?Chapter 1251:


    “Is there an issue with Mr. Briggs’s health?” he asked Steven. Having just returned from being missing, William’s physical condition was certainly not something to take lightly.


    Steven waved his hand, cutting Luca off before he could go down the wrong track. “It’s not his health. It’s about William and Ste. Haven’t you noticed how different he istely?”


    Luca blinked, surprised. Ste?


    He had started to feel a prick of unease whenever her name came up, maybe out of sympathy for William. Still, he sounded puzzled. “But Ms. Russell is remarrying Marc. What does she have to do with Mr. Briggs?”


    Steven pinched the bridge of his nose, frustration ring. “Exactly. That’s the point. They were so in love before. Now one of them seethes with hatred while the other acts like a stranger. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”


    Hearing it aloud, Luca admitted it did feel strange. Romance, he thought, could be messy and unpredictable, especially for someone who had never loved. Yet even he had noticed the shift the moment William returned.


    “He does seem colder,” Luca said cautiously. But who wouldn’t be—finding out the woman he loved was nning to marry her ex must sting.


    Steven lowered his voice. “It’s more than coldness. When I mentioned the wedding, he blew up. He said she never loved him, that she always wanted Marc. He used her of being faithless.”


    Luca’s face hardened with disbelief. “How could he believe that? William was the one who knew Ste best. He’s not someone who jumps to conclusions.”


    “Exactly. Which is why I think something happened during the time he disappeared,” Steven said. “Something we don’t know about.”


    Luca went quiet, thinking back. “When he came back, he was with Miss Carter. I asked where he’d been, and he wouldn’t say. His eyes were… terrifying. Could Nina have anything to do with it?”


    William barely tolerated Nina in the past, but now they seemed too cozy. Something felt off.


    g?lnσν???s﹒??o?? is where stories live


    “Nina…” Steven considered the name. Nina’s obsession with William was no secret. But could she have warped him? He didn’t have the time to untangle every thread.


    “Put Nina aside for the moment. Help me find out what happened to him while he was gone. We need to know what broke him.”


    Luca, curious and loyal to his boss, nodded without hesitation. If William’s best friend was worried, then Luca would follow. Moreover, Luca was genuinely curious about where William had been.


    After that small alliance was formed, Steven finally felt less alone.


    He left the Briggs Group with a n taking shape.


    Inside William’s office, silence settled again. The outburst had passed, but the chill in his eyes only deepened.


    He walked to the window, standing with his back to the room as if the city outside could answer what haunted him.


    Images kept colliding in his mind: Ste in white, smiling as she walked toward Marc; Arlo’s voice weaving betrayal into his memories; false scenes pressed into him like poison. Each loop fed the anger, pushing him to the edge.


    He let the words crawl out of him, low and t. “Ste, you want to marry Marc? Dream on. The pain and betrayal you handed me, I will return a thousandfold.”


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