?Chapter 1357:


    He watched her carefully, studying every breath and twitch like a man bracing for an answer he already hated.


    He needed to know whether Marc had ever been intimate with her.


    Her breath caught. Color rose in her cheeks, part humiliation, part anger. “What kind of question is that,” she snapped softly. “And why would I ever share something like that with you?”


    To her, the topic was private, not something he needed to know about.


    But her refusal only made William’s thoughts spiral. Her evasiveness, her hesitation—he took it all as proof that she and Marc had been intimate.


    His grip tightened until pain shot through her shoulder and she yelped.


    “Say it,” he demanded, his voice t and dangerous. “Did he ever take you to bed?”


    The pain shot all the way through her arm. Ste felt like her shoulder was being wrenched apart, and the words tore out of her before she could think. “No… please, no. Marc never touched me.”


    The grip eased, though the suspicion in his eyes barely shifted. He watched her like he was waiting for her to slip, to contradict herself.


    Ste squeezed her eyes shut, trying to steady her breathing. “I’m telling the truth. I told him I wanted to wait until we were married. So nothing ever happened between us.”


    A faint memory flickered—Marc’s frustration back in college when she insisted on waiting, followedter by his reluctant eptance.


    William didn’t let go until he’d wrung everyst answer out of her. Even then, his tone stayed icy as he issued his final warning. “Sleep. If you move again, you already know what will happen.”


    She didn’t dare test him. Shey perfectly still, her body tense beneath the covers.


    Your escape begins with g?lnσν???s?????m


    The lights clicked off, plunging the room into darkness. Only William’s quiet, even breathing filled the silence beside her.


    Ste had taken a nap that afternoon, so of course she wasn’t the least bit tired now. But she didn’t dare get out of bed either. She justy there next to William, stiff as a board, eyes locked on the ceiling, silently counting sheep like some old-school sleep trick.


    Honestly? She regretted listening to the private physician who told her to nap earlier.


    If she hadn’t, maybe she wouldn’t be wide awake now, stuck in this awkward, tense silence.


    Time slowly ticked by. She had no idea how long she’d been at it—maybe the counting helped, maybe it was just exhaustion finally catching up.


    Either way, her eyes started to droop, heavier by the minute, and eventually, sleep took her.


    As her breathing slowed into an even rhythm, William, who had been lying beside her as if asleep, opened his eyes.


    He hadn’t been sleeping at all. He’d closed his eyes, sure, but he’d been fully alert—listening, tracking her every move.


    Now, watching her finally drift off, something twisted quietly inside him. He wasn’t sure what it was.


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