?Chapter 1017:


    It wasn’t enough that she moved out of the vi. Now she wanted to walk out of his life too? Even after baring the truth, she still wouldn’t let him back in?


    Ste’s voice stayed steady, almost detached. “The moment I left the vi, we were already done.”


    “No! I can’t ept that!”


    He had invested so much effort, only for her to throw it away in what felt like moments.


    Ste regarded William with weary patience. To her, he sounded like a boy refusing to face reality.


    “William, ending a rtionship doesn’t require both sides. One person can make that choice.”


    Rtionships only worked when both people agreed to stay in them. But ending one? That only took one person.


    Even if it felt unfair to the other, once it was said, it became the truth.


    “I can’t keep going in circles with you, William. I’ve got too much on my te. I need to find out the truth about my adoptive parents’ death, and Erebus hasn’t backed off.”


    Her energy was pulled in too many directions. Romance had to take a back seat.


    William’s mouth curled into a crooked, joyless smile.


    To him, it sounded like an excuse—a way to dodge the real issue: her refusal to face what they had.


    Ste didn’t see the point in dragging the conversation out. Her voice turned resolute. “I’ve said everything I needed to say. I’m leaving now.”


    The ten minutes she’d given him had run out.


    She didn’t spare him a final nce. Without hesitation, she walked away.


    Pulling out her phone, she tapped out a message to Lainey letting her know she was heading out. Then she slid into the first taxi she saw and disappeared into the flow of traffic outside the crowded mall.


    The cab hadn’t gone far when her phone buzzed to life.


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    Irritated, she checked the screen. William’s name lit it up. Without hesitation, she let out a tired breath, hit decline, and dropped the phone into her bag.


    She didn’t understand why William kept clinging on, even after she’d spelled everything out.


    It wasn’t his past ties to Erebus that upset her—she believed him when he said he hadn’t known what it was.


    What truly gnawed at her was the pattern. He kept things from her. Again and again, he chose silence over trust.


    That wasn’t the kind of love she wanted. If honesty couldn’t exist from the beginning, she didn’t want it to exist at all.


    The cab pulled up in front of her building, and after handing the driver his fare, Ste stepped out. To her surprise, William was already in the elevator lobby, standing there as if he had been waiting for quite some time.


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