Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 270

Clairessa’s POV

I burst out of the hall, the sound of voices still chasing me. Adrian’s voice cut through the chaos, shouting my name, his footsteps chasing after me.

“Clairessa! Wait...”

I couldn’t stop now. If I did, I’d fall apart.

I shoved past the doors and into the night. The cool air hit my skin, almost biting, but I welcomed it.

I sucked in breaths, deep, ragged, desperate, as though the air was the only thing keeping me from breaking apart.

My hands shook as I wrapped my arms around myself, yet I couldn’t stop moving.

I stumbled toward my car, fumbling with the keys until I got inside. My fingers trembled as I gripped the wheel. As I started driving, my eyes locked onto the ring, God, the ring, still on my finger, flashing under the city lights.

“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath, slamming the wheel with my palm.

The only reason I hadn’t flung that ring back at Adrian was because I couldn’t humiliate him in front of the world. The cameras, the pictures, it would’ve been a scandal too big to clean up. But now, staring at it as it mocked me from my hand, I wanted to rip it off and throw it into the night where it belonged.

But I was already on the highway, and there was no stopping now. My only option was to press harder on the gas and let the engine roar.

Every second replayed in my head, the hall, the lights, the stunned faces staring at me, Adrian on one knee, smug and sure of himself.

The proposal was an insane, manipulative stunt.

He did it to corner me, knowing I couldn’t refuse, not with the world watching.

And Gabriel was there. The look in his eyes, utter shock, raw disappointment, cut deeper than the stunt itself. I heard his voice too, and felt him chasing after me.

The moment would have exploded if I had stayed, Adrian and Gabriel colliding, the crowd devouring us whole. I couldn’t let that happen.

By the time I reached my apartment, my body felt drained. I pushed into the elevator, leaning against the cool metal, willing my body to calm.

When the doors opened, I stumbled out and into my home, tossing my purse carelessly onto the couch.

“Shit...” My voice cracked, and I pressed my palms against my eyes. The night was a disaster, all of it.

And then I heard the soft thud. The elevator doors slid open again.

My heart froze.

I turned.

And there he was.

Gabriel.

His tie was undone, his shirt slightly untucked, his hand raking through his hair as if he’d been dragging himself through fire just to get here.

His chest rose and fell, his breaths ragged, and his eyes, dark, wild, filled with the kind of desire I knew too well.

“Gabriel...”

I didn’t think. I couldn’t.

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