Read Gladly Beyond for Free Online Page A

and even the occasional snail mail letter just to reiterate what an ugly/stupid/psychotic person they think you are.
    I know, I know. Haters gonna hate. But, seriously . . . who cheated on who here?
    The bullying had dwindled down to pretty much this one particular texter.
    This person always got my phone number, no matter how many times I changed it, blocked them, got a different SIM card . . .
    I’d finally called the police over it. Not that they could do much. Come to find out, filing a restraining order against an invisible online harasser is nearly impossible.
    I instantly deleted the rude text, firmly telling my shaking hands to settle down.
    I was just having this reaction because it had been nearly two weeks since the last text, and I had (maybe) a Mr. Darcy impersonator following me earlier, and I had just spent a solid two hours in the same room as Pierce.
    I had let my guard down. That was all.
    I was in Florence. Far away from this person.
    I clenched my jaw and straightened my shoulders. Lifted fear firmly onto my back, dropped my phone into my purse and headed toward the door.
    “Claire.” Pierce snagged my arm, turning me back to the room.
    I stared at his hand. Pointedly.
    He released me and pushed his glasses up his nose. As if that were the reason he let go.
    “We were great this morning.” He tried for a friendly smile, but ended up with something more Cheshire Cat. “Just like old times there—”
    “I’m not in the mood for this, Pierce.”
    “Hold on. I bet I could convince my dad to hire you back. With the right encouragement, of course.” He winked.
    Oh my word! “As if. I have no desire to talk to you.”
    I spun around and headed, again, toward the door.
    Pierce darted in front, stopping me. “Kidding, Claire. You never could take a joke. Let me take you out to lunch. I promise I’ll behave—”
    “No.”
    “You just go from one mistake to another. C’mon, you know I’m the only man for you.”
    His brown eyes got that hang-dog look, winsome, promising adoration and safety. It’s why I had agreed to marry him, once upon a time. Not because I was madly in love with him.
    But because I had thought he was madly in love with me .
    The solid, steady man who would never break my heart. The opposite of the bad boy charmers I typically dated.
    Wow. Had I learned that bitter lesson.
    “As the Italians would say, Ciao .”
    I sidestepped. He moved with me.
    “I’m good for you. Admit it.”
    Oh! “You mean I’m still good for you . Because you are most decidedly not good for me .”
    “That’s not true—”
    “Goodbye, Pierce.” I walked around him, aiming (once more) for the door.
    “C’mon, Claire.” His head pivoted with me. “You never gave us a real chance. You just have to trust—”
    I froze.
    “Trust?!” I whirled on him. “Did that word seriously just come out of your mouth?”
    I stomped back over to him, my gaze surely shooting lasers. A smile tugged at his lips, like a small child preening after poking and prodding and finally getting a reaction.
    I was grateful, for once, that I topped him by about an inch. Add in my heeled boots and towering anger, and I easily gazed down on him. I liked that he had to raise his head to look me in the eye.
    I stared into his familiar face and realized I genuinely hated him.
    Hated I could pick his laugh out of a crowd.
    Hated I knew what he would say seconds before he said it.
    Hated that, even now, part of me missed us .
    Hated that because of his actions, I might never have us with someone else.
    All because I had trusted him. I had loved him.
    You don’t hand a man you don’t love the power to destroy you.
    Now I knew how thoroughly trust could be shattered. How impossible it was to reassemble.
    Humpty-Dumpty and all that.
    Never again.
    Pierce reached for me. I took a step back.
    “Is there a problem here, Mr. Whitman? Ms. Raythorn?” The Colonel appeared at Pierce’s side.
    Pierce. “No.”
    Me. “Yes.”
    The