?Chapter 51:


    It wasn’t Marc’s first time being sshed in public, yet the crowd still erupted in shocked murmurs.


    He wiped his face, blinking as if trying to process what had just happened. Reaching out, he tried to take Ste’s hand.


    “Ste, I trust you. Please, just hear me out.”


    “Don’ty a finger on me! I feel sick just looking at you.”


    Without warning, Ste delivered a sharp p across his cheek.


    “This is your idea of love, Marc? Loving two people at once? You call that real love? It’s pathetic.”


    Marc stood frozen, stunned by the sting, but after everything that had juste to light, he bit back his anger. He reached out again and gripped Ste’s arm—not tightly, but firm enough to hold her still.


    Ste let out a small cry. “You’re hurting me!”


    He immediately let go, startled, and only then did he notice the bruises and marks scattered across her skin. The sight left him shocked.


    “Ste, what happened to you…”


    Before he could finish, Haley’s face lit up with sudden realization.


    Then it had to be true—Ste had actually been raped by those men. The visible injuries alone spoke louder than any photograph ever could.


    Grinning with triumph, she released the arm she had been holding and dered loudly, “You keep insisting you’re innocent, but what about those bruises, Ste? Isn’t that the aftermath of your night with them?”


    The aftermath of her night with them?


    Gasps rippled through the crowd, some even covering their mouths in disbelief. Even in their elite circles, such behavior, though not unheard of, was always kept behind closed doors.


    No one ever talked about those things in the open.


    Feel the thrill at g aln  ov el s .


    And yet, here was Ste, showing up to a public event with visible marks and not the slightest sign of shame.


    “You only signed the patent renewal yesterday because we caught you, didn’t you? You were scared we’d expose everything.”


    With a triumphant smile, Haley snatched the contract from Marc and held it up in front of Ste like a trophy.


    “You could barely stand straight and yet you were still begging them not to stop. You kept saying how much you liked it. Do you really think anyone would forget a scene that—”


    “Disgusting? And now you want to act like you’re the victim?” Her words were sharp, vulgar, andpletely indifferent to the people around them.


    The uglier Ste’s expression became, the more energized Haley seemed.


    Ste’s brow furrowed, and in the next second, she grabbed Haley’s wrist hard. “You know what you did is a crime, right? You could go to prison for this.” shes of the previous day surged through Ste’s mind, dragging the fear from that moment back into her chest.


    Marc, meanwhile, stood frozen, Haley’s words echoing in his head. What was she trying to say?


    Could Ste really have done something like that?


    The thought alone rattled him, stealing his focus from everything else—including Haley’s behavior. His attention narrowed entirely on the disturbing possibility that Ste had been with other men. A storm of anger gathered in his eyes.


    But the moment he met Ste’s icy stare, reality struck him like a blow. The cold rity in her eyes cut straight through his confusion.


    “Haley, what did you…”


    The words came out like venom, barely held back by restraint.


    Was Haley responsible for those bruises on Ste? Had she set something up?


    Haley’s body shook, and for a moment, she couldn’t speak.


    She lowered her head and didn’t dare to face him.


    But it didn’t take long before she nced up again, tears gathering in her eyes. She looked at Marc with a trembling, helpless expression.


    “Marc, please don’t believe her lies. She’s only using me because I uncovered the truth. Now she’s trying to twist it all and make me the viin!”


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