?Chapter 199:


    Every ear in the room caught it. The tension thickened.


    Yet Elliana remained still, her calm unshaken.


    Cole kept the gun trained on her as he said, “Honey, this is your chance. Tell me the truth. Who exactly are you?”


    Without hesitation, Elliana replied, “I’ve already told you. I don’t owe you any exnation about my private affairs.”


    “You’re seriously refusing to talk?”


    “Of course.”


    Cole gave a slight nod as he observed her closely. After a brief pause, he spoke again. “Then let me ask you something else. I want you to think carefully before you answer, honey.”


    Elliana listened in silence.


    “Did you n our marriage registration from the start?” Cole asked.


    Elliana’s answer came firm and swift. “No.”


    “Honey, do you really want that to be your final answer?” Cole asked, his eyes narrowing. “I did tell you to think it through.”


    A faint smile tugged at Elliana’s lips, one edged with amusement. “Then what exactly were you hoping I’d say?”


    “I want the truth!” he snapped, sounding more like a child throwing a tantrum than a man in control.


    Elliana stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words. “That’s what I already gave you. So what’s upsetting you so much?”


    When she noticed the doubt in his expression, she rified, “Let me make this perfectly clear. Even if I had bad intentions toward you, I would never have involved my marriage. I respect marriage deeply. There’s no need for you to waste time on this.”


    Strangely enough, her exnation only seemed to deepen the grimness on Cole’s face. Confused by the shift in his mood, Elliana furrowed her brows.


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    Then, in the next breath, Cole asked sharply, “Do you have anyst words, honey?”


    Elliana’s heart stumbled in her chest. So this was it. He had made up his mind. Men truly were merciless. They could whisper sweet promises while chasing after someone, but the moment they gave up, their coldness could freeze the soul.


    Elliana’s expression remained unchanged, but she tightened her grip on the coin in her hand. Her mouth pressed into a firm line as disappointment settled deep in her chest. She had always been warned not to trust men, yet she had foolishly believed the tender words Cole once spoke to her. Looking back, it felt pathetic.


    With a bitterugh in her mind, Elliana lifted her breathtaking face and stared him down with a cold, mocking smile. “You don’t deserve to hear myst words!”


    In truth, she did havest words. If his bullet ended her life, all she wished for was that fate would never let her cross paths with him again in the afterlife. Because if they met once more, there was a chance she’d fall for him all over again—drawn in by that face and the sweetness of his lies, repeating every foolish mistake from this lifetime. No matter how much she hated him, she had to admit that his charm still had a grip on her.


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