?Chapter 1143:


    “Do you really have to ask?” she hissed. “After the way you treated me? I sacrificed everything for you—risked jail, cut ties with my own family—and what did I get? The moment things went south, you threw me away, went crawling back to Ste like a coward. Should I p for the performance?”


    She’d almost burned her own family ties for him, all because she believed he was genuine, that they had a future.


    She had once believed in his promises, convinced they could build a future together. Even after tearing her family apart, she had stayed by his side, clinging to that illusion.


    But what had he done in return?


    When her world began to crumble, he vanished—ignored her calls, denied their rtionship, and pretended she never existed. The memory made her stomach turn.


    “Marc, you only ever cared about yourself. Ste gave you her loyalty, and you crushed it. I gave you everything, and you used me like a tool. Now look around. This—every bit of it—is what you deserve.”


    Standing tall in her heels, Haley looked down at Marc with nothing left in her eyes but frost. Whatever tenderness she once had for him was gone. She was a predator now, sleek and ruthless.


    She had loved once, and it had destroyed her. It would never happen again.


    Marc sat motionless, his lips parting before sound finally came. “So this is how you get back at me?”


    A bitter smile tugged at Haley’s lips. “Revenge? No. I’m simply reiming what’s mine. Without my contacts, you’d never have secured those government contracts. Without me, Walsh Group would’ve copsed the moment Ste walked away with her patents.”


    Marc would never confess the truth, not even to himself. He had always been a fraud.


    First, he’d built his sess on Ste’s brilliance. Then, he’d leaned on Haley’s power. And now, standing at the edge of ruin, he still clung to the illusion that he’d built everything on his own.


    Haley grabbed the agreement and pped it onto the desk. “Sign it. At least this way, the Walsh Group keeps its name. I’ll give you five percent of the shares and let you remain as honorary president.”


    She waited, watching him with a cruel sort of patience, savoring every flicker of pain across Marc’s face.


    “Turn it down. In three months at most, the Walsh Group will be wiped from people’s minds, and your work will disappear from Choria.”


    The words hit harder than she knew. Marc’s pride—so deeply rooted it was practically bone—couldn’t stomach that thought. To see his legacy erased was a punishment worse than death.


    At least keeping thepany’s name would allow him to hold onto some shred of dignity.


    Marc’s hands trembled as he stared at the papers, memories of thepany’s once-golden years shing before him. Even knowing he was trapped, his pride screamed against surrendering to Haley.


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