Chapter 964:
Ellis didn’t hesitate. He slipped an arm around Freya’s waist, his voice warm but resolute. “Freya—my girlfriend. She’s the woman I want by my side for the rest of my life. She means everything to me.”
Then, he glanced at Freya with a reassuring smile before introducing Claire in the same breath. “And this is Claire Harper. Her father’s an old friend of my dad’s.”
Freya was about to offer a polite greeting, but Claire jumped in, her voice tight. “You forgot we grew up together.”
Ellis sidestepped her comment, his gaze steady. “How did you get my address?”
“Your parents told me,” Claire admitted, meeting his eyes with open honesty.
A faint line creased Ellis’s brow. Why had his parents handed out his address so easily?
“Eli, why did you block me?” Claire’s voice was sharp with disbelief. “I thought we were friends.”
He met her eyes, his voice even. “Our parents might be close, but that doesn’t make us obligated to be.” He added, “If there’s nothing else, we’ll be going.”
“Wait.” Claire’s determination broke through her hesitation; she hadn’t come all this way to leave empty-handed.
Both Ellis and Freya paused, waiting.
Claire pressed her lips together, searching Freya’s face. “Freya Briggs, do you want to tell Ellis yourself, or should I?”
Freya blinked in confusion. “Tell him what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Spare me the act.” Claire’s tone sharpened.
𝐿𝑎t𝑒st ch𝑎pt𝑒rs in g𝓪lnoνels.𝓬𝓞𝓶
Freya’s brows drew together, genuinely bewildered.
Ellis, sensing Claire’s hostility, instinctively tightened his hold on Freya’s hand, a frosty edge creeping into his expression. “Claire.” His voice alone sent a chill through her, and Claire finally noticed just how protective he was of Freya—an intimacy she’d never seen before.
Claire squared her shoulders, refusing to back down. “I know you hate it when I talk about your girlfriend, but let me ask you this—do you actually know who Freya Briggs really is?”
In the beginning, Freya’s name rang a distant bell for Claire—just a faint flicker of recognition.
Then it clicked. Freya had just been all over the news for divorcing Kristian and supposedly walking away with a jaw-dropping settlement. Ellis started to intervene, but Freya cut him off with a calm, “Let her finish.”
“She used to be married to Kristian Shaw,” Claire declared, eager to air every rumor she’d heard. “The divorce left her with over a billion. I mean, that says it all, doesn’t it? She’s obviously after money—yours now, since you’re the next target.”
“My name is Freya Briggs,” Freya replied, her tone steady and unimpressed.
Claire just shrugged. “Yeah, I know.”
“Briggs—as in Briggs Group,” Freya clarified, her voice cool, refusing to entertain the accusation any longer.
The revelation blindsided Claire.
Suddenly, the snark vanished and her tongue tripped over itself.
“That’s old news to me,” Ellis replied, lacing his fingers through Freya’s. He addressed Claire with unhurried confidence. “But let’s get something straight.”
Claire looked dazed, still trying to process what she’d just learned. “What do you mean?”
“My apartment, my job—they’re both thanks to her,” Ellis replied, his voice light with a hint of mockery. “So, if anyone here is chasing money, I guess that’d be me, not Freya.”
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