?Chapter 1139:


    Marc had known nothing back then. His business was just finding its footing, and he had buried himself in work, refusing to deal with family matters.


    Whenever Ste tried to talk about it, he would brush her off, saying she was too sensitive. If she pressed further, he’d lose his patience, snapping that his mother wasn’t that kind of person.


    He had never believed Ste. Not once.


    Jazlyn sneered. “And if it’s true, so what? Is it wrong for a mother-inw to test her daughter-inw? She’s always pretending to be pitiful just to turn you against me.”


    One memory after another hit Marc like blows. He saw Jazlyn locking Ste out afterte shifts, mocking her background in front of rtives, sneering at her when she fell ill. And him? He had done nothing. He had let it all happen. Marc looked at his mother with new eyes, as if he were seeing a stranger.


    She caught his look and bristled, her anger spilling over.


    “I did what was necessary!” she shouted. “If I hadn’t kept her in her ce, she would’ve walked all over you. And look at her now—divorced, sessful, acting like she’s better than everyone! We gave her everything, and she turned into an ungrateful snake!”


    A wave of dizziness hit Marc, and he steadied himself against the wall.


    He had always thought Ste’s coldness after the divorce was heartless. Even after his own betrayals, he believed she had no right to be so distant.


    In his mind, life with the Walsh family had been her fortune.


    She had lived in luxury, and that should have been enough.


    The truth finally hit Marc with full force. Ste had endured more cruelty than he had ever imagined.


    “When she went out to negotiate that deal, did you really lock her out all night? You didn’t let her in or even leave the gate?”


    Jazlyn turned her head sharply, her tone filled with smug self-assurance. “I was teaching her discipline. What kind of decent daughter-inwes home drunk at two in the morning?”


    A sharp ache gripped Marc’s chest.


    “She wasn’t drinking for pleasure. She was closing a deal for ourpany! Without her, we wouldn’t have secured that project!”


    Jazlyn’s body quivered faintly under Marc’s raised voice.


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    Her hand rose to her chest as she stood her ground.


    Marc continued, “When Ste suffered that stomach perforation and I was overseas, you never once visited her. Instead, you went on a vacation with your friends, didn’t you?”


    Jazlyn sprang to her feet. “What is this, an interrogation? I’m your mother! That happened so long ago. Why dig it up now? Are you saying I was wrong? That I mistreated your ex-wife?”


    Marc’s gaze fixed on her defiant expression, and a suffocating heaviness filled his chest.


    He couldn’t deny his own guilt. He had failed Ste just as badly.


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