?Chapter 2761:


    “Why not?” Color drained from his face; the veins at his temples stood out, tense.


    “Give me a reason! What’s the real reason we can’t be together?”


    Hadley bit her lip, hesitating.


    How could she tell him that she had given herself up—for his sake?


    Her phone buzzed on the table, its screen lighting up insistently.


    She nced at it and rejected the call.


    “Who is it? Why aren’t you answering?” Eric asked sharply.


    When she looked up, Eric’s gaze was fixed on her—unblinking, sharp, as though he had already unraveled the truth. His voice turned cold.


    “It’s Ellis.” Not a question. A statement.


    Hadley stiffened.


    He knew?


    Watching her falter, his face paled further. He tried to let out a bitterugh but couldn’t; his eyes stayed locked on hers, dark and hollow.


    “I saw you two yesterday,” he said, voice low, roughened.


    “I wasn’t following you. I went to your studio to pick you up after work.”


    And instead, he had witnessed that.


    Hadley sat frozen, dazed.


    She had wrestled with how to tell him—yet he already knew.


    Perhaps this was for the best.


    He would have found out sooner orter.


    “He likes you.” Eric’s voice dropped to a murmur.


    “Did he confess? Did you… ept him?”


    Hadley stayed silent.


    Her mind was a nk void.


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    “Say something!” His voice cracked, tinged with suppressed fury, eyes rimmed red.


    “Answer me!”


    Finally, she met his gaze—her own eyes dark and empty—and whispered, “Yes. Ellis and I… I epted him. We’re together now.”


    Eric’s body turned rigid, his pupils constricting.


    His lips trembled as a hoarse whisper escaped.


    “R… really?”


    “Yes.” Hadley averted her gaze, unable to look at him.


    “It’s true.”


    The silence that followed stretched endlessly.


    No one spoke.


    “No. No, it’s not true!” Eric suddenly grasped her face, forcing her to meet his eyes.


    “You’re lying! Tell me you’re lying! You’re still angry about before, and you’re doing this to punish me, aren’t you? Tell me that’s all it is! Say it!”


    Hadley pressed her lips together, her head shaking slightly as silence filled the room.


    Her eyes shimmered with tears that refused to fall, and her jaw tightened against the swelling emotion.


    “This happened because of me!”


    Still on his knee, Eric cupped the back of her head and guided her down until their foreheads rested together.


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