?Chapter 1334:


    William sat beside her bed. He said nothing, just watched.


    Something unreadable flickered in his eyes as he listened to her mutter and struggle against whatever nightmare held her under.


    Then, suddenly—Ste jolted upright with a sharp gasp, eyes wide, heart pounding.


    White walls. Beeping machines. She wasn’t on the yacht.


    It was just a dream.


    She tried to calm her breath, let her shoulders rx. But the moment her guard dropped, a cold voice broke the silence beside her.


    “What did you dream about?”


    Her whole body stiffened. Slowly, she turned her head—and saw William, sitting right there, legs crossed, calm as ever.


    The nightmare wasn’t over. It had just taken a new shape.


    She shifted subtly away from him, barely whispering, “Nothing.”


    He saw the tension in her shoulders, the way her eyes avoided his. And he smiled. “Did you dream of me?”


    She didn’t answer. Didn’t even look at him. Just clenched the sheets a little tighter and silently prayed he’d get bored and leave.


    But he didn’t.


    William leaned back leisurely in the chair, voice light and cruel. “Come on. What did I do to you in the dream?”


    He was enjoying this. Feeding off her difort. Like her pain somehow gave him power.


    She still said nothing. So he stood and reached for her chin, gripping it and forcing her to look at him.


    Their eyes locked. She saw the amusement in his. He saw the fear in hers.


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    She tried to pull back. He didn’t let go. Until finally, she stopped fighting.


    She looked up at him with a kind of hollow calm. “You must be disappointed,” she said quietly. “That I didn’t die from the wine Nina gave me.”


    She wasn’t being dramatic. She meant it. For a second, she almost wished she hadn’t made it out of surgery at all.


    William stared at her, words catching at the back of his throat. He could’ve told her he didn’t know about the wine. That he hadn’t nned that part. That she was wrong.


    But he said nothing.


    Instead, he dropped her chin, sat back down, and gave a cold shrug. “Yes. Very disappointed,” he said tly. “I even told the doctors not to save you. But you… You’ve got an annoyingly strong will to live.”


    His voice was casual, like he was discussing the weather.


    Thatnded harder than any p. He really was eager to see her dead.


    Ste looked away, her breath shaking. She wiped her eyes quickly before the tears could fall and turned back to him with a bitter smile. “Well,” she said, voice dry, “sorry to disappoint you. Guess you’ll just have to try harder next time.”


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