Shattered Rose He Held On Tight novel Chapter 204

11:50 Fri, Oct 10 d

Shattered Rose He Held On Tight

Chapter 204 The Most Beautiful Butterfly

Finished

Maybe it was because he’d grown up away from the Romeros, but although Frederick clearly had some of the family’s features, his presence felt calmer compared to Sterling’s sharp, commanding aura. When he smiled at people, the eyes behind his glasses seemed to glimmer with a calm, attractive light.

Claudia didn’t know how to respond to Frederick. She didn’t know him, and there was no shared past for them to talk about.

Besides, he and Sterling weren’t brothers–just cousins.

To Claudia, everyone from the Romeros fell into one of two categories: Sterling’s allies or Sterling’s enemies.

Frederick didn’t fit into either.

So she just gave a dry “Oh,” with no intention of digging any deeper.

So he’d seen her before. What did that have to do with her? That didn’t matter to her at all.

She glanced toward the restaurant, a little bored, wondering why Sterling was taking so long to come back with her cake.

That was another reaction Frederick hadn’t seen coming.

He gave a soft, amused chuckle.

If he hadn’t witnessed that scene by the pond, and if his rival weren’t Sterling, maybe he really would have changed his mind.

Frederick had first seen Claudia when he was a junior in college.

He went to Altrix City for an academic quiz. His advisor had been invited to judge, and Frederick went along to help.

Noticing Claudia wasn’t hard. In a crowd of forgettable faces, she stood out, strikingly beautiful, though she clearly didn’t fit in.

She and the girl who called herself Claudia’s sister–always charming everyone, always the center of attention–couldn’t have been more different.

But Frederick had learned from an early age not to judge people by appearances.

And sure enough, during the competition, he overheard her so–called “sister” dropping subtle hints and half–truths in the cafeteria and lounges, quietly turning everyone against Claudia.

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11:50 Fri, Oct 10 d

Chapter 204 The Most Beautiful Butterfly

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72

Finished

All those young students were easily manipulated.

He watched the drama with a detached air, finding it all predictable and boring.

Even though Claudia had made a vivid impression on him the moment he saw her, he never once felt like stepping in to comfort or help her.

Everyone said Frederick was warm and refined, the kind of guy every girl in college had a crush on. But deep down, he’d inherited the Romeros‘ coldness and pride.

He wasn’t the sympathetic type.

Back when most kids were full of a sense of justice, he could walk right past a bullied classmate without even blinking.

His mother, Fiona, could never love him with her whole heart–he was her enemy’s child. Yet her upbringing wouldn’t let her hate him openly, either.

He’d only been born because fate had tied them together.

For this innocent life brought into the world, the best kindness Fiona could offer was distance.

His father, Waylon, treated him decently, but Fiona was always his top priority.

Only later did Frederick realize that Waylon had always thought he was Leon’s son, and so treated him with a kind of guilty affection.

They were close, but never really intimate.

Growing up in this seemingly perfect family, Frederick understood the emptiness at its core better than anyone.

Fiona didn’t love him or Waylon.

Maybe, from the day her own family was destroyed, Fiona had lost the ability to love at all.

Waylon’s love for Fiona, meanwhile, was always overflowing, sometimes to the point of obsession.

All three of them were broken in different ways.

Frederick had always found people disgusting and dirty. He’d smile, shake hands, or sling an arm around someone for appearances, but in private, he’d scrub his skin raw just to get rid of the disgusting feeling.

He preferred spending time with strange insects rather than people.

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