Chapter 62: Chapter 62: A Woman Who Takes Risk (I)
Claudia POV
One thing that I noticed about Ray Gatlin was his constant hatred toward a meaningless woman like me. He could hold a grudge for over ten years after I hurled insults at him when we broke up back then. His hatred ran so deep that the grudge in his heart had become fuel that burned his cogs every morning, making sure that he could go through the day just to spite me at the end of it.
It was strange to me because I was just a stupid girl in her early twenties who hated him for playing with my heart. Even if he got angry over my comments, why didn’t he just throw random insults back at me? Why did he need to go so hard just to make my life a living hell?
Why did I say that so suddenly?
Because when I woke up and got out of the room the next morning after crying all night, I saw him in the kitchen making pancakes while humming the same song we heard yesterday on the radio.
I entered the kitchen and leaned against the wall, staring at the tall man with broad shoulders who wore a pink apron that was too small for his figure.
"Why are you in a good mood today, Ray? Did you get a gift from Santa last night?" I jeered at him first. I wasn’t the bravest woman to face a monster like Ray, but what he did yesterday was truly painful.
The way he taunted me over Miles’ behavior made me almost faint, and I spent the whole night crying over the wedding rings.
"Not Santa, but I did get a gift last night, and they are satisfying to look at," Ray said. "Too bad I tossed one of them because it was worn by a filthy rat."
I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he knocked his head on the floor when he woke up, so he started speaking nonsense.
As he turned around with two plates of towering pancakes, our eyes met and he raised one brow provocatively. "Done crying over that pathetic bastard? I thought you’d lock yourself in for at least three days, so I made our breakfast today."
I couldn’t help but scowl at his snarky comment. "Then how about you? Done mocking me over my heartbreak?"
"Heartbreak? HAH!" he sneered before walking to the dining table and putting the pancakes on it. "Why should I stop mocking you? You’re wasting your tears on a man who sold your wedding ring for pocket change. You’re an idiot, Claudia."
"And so what if I’m an idiot? At least I’m an idiot with a heart!" I snarled back at him, but my last comment seemed to have triggered him somehow. Because he suddenly made a sharp turn to face me and stretched out his arm.
He grabbed my cheeks using only one hand and forced me to look up so I could face his devilish green eyes.
"Listen to me, Claudia Reed. You’re NOT allowed to cry over him anymore. Just one more tear shed for Miles Hoffman, and you and him are dead meat!"
I was genuinely shocked by his overreaction, because didn’t he love seeing me in pain? I thought he’d laugh at me harder and taunt me even more for crying over my ruined marriage.
So why did he get mad so suddenly?
I struggled to break free from him, and once I managed to do so, I immediately took a step back while glaring at him.
But I said nothing in the end, knowing that aggravating him even more wouldn’t be good, especially since I had a request today.
Ray scoffed at me and then sat at the table. He pointed at the chair right in front of him and said, "Sit there and eat breakfast with me. I cannot eat breakfast alone."
"..."
Once again, I obeyed his order, since he seemed to genuinely hate eating alone. Which made me wonder what he was doing before I was forced to stay in this penthouse.
Did he have a bedmate every single night just to make sure that he could eat breakfast with someone in the morning?
Or was it Jane Jiang who accompanied him?
It also made me wonder how many women he had been sleeping with in the past, since with his looks and money, it wouldn’t be difficult to bring a rising actress or even a world-renowned beauty to his bed.
Initially, I had no appetite to eat anything. But then my stomach grumbled when I saw him eating, so I decided to take small bites of the fluffy pancakes that he made.
Once he was done, he said, "I will be busy at the Gatlin Gold office and my clinic since I took a day off yesterday. You’ll stay here with Jane until late at night."
I slowly looked up to stare at him. That wasn’t really the information that I wanted, because after crying until my eyes almost went blind last night, the loneliness in my heart became so suffocating that I wanted to meet someone I could hug.
Someone who would understand me better, even if she wasn’t awake right now.
I wanted to visit the hospital, to meet my daughter.
"Since you’ll be busy, can you just bring me to the hospital? Or maybe I can just go by myself using my car or a taxi," I suggested. "I... really want to meet Aurora."
"You can only leave with me, and since my schedule is full, then I’ll think about your request a week from now," Ray said.
I slammed the table instinctively. "That’s impossible!"
"Hm? Why not?" he asked. "Your daughter is safe under the care of the best doctors and nurses in Los Angeles. She also has the best equipment and security."
"B-but I really want to visit her. Please, Ray, I can go crazy like this!" I sincerely begged him this time.
