?Chapter 274:


    Elliana stayed back, watching silently. Now wasn’t the time forfort. Sometimes, one had to let the storm rage to find peace on the other side.


    Merlin stood farther behind, half-hidden behind a stone pir, his gaze fixed on Hailee. He’d always kept people at arm’s length, uninterested in the drama of others. But tonight, that rule had an exception as it involved Hailee. He heard her voice rise, trembling with rage and anguish. “Boris Craig, you scoundrel! You bastard!”


    Boris Craig? Merlin’s eyes narrowed. So, she knew Boris? What had Boris done to her? Was her crying all because of him?


    Without a second thought, Merlin pulled out his phone and called his assistant. “Dig into Boris Craig’s connection with a woman named Hailee Loftus. I want everything—fast.”


    As he hung up, he saw Hailee wiping her face angrily with her sleeve. Elliana stepped in and murmured something to Hailee, and together, they walked away.


    Merlin hesitated and then moved like a shadow behind them. He didn’t want to be seen, so he kept hidden—just close enough to keep them in sight. Ten minutester, the two women sat down on a roadside bench.


    Behind them stretched a wall of green bursting with flowers, their golden heads swaying in the breeze, filling the air with a gentle sweetness.


    To catch their conversation, Merlin circled around and quietly settled on the other side of the flower wall.


    Just then, his phone buzzed. The report had arrived.


    Merlin’s eyes narrowed into slits of ice as he processed his assistant’s report. The revtion about Boris’s outrageous behavior struck him like a physical blow.


    Though their interactions had never extended beyond cursory greetings, whispers of Boris’s underhanded dealings had reached Merlin’s ears. Today’s discovery of Boris’s mistreatment of Hailee ignited a simmering fury that set Merlin’s jaw clenching.


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    Such depravity from Boris couldn’t be tolerated. Merlin’s past as an international special forces soldier had instilled in him an unshakable moralpass that demanded action, not passive observation. Merlin’s contemtion was shattered when the two women’s voices drifted over the flower wall separating them.


    Hailee, unaware of her eavesdropper, continued her conversation openly.


    Elliana, however, had detected Merlin’s presence from the beginning. She figured Merlin and Hailee had met during their yacht encounter and, sensing no malice in his concern for Hailee, she chose not to alert Hailee.


    “Hailee, what’s your next move?” Elliana asked, her voice gentle yet direct.


    Hailee’s once-vibrant face bore the ravages of heartbreak—swollen eyes, ashenplexion, and cracked lips testifying to her pain. A weary sigh escaped her. “Boris is the Craig family heir with unimaginable influence. People like us—from humble origins—can’t afford to challenge someone like him.” She pressed her bloodless lips together. “Being deceived and wounded by him leaves me no choice but to suffer in silence. Any retaliation from him would crush mepletely.”


    “You’re worried he’ll harm your father?” Elliana probed, understanding flickering in her eyes.


    Hailee nodded, the simple gesture conveying volumes. Her father remained her sole vulnerability. For his sake, she would swallow this bitter injustice. The pain tore at her insides, hatred threatening to consume her, yet she saw no alternative.


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