?Chapter 1245:


    A wave of horns and angry shouts followed, but he didn’t care.


    His eyes were fixed on the caller ID. Nina.


    He forced in a deep breath before answering.


    “William, you’re not at the office. Where did you go?”


    Nina’s voice was light, but there was worry beneath it. She had gone to his office with lunch, only to find him gone.


    Luca had said he’d left, but refused to say where.


    “I went back to the Briggs Mansion,” William said tly. “I’m on my way back. What’s wrong?”


    Even his indifference sounded sharp, but to Nina, it was enough. When he’d been with Ste, he wouldn’t spare her even this much.


    “I brought you lunch,” she said quickly, “and Arlo said he needs your authorization.”


    Arlo had only agreed to let William and Nina return if William used the Briggs Group to funnel money into his mercenary organization. This would greatly facilitate Arlo’s logistics and business operations.


    It was a deal Nina hated. It would stain thepany’s reputation, pull William into something irreversible.


    She’de to talk him out of it, to convince him that Arlo no longer had leverage over him.


    After all, Arlo already had the research data he wanted.


    He didn’t control William anymore.


    “Alright,” William said simply. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”


    The call ended.


    Back at the Briggs Group, Nina waited quietly in his office, the lunchbox still untouched on the desk. Luca entered briefly with a cup of coffee. He hesitated at the sight of her sitting there, eyes lowered, posture tense. But he said nothing and left quietly.


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    Ten minutester, the door opened again. Steven walked in. He paused when he saw her, his expression immediately hardening.


    “Nina,” he said, his toneced with contempt. “Why are you still pestering William? Haven’t you done enough?”


    He hadn’t forgotten what she’d done—the lies, the maniption, the part she’d yed in tearing William and Ste apart. Even if Ste was now engaged to Marc, he would never forgive Nina for the things she did.


    If not for Nina, Marc would never have had a chance.


    Nina pressed her lips together, her tone calm. “I just spoke with William. He told me to wait here. If you have a problem, take it up with him when he gets back.”


    She had no intention of exining anything to Steven. What happened with her and William in Arlo’s mercenary camp remained between them.


    Her indifference only deepened Steven’s anger. He scoffed but said nothing more, dropping onto the couch with crossed arms.


    The silence stretched, cold and heavy.


    When William finally pushed open the office door, his gaze moved between them—Steven rigid with irritation, Ninaposed as ever.


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