?Chapter 2763:


    “Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter. The truth won’t change!”


    The words froze Eric where he stood, disbelief splintering through his expression and locking his body in ce.


    Hadley’sshes quivered, and she forced her lips into a fragile smile.


    “Whatever we had is behind us now. With Ellis and me… things are moving forward.”


    Every syble dropped from her lips with deliberate weight. Eric caught them all, each one piercing straight through his ears as if hammered in.


    His eyes throbbed, threatening to split from the pressure building inside.


    His mouth opened soundlessly before a broken whisper escaped.


    “No… no… Hadley…”


    Her name spilled out again and again, shattered and uneven.


    “Eric.” Hadley’s fists tightened until her nails pressed into her palms, the ache reaching deep into her chest.


    “I’m sorry!”


    She lifted her gaze toward him, her face steady with unshakable resolve.


    “There’s nothing left to exin. Joy is waiting at home, and I… I need to go back!”


    The moment those words left her, she tore her hand from his grip and bolted out of the room.


    Eric remained frozen, nk, and motionless where she had left him.


    His towering frame looked smaller now, shoulders folding inward as if he were copsing.


    “Hadley!” The cry ripped from Eric’s throat, low and guttural.


    “Hadley! Where… where are you going?”


    He stayed behind, abandoned in the wreckage of silence.


    “Ah!” Rage exploded out of him as he drove his foot into the table, sending chairs crashing. tes and sses shattered across the floor in a chaotic crash.


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    Chaos sprawled across the room.


    “How could everything end up like this?” Eric murmured as he pressed his palm hard against his forehead.


    Could this be real? Or was he still trapped in some dreadful dream?


    The sight mirrored that moment half a year ago at a Airport.


    Six months had crawled by, and though he had wed his way back from the edge of death, nothing had shifted. Hadley still refused him.


    No—this wound cut deeper, sharper, more merciless than before.


    Back then, her doubts and mistrust had driven them apart, but at least her heart had not belonged to another.


    Now everything was different. Hadley had given her feelings away. She had chosen someone else.


    For him, no door remained open. This time, there truly was no return.


    “Hadley… Hadley…” Eric dragged both hands over his face, wetness spilling through his fingers. Her name fell from his mouth in broken repetition.


    “Hadley!”


    By the time Ernest arrived, Eric was drowning in alcohol, far beyond the point of control.


    “What’s happening here?” Ernest turned to Xander with furrowed brows, baffled by the sight of Eric drinking himself senseless.


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