He Sent Me Overseas to Marry Her, I’m Staying Overseas to Never See Him Again Chapter 09
The day after the press conference, Stellaris Group’s stock crashed.
Bennett was urgently summoned back by the board, only to be taken in for questioning at the airport.
“Ms. Rowan, Tessa is outside. She says she wants to see you one last time.”
“Let her in.”
When Tessa came in, the polished perfection she used to wear like armor was gone.
The moment she saw me, she sank to her knees before me, her dignity completely gone.
“Claire, please, I’m begging you. Drop the charges.”
“If Bennett goes to prison, his life will be over.”
“Miss Vale, when you took my fiancé from me, did you ever think this day might come?”
Tessa sobbed so hard her whole body shook.
“I didn’t mean to steal him. He was the one who said he loved me. He said you were just his business partner.”
“Claire, please. If you save him, I’ll sign the divorce papers today. I’ll walk away, you can have him back!”
I stood and walked over to her.
“Give him back? What do you think he is, a secondhand toy you can just pass around when you’re bored?”
“Tessa, you still don’t understand. I didn’t destroy him because of you. I destroyed him because he
was greedy enough to think he could have everything.”
Tessa stared at me blankly.
I pulled out my phone, tapped the screen, and played a saved audio file.
“Claire, trust me. I only love you. Tessa is just like a little sister to me.’
That was what Bennett had said to me in the study six months ago.
Tessa’s voice shook.
“When… when did you record that?”
i stopped the recording.
“Tessa, do you really think he loves you?”
“Once you lose your usefulness, what do you think he’ll do to you?”
I was about to tell her to leave when my phone suddenly rang.
It was Bennett, calling from the public phone at the county detention center.
I answered and put him on speaker.
“Claire, it’s me.”
Bennett’s voice sounded as if he had aged ten years overnight. It was hollow, worn down by despair.
“Stellaris is going bankrupt. The board is pinning everything on me.”
I said nothing allowing the heavy silence to stretch between us.
“Claire, you won.”
“But I only want to ask you one thing. In these seven years, was there really nothing you wanted to hold on to?”
I looked at the sunlight outside the window and said softly, “Bennett, what I missed was the boy who survived on instant ramen with me in that cramped basement startup. Not the calculating Mr. Hale you became.”
“The moment you decided to get a marriage license with Tessa, we were over.”
Bennett stayed silent for a long time.
Then I heard him crying, a muffled, pathetic sound breaking through the receiver.
“Claire, if I hadn’t done that back then…”
“There is no if.”
I hung up.
Beside me, Tessa had cried herself silent.
“Go,” I said. “While you still haven’t been dragged into this, get as far away from him as you can.”
Tessa left in a daze.
That evening, Walter came by. He looked at me and let out a long, heavy sigh.
“Claire, do you truly not regret it?”
I shook my head.
“Sir, my only regret is that I didn’t pull the plug sooner.”
That night, I had a dream.
I dreamed of the summer seven years ago, when Bennett held my hand on the rooftop and watched the stars with me.
He said, “Claire, one day, we’re going to build the biggest house. Just for the two of us.”
When I woke, my pillow was wet.
But I knew those tears were not for the Bennett of today.
They were for the dream that had died.
Early the next morning, Mina rushed in, her face as white as a sheet.
“Ms. Rowan, something happened. Bennett killed himself in detention.”
The cup in my hand fell to the floor and shattered.
“What did you say?”
“He… he used the sharpened handle of a toothbrush to cut his carotid artery.”