?Chapter 1293:


    Luca couldn’t take it anymore. Without a word, he stepped out, pulling the door shut behind him with quiet finality.


    The second he was gone, Ste broke. Her sobs wed free of her throat, raw and messy, echoing off the walls.


    There was no one left to hold it in for. No point pretending anymore.


    Her tears soaked through the cushion beneath her, turning the world outside the window into a smeared watercolor. Everything looked distant and unreal, like a dream she couldn’t wake up from.


    How she wished it was. If it was a dream, let it vanish. Let it take all of this with it.


    She truly couldn’t bear any more.


    She’d thought she’d cried herself dry long ago, but the tears just kepting.


    Useless and cheap. A currency that no longer meant anything. They didn’t bring relief—only more shame.


    The ck dress clung to her body like it didn’t belong to her. Low-cut. Bare-backed. Skintight. Every step in those stiletto heels felt like punishment.


    The guard at the gate barely concealed his reaction. His eyes flicked over her, then away.


    Ste didn’t look at anyone. She kept her head bowed, hair falling like a curtain to shield her face and hide whatever bare skin it could.


    Her body screamed vulnerability—smooth skin against dark fabric, soft and exposed, like something about to break.


    William had ordered her not to wear a coat.


    It was cold outside. Early autumn drizzle clung to her skin the second she stepped out, and she shivered hard.


    Luca frowned, shrugged off his suit jacket, and draped it over her shoulders. “Here,” he said quietly. “Wear it until we get there. He doesn’t have to know.”


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    He couldn’t stand to watch her like this.


    No matter who she was to William now, there’d been a time he’d cared for her. A time he’d protected her.


    And if William went too far… if he crossed a line that couldn’t be undone—then thatst fragile thread between them would snap for good.


    Ste stared at the jacket for a beat. Then, wordlessly, she pulled it on.


    She wasn’t stupid. Luca worked for William, sure, but kindness was kindness.


    Turning it down would only make things worse.


    She had no power to change what was happening. But if there was even a scrap of warmth she could hold onto—she would.


    Luca opened the car door. She stepped inside. The silence in the backseat felt like a tomb.


    Ste curled her fingers into fists, nails digging deep enough to draw blood.


    A distraction. Something sharp to focus on, anything to keep her from drowning in the shame crawling under her skin.


    The jacket smelled faintly of cologne. Clean. Masculine. Not unpleasant, but temporary. Because the moment they arrived, she knew she’d have to give it up.


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