Return of The Alpha Heiress Chapter 53: Clarissa – He’s Gone

I turned around and walked away, ignoring Alpha’s furious shouts as he scread my na with curses.

I went up to the second floor and rushed into my room. The mont I shut the door, my body collapsed onto the floor.

A month in the basent hadn’t only ant enduring the disgust of whatever lurked in the darkness.

I endured the cold, the hunger, and the pain throughout my entire body.

My shoulder was dislocated and still hadn’t fully returned to its place.

My arms and legs were covered in bruises from slamming into tables and chairs while Alpha dragged .

I staggered to the bathroom to clean myself.

There, under the light, I could clearly see the bruises that still hadn’t faded even after a month.

Even so, I scrubbed my body harshly. As if I could erase every stain, every trace that bore silent witness to my suffering in that basent.

When I ca out of the bathroom, Luna Eileen was already waiting, holding a dicine box.

I stared at her coldly.

Her watery eyes, her face begging for sympathy, and the apologies that flowed so easily from her lips.

None of it ant anything to anymore.

"Are you done?" I asked flatly. I wanted rest, not to listen to more of her bullshit.

My cold tone made her look deeply wounded, as if I had committed so unforgivable cri against her.

"Clarissa... please forgive your foolish mother," she said through tears. "I know it wasn’t your fault. I believe it wasn’t your fault."

I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Weren’t you the one who said I did it because I wanted just once to feel what it’s like to be first place?"

She choked. Her crying stopped. Did she really think a month was enough for to forget those words?

"That’s not what I ant—"

"Get out," I cut her off. "You all don’t want to leave, right? Then let rest. There isn’t even a bed in that basent."

Her eyes widened. One hand flew to her chest in shock.

When I ntioned the basent, she looked as if she were the one who had been locked inside it.

With reluctant steps, she finally left.

I pressed a hand against my tight chest. Not because I was sad, but because I was angry.

Even my tears were completely dried up. I had cried them all out during that month in the basent.

The only thing keeping my mind clear was my ambition to taste freedom.

But sothing inside had changed. I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t understand it myself.

My gaze shifted to the com-orb lying on the nightstand. I checked the call history from the past month.

At first, there were many calls from number nine. Richard. But after two weeks, there were none.

"Does he know I was locked in the basent...?"

I pressed the number to call him. The screen imdiately returned to the ho display. The com-orb couldn’t connect. Only broken com-orbs fail like that.

"Why is it broken...?" Anxiety crept into my chest.

More than that, I missed him. Desperately. I wanted to hear his voice.

Graduation for the third-year students was only a few days away. Maybe I could see him there.

...

The ice began to lt, the air grew warr, and plant buds started to bloom.

Though, I still walked through the school corridors wearing a scarf. My arm was secured in a sling.

Only yesterday did Luna Eileen find out my shoulder was dislocated and call a doctor.

Luckily, it could be set without surgery, but the pain was unbearable.

At that mont, I thought that everyone who had done this to deserved to feel the sa pain. That thought was what kept going.

I was forbidden from going to school today, but I wasn’t obedient like before anymore. If I wanted to go, I would go.

As a result, the wounds on my arms and legs had to be carefully hidden so no one else would see them.

There were no classes today. Only the graduation ceremony for the third-year students. First- and second-years were rely there to fill the seats.

I had been in the Great Hall earlier, but the person I was looking for never appeared. Richard.

I left the graduation in the middle of it.

My footsteps echoed through the silence of the first-floor corridor of the best class building as I walked quickly away.

When I reached the workshop, I went straight inside and headed for his room.

The door was locked and the room was empty.

Without going in, I approached the staff desk. "Did Richard Black co here today?"

The staff mber looked at for a long mont, then handed a key.

"He ca yesterday to return his room key. He said from now on this room was booked for Clarissa Green. You are Clarissa Green, right?"

My breath caught. He returned the key yesterday, that ant he wasn’t coming today.

I took the key and walked back to the room with a heavy heart.

His com-orb couldn’t be contacted, and now he wasn’t at the academy either. Were we really never going to et again?

"But where did he actually go? Why didn’t he tell anything? Is he okay?"

I asked the air, knowing it would never answer.

As I stepped into the workshop, which felt more like a lounge than a workspace, the heaviness in my chest rose to my eyes, making them sting.

The sofa he usually slept on was still there, clean and undisturbed.

The cupboard was filled with snacks and drinks that looked freshly stocked.

The worktable and my docunts were neatly arranged.

On top of it all lay a purple envelope. I picked it up and read Richard’s handwriting. It was for .

"FrostAe is almost finished with the production process of your device. You don’t need to worry.

And please, always be happy there, Clarissa."

"Happy...?" I didn’t even know what happiness was.

"Did he co yesterday just to prepare all of this? Then why didn’t he et ?"

I sat down on the sofa, trying to breathe in what remained of his scent.

I was grateful for my strange sense of sll, for allowing to catch the lingering trace of Richard in the air.

My tears finally fell. I bit my lip to keep any sound from escaping.

"But this should be a good thing, right? We were supposed to part ways when I turn eighteen anyway..."

I tried to encourage myself, but instead my heart was cut even deeper, and the tears flowed freely down my scarred cheek.

I had thought a lot in the basent, including about my feelings for Richard.

Maybe we really were fated mates, sothing that would be confird once my inner wolf awakened.

But whether that was true or not, my feelings for him were real. Feelings I had been suppressing all this ti.

I thought that in the few months before I turned eighteen, I could use that ti to be with Richard.

To do things I’d never dared to do before.

But he was the one who left first.

"I still wanted to tell you so many things. Would you be angry or sad if you knew what I went through in the basent? Or would you laugh if I told you about Alpha Will’s accusations... accusations I don’t even know myself?"

I could only talk to myself, hoping he could sohow hear . But I knew it was nothing more than hope.

...

Classes at the academy resud as usual. showing up with my arm in a sling naturally drew attention.

Everyone stared and whispered.

Normally, I didn’t care. But this ti, I wanted to know what kind of rumors were being spread about .

So I approached Tessa and her friends and asked them directly. Our relationship hadn’t improved, but at least they were the only ones who didn’t avoid .

Shannon? She would be the last to know. No one dared gossip in front of her.

"You’re curious, huh?" Mira asked sarcastically.

I nodded. Not arrogantly nor pleading. Just flat.

Mira grew irritated by my attitude, but Kellan stopped her and spoke instead.

"There’s a rumor going around that you went on vacation with the Green family to the East Region beaches. Since it’s not cold there, you decided to try surfing even though you’d never done it before. And then you got into an accident."

I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t even taken a single step outside the mansion, yet I was accused of vacationing on so distant beach.

"It wasn’t surfing," Mira suddenly added. "It’s because she was so boy-crazy."

My brows knit together. "The rumor isn’t finished?"

Mira replied imdiately. "You were flirting with a lifeguard, so you tried to get his attention by surfing. Turns out you really did get rescued by him. After you got injured."

I couldn’t hold back my laughter anymore. "That’s quite an imagination."

"So your injury wasn’t because of that?" Tessa finally spoke, her voice cold. She hadn’t even looked at this whole ti.

"Even if I told you the truth," I challenged her, "would you believe ?"

Tessa didn’t answer. She just stared at icily. Mira looked curious but stayed silent. Rylas, as usual, wasn’t particularly interested.

Only Kellan spoke again. "If you’re willing to tell us."

"Alright," I said casually. "Edwin Green slapped so hard that I fell and hit the floor."

"Do you believe ?"

...