?Chapter 245:


    “Stel!” he called out, his voice full of fake warmth.


    Her expression soured immediately. “Move.”


    Marc didn’t budge. Instead, he stepped toward her.


    Ste instinctively took a step back, putting space between them.


    “Stel, listen—” he began, his voice soft, urgent. “I know you’re still hurting from what happened. But I never med you. I know you were drugged. You didn’t ask for any of it. It wasn’t your fault, and I’ve never held it against you.” He took another step closer. “You’re still my wife. We can fix this. Be happy again, like we used to. I know I messed up—but I never loved Haley. That was all for show. Just politics. You have to believe me.”


    Marc looked at her with pleading eyes, emotion thick in his voice. “All these years, my feelings for you never changed. Doesn’t that count for something?”


    Ste almostughed in his face.


    Be happy again?


    The so-called happiness had been a lie from the beginning.


    If trash belonged anywhere, it was with other trash. Haley and Marc deserved each other.


    She had no intention of getting between them. In fact, she hoped they stayed together. Forever.


    “Cut the crap, Marc,” she said coldly. “You looked pretty damn pleased with yourself on the day of your engagement. Save the act.”


    Marc’s face tensed. He tried to recover. “That engagement was just a business deal. I had no real feelings for Haley.”


    Then, trying another angle, his tone softened. “Stel, if you hadn’t been so ruthless back then… if you hadn’t forced the Walsh Group into a corner, I wouldn’t have gone through with it. You left me no choice.”


    And there it was—the me. Somehow, in Marc’s twisted version of events, he was the victim.


    To him, the fact that he was still willing to take her back—still willing to “forgive”—was proof of his love. As if that should have been enough.


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    “I’ve already ended things with Haley,” he added. “She’s out of the picture. I’m serious about this, Stel. I promise I won’t hurt you again.”


    Ste couldn’t help it—she let out a sharp, humorlessugh. “Too ruthless? You mean taking back a patent that was mine to begin with? Or beating you in a fairpetition?”


    Everything he med her for had happened because he wasn’t good enough—not because she ever tried to take him down. She was long past the point of wasting energy on him.


    Marc, as always, acted like none of it was his fault. “Stel,e on,” he pleaded. “Don’t talk like that. I know you. You’re only acting tough. You don’t have to stay with another man out of shame. No matter what happened in the past, I still love you. I’ll always love you.”


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