?Chapter 1727:


    “Alban Martel! What the hell are you after? Even if something did happen between me and her, that’s none of your concern, is it?” Jaxen snapped, shooting him a zing re.


    He couldn’t allow Alban to expose the situation—if word got out, every n he had would copse.


    “It’s absolutely my concern. The two of you will get married. If not, I’ll release the surveince footage.” Alban’s voice was t, utterly devoid of warmth.


    Since Violette had dared to scheme against him, he would force them into marriage and let bitterness rot between them for the rest of their lives. He had always lived by retaliation in kind. As for whatever fallout this might bring Jaxen, that was no longer his concern.


    “You wouldn’t dare!” Jaxen snarled through clenched teeth, his stare sharp with warning.


    Unbothered, Alban lifted the corner of his mouth in a chilling smile. “Then keep watching and see whether I dare or not.”


    “You wouldn’t destroy her reputation,” Jaxen shot back.


    “Why should I give a damn about the name of a woman who tried to set me up?” Alban replied, one brow lifting faintly.


    “Alban, do you really have to be this heartless? Our families are close, after all,” Violette begged, her voice trembling through suppressed sobs. Her grandmother was connected to the Martel family.


    “If it weren’t for your grandmother, you’d already be dead,” Alban said coldly, his eyes shing with a subtle but lethal intent.


    That look terrified Violette, her legs nearly giving way beneath her. Had it been anyone else, death might truly have been the oue. Even so, the pain in her heart refused to fade, and she couldn’t ept this ending. Why couldn’t he ept her feelings, after everything she had sacrificed for him? He was merciless, stripping her of both hope and dignity.


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    “Don’t you know our family and the Wades are rivals? How could I ever marry someone from the Wade family!” Violette finally snapped, her voice rising despite herself. If she hadn’t feared being overheard, she would have screamed until her throat gave out.


    “This is the only path left to you,” Alban said, unmoved.


    Boiling with rage, Jaxen forced four words through clenched teeth. “I will not marry her.”


    The woman he intended to wed was the treasured daughter of the Jones family, and Violette was nowhere near deserving of that ce. Only by marrying into the Jones family could he hope to touch their core interests and someday im everything they owned.


    “Very well,” Alban said at once. “Then I’ll upload the footage online. I doubt the Jones family are idiots—they’ll understand exactly what you were plotting. If you marry, they may overlook it. If not, I suspect it will tear the Jones and Wade families apart.”


    At those words, both their faces drained of color. Marriage now seemed like the only road left open.


    Jaxen understood that refusing to marry Violette meant losing any chance of marrying Christina once the video surfaced—and he would gain nothing from the Hewitt family either. Worse still, if this affair had been deliberately concealed, the Jones family would inevitably grow suspicious of the Wades, and even his sister would lose her chance of marrying into the Jones household.


    After weighing everything, Jaxen gritted his teeth and conceded. “I’ll marry her—but I have one condition.”


    “You don’t have the right to bargain with me,” Alban cut him off without hesitation. He didn’t need to hear the condition to know it was meaningless. With their fate already clenched in his grasp, how could they possibly think they had grounds to negotiate? Only the one holding the upper hand got to make demands, and Jaxen had none whatsoever.


    “Alban… can’t you let this go just once? It’s my first mistake,” Violette continued to plead, still clinging desperately to the hope that she could sway him.


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