Chapter 1744:


    Santos’s palm came down on the table with a sharp crack. “She dared to do that to my son?” His voice was tight with barely contained fury.


    He wasn’t opposed to the families being brought closer together — but not like this. Not through maniption and deceit.


    Colette’s jaw was set, her eyes hard. “Does the Hewitt family think they can make fools of us and simply walk away from it?”


    Had Violette’s scheme seeded, the Martels would have been left with no choice but to ept the oue, whether they approved or not.


    Henrik sat very still, his fury the cold, controlled kind that was far more dangerous than outbursts. He had never imagined Violette would go this far. The Martel family had indulged her for too long, he realized — and that indulgence had given her the confidence to cross a line like this.


    Henrik’s expression hardened as his gaze settled on Alban, his displeasure unmistakable.


    “So — how do you intend to handle this?”


    He had initially assumed the Jones family hadid some kind of trap for his grandson. The truth, it turned out, was that Violette had been the architect of everything, working from the shadows. Of everyone caught in the wreckage, Gillian was the only one who had been entirely without me.


    Alban hade in prepared to offer financialpensation. But standing before Gillian now, something shifted.


    “I want to marry her.”


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    A faint, knowing smile yed at the corners of his mouth, as though he had already considered how this would unfold.


    Gillian rose to her feet, shock written inly across her face. For a moment, she wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. The idea that the Martel heir — this man, from this family — wanted to marry her, a woman who already had a child, felt not just unlikely but almostughable. Her mind moved quickly to darker possibilities. Was he trying to use her against the Jones family? Was there some other angle she wasn’t seeing? She refused to indulge the notion that he had been struck by any genuine feeling. She knew her own life too well for that kind of thinking.


    Alban’s smile widened slightly at the sight of her stunned expression, as though her reaction was precisely what he had anticipated.


    “Will you marry me?” he asked, his eyes holding hers with an unhurried, almost yful steadiness.


    “I…” Gillian began, her thoughts scattering as her heart lurched sideways.


    She told herself firmly that this sort of fantasy was not for her. And yet, looking at Alban’sposed, self-assured face stirred something she hadn’t expected.


    He took a step closer. “So… you’re not willing?”


    “I already have a child,” she said, the words spilling out before she could shape them into anything more deliberate.


    “That doesn’t matter to me,” he replied, his tone unhurried and calm.


    Gillian looked at him directly. His face was striking, his smile easy and confident, and her pulse quickened against her better judgment. She pulled herself back mentally, forcing her thoughts to stay grounded.


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