Chapter 21

After trouble struck the Zimmerman family, Clara had been forced into a marriage alliance. Everyone had been waiting to see her become a laughingstock. But even in her darkest moments, she'd still wanted to treat Sebastian well. For three years, she'd really thought he was nothing more than a poor man who'd lost both his parents and had no home. Each time she'd seen someone bully him, she could hardly keep from jumping to his defense. Clara had to admit that she might've had her own selfish motives when she'd first chosen Sebastian. But in the three years they'd spent together, her feelings had been sincere. At the very least, she'd never wronged him. Even when he'd given her cheap gifts, she'd treasured them with care. She'd thought he didn't have much money, and for him to spend it on her showed how deep his feelings ran. But then Erica had returned, and everything had changed. The Sebastian Clara had once known had disappeared. The cold wind brushed Clara's cheeks as her mind