voice was tight with anger as he held Lily even closer. "This is between us. Leave her out of it!"

I strode forward. Before he could react, I swung my arm and landed another loud, stinging slap squarely across his face.

His eyes blazed with fury, but I knew he wouldn't dare hit me back here, at the precinct, in front of everyone.

Just as I predicted, he clenched his jaw, forcing his anger down. "Claire Reed," he said through gritted teeth, "you have just assaulted a colleague. I will be reporting this to Internal Affairs."

As they walked away, Lily clinging to him, I called out after them, my voice loud and clear. "Good. I'll be reporting Captain Walker and Dr. Evans for their inappropriate relationship and for bringing disgrace to this department. Let's see who goes down first!"

Liam's steps faltered for a moment before he hurried Lily away even faster.

My colleagues from the forensics unit gathered around me, offering clumsy words of comfort.

"Claire, calm down. Captain Walker is just confused right now..."

"Yeah, you two have been through so much. This will all blow over in a few days."

"That Lily, honestly... don't let her get to you."

I straightened the report in my hands. "It's fine," I said coolly. "I'm not upset. We've already broken up, anyway."

The air froze. "I don't believe you" was written on every single face.

Of course, they didn't believe it. No one would believe that I could ever leave Liam Walker.

Back at the academy, we had been the light in each other's lives, the ones who saved each other. We were the campus's golden couple. Everyone knew how much he doted on me—enough to pluck the stars from the sky, enough to cut ties with his own family for my sake. He'd even used his entire life's savings right after graduation to pay off the massive gambling debts my parents had left behind.

Everyone said he had saved me. But he always told them, "We saved each other. If I hadn't met Claire, I might not have had the courage to keep living."

From the moment I pulled him back from that rooftop ledge, we became each other's anchor. Everyone said Claire Reed was madly in love, that she couldn't survive without Liam Walker.

All of that began to curdle the day Lily, our junior, appeared.

Our world of two suddenly had a third. She was always there, chirping "Liam" this and "Claire" that, her familiarity feeling both natural and intrusive. At a class reunion, someone joked that we looked like a "happy little family of three."

But I knew. She was after Liam. From the first moment that fragile-looking junior timidly called me "Claire," I knew our story was about to change.

I first met her at the precinct entrance. It was her first day as a forensic intern, and she arrived in Liam's car. When she got out of the passenger's side, she was holding a half-eaten bag of spicy chips.

That seat. Liam had once sworn to me, "This is Queen Claire's throne. No one else is allowed to sit here."

The smell of artificial spice hit me, and I saw greasy fingerprints all over the limited-edition action figure on the dashboard. My brow tightened, and anger flared inside me.

But Liam just placated me. "She's my professor's niece, Claire. She's young and doesn't know any better. Don't stoop to her level."

That night, we had the biggest fight of our lives.

And that night, for the very first time, I said the word "breakup."

The second time I saw her was at the restaurant where Liam and I had our first date. The two of them were laughing together. Liam was rambling about how I didn't know how to dress, how Lily was so much more vibrant. The moment he saw me, he rushed to explain. "I was just about to call you! My professor asked me to show Lily around, and she chose this place."

Lily stood up timidly. "Claire... I'm so sorry. I didn't know this restaurant was special to you and Liam..."

I looked at the food already on their table and my anger boiled over. I calmly suggested we break up again, then grabbed my stunned best friend's arm and stormed out.

Incidents like these became more and more frequent. He made too many exceptions for her. I fought back, again and again, and the only result was that they grew closer.

I couldn't bear to throw away all our years together. After every fight, all it took was for him to soften his tone, to murmur a few sweet words, and I would forgive him. I gave him a hundred chances.

Until the awards ceremony, when he gave the commendation that was rightfully mine to Lily.

In that moment, he used up his very last chance.