?Chapter 1203:


    “Get out.” Her voice was sharp, trembling. “I don’t know you. Stop talking nonsense.”


    She shoved him toward the door. Kyler stumbled back as it mmed shut in his face.


    Ste spent the entire afternoon at home. She drifted in and out of sleep, waking to a pitch-ck sky outside. The room was quiet, still, a cold breeze slipping through the cracked window.


    In her dream, something had been chasing her. A beast. Right before it reached her, it shifted—turning into Marc.


    That was when she jerked awake.


    Her skin was damp with sweat. She sat up slowly, rubbing her temples, then crossed the room to shut the window.


    Back on the bed, she stared at nothing for a long moment, her thoughts looping back to what thewyer had said.


    William Briggs… she didn’t know him.


    So why would he leave everything to her?


    She opened herptop, typed his name into the search bar, and began scrolling.


    What she found stopped her cold. William wasn’t some nobody. He was young, absurdly sessful, and well-known in his industry—almost too perfect to be real.


    Her eyes lingered on one of his photos. There was something about him—something that tugged at the edge of her memory. She lifted a hand and lightly traced the image on her screen.


    It felt familiar.


    The fragments surged again—quick, disjointed, always just out of reach.


    She dropped her hand and pressed her palms to her eyes. Her head throbbed.


    Everything in her said she knew him. Somewhere, somehow. But her mind just… wouldn’t give her the full picture.


    She kept reading, digging deeper. It turned out his hobbies weren’t random—they ovepped with her field of study.


    Time blurred as she scrolled, the hours slipping by. Her eyes burned from the screen’s glow. Eventually, she closed theptop and rubbed the bridge of her nose.


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    Then she heard footsteps outside her room.


    The door creaked open, and Marc stepped in. His gaze scanned the room until itnded on her, sitting up in bed. He let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it.


    “Stel, you’re still up?”


    Ste’s hand flew to the mouse, closing the webpage before she could think twice. Her heart leapt into a nervous rhythm. Marc couldn’t know she’d been searching for information about William. Every instinct screamed that letting him find out would be a mistake.


    She shook her head quickly. “Just had a bad dream and couldn’t get back to sleep. Thought I’d browse around for a bit to clear my head. Did everything work out with your meeting?”


    Marc crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. His eyes flicked briefly to the nkputer screen, suspicion stirring—before he buried it.


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