?Chapter 1193:


    “Because I could use a littlepdog.”


    Suddenly, his hand shot up and mped around her jaw.


    The pressure was unbearable; she let out a muffled whimper. But the re in his eyes rooted her in ce like ice in her veins.


    He forced her chin up, examining her features with unsettling focus.


    “This face… looks about eighty percent like Sadie,” he murmured, tracing a path across her cheek with a ghost of a touch, though his expression stayed as frozen as ever.


    Hailey’s hands balled into fists, nails digging so deep into her palms they nearly broke the skin.


    Mortification surged through her—a raw, searing shame, unlike anything she’d ever known.


    She was the heiress of the Burgess family. A remarkable doctor at Rosewood Hospital. When had anyone ever dared humiliate her like this?


    But she didn’tsh out. She couldn’t even afford to let resentment show.


    Alex wasn’t merely cold-hearted—he was deranged. A beast draped in skin. If she pushed him too far, she was certain he’d end her life without a second thought.


    His obsession with Sadie ran deeper than infatuation—it blurred the line between love and mania. Still, no matter how far he went, Sadie refused to be with her.


    But Hailey refused to crumble beneath this. She wasn’t anyone’s puppet.


    She had only one card left—and she was ready to y it.


    Without warning, she reached out and sped the same hand that had just cut off her air moments ago.


    Drawing it slowly to her face, she pressed it to her cheek, lips curling into a practiced, delicate smile. Her words came out hushed, trembling by design.


    “If…”


    “This is the face you want, Mr. Howe… then I’ll stay. I’ll stay with you.” Her voice wavered, deliberately frail. Tears hovered on hershes.


    “You despise Noah, don’t you? He nearly killed you. I can’t stand him either. Tossed me aside like I was meaningless. Looks like we’ve got amon enemy, don’t we?”


    Fresh content live on gα?ησv??ls?c?m


    Alex’s gaze narrowed, fixed on the near-replica of the woman he loved, now putting on this pitiful charade—and something sickened him.


    With a snap of revulsion, he jerked his hand free and shoved her away. Hailey staggered, barely staying upright.


    “You want to take Sadie’s ce? Don’t kid yourself.”


    His words wereced with venom. He sneered.


    “But Salex needs a mother. So you’re not going anywhere.”


    His voice dropped an octave—dangerous, menacing. “I’ll have you watched nonstop. One misstep, and you already know the consequences.”


    Hailey’s stomach twisted. She dropped her gaze, the fire in her eyes carefully veiled.


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