?Chapter 1567:


    To get their hands on Ste, the mercenaries had to deal with Marc first. To them, he was nothing more than a minor obstacle — one that would be cleared soon enough.


    When she saw the man moving to strike Marc again, Ste felt her heart drop. She ran toward him, her body reacting before her mind could catch up. The years she had spent with Marc had not fadedpletely. Even knowing he had lied to her, she could not stand by and watch him be beaten.


    Nina saw Ste rush forward and barked an order at once. “Take her.”


    Another mercenary moved in fast, reaching out to grab her arm.


    Marc shook his head, forcing strength from somewhere deep inside, and suddenlytched onto the mercenary’s calf, sinking his teeth in and refusing to let go. The man hissed in pain, impatience shing across his face as he lifted his leg to drive his heel into Marc’s skull.


    That blow could have killed him — or left him permanently damaged.


    Ste’s pupils shrank. Without thinking, she threw herself forward, using her slight frame to shield him. The mercenary could not stop his kick in time. His foot mmed into her abdomen.


    A dull impact echoed as her body flew backward like a broken doll and crashed onto the ground. Her head struck the trunk of a tree, and her vision spun wildly as darkness edged her sight.


    “Stel!” Marc’s scream of anguish tore through the air.


    Agony ripped through her body, leaving her sprawled on the ground, unable to move.


    And then — images she had never remembered flooded her mind.


    Scenes filled almost entirely with her and William. Memories sealed away for so long burst open like a shattered dam and rushed into her consciousness all at once. In mere minutes, what surged back surpassed everything she had recovered since waking in the hospital more than a month ago.


    Her memories with William came crashing back, beginning the day they met and ending with the promise they had once made to spend their lives together. She saw them on the base rooftop, standing shoulder to shoulder as they shared a telescope and watched the vast universe unfold above them. That night, he spoke quietly about his dreams, and it became the first time their hearts had truly opened to each other.


    Later, back in their homnd, working side by side only deepened what they felt. He dropped to one knee, lifted a red velvet ring box, and revealed the same brilliant diamond ring she had seen so often in her dreams.


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    On what should have been their perfect wedding day, she had stood in her gown, ready to vow her life to him — only for Nina to drag her away to the cave. Thest memory followed with cruel rity: Nina pressing a needle into her skin, icy liquid flooding her veins, and Marc’s blurred silhouette appearing just before everything went dark.


    “Ah!”


    Ste grabbed her head as a sharp scream tore from her throat. The pain of every buried memory returning at once drove her hands into the ground, her cry echoing across thepound.


    She remembered. Every single detail.


    William was the man she loved with her entire heart. She had never betrayed him.


    Marc, on the other hand, had taken up with Haley after their marriage — betraying her, abandoning her without mercy. Every apology he had ever given had served only himself. There had been other women too. It had never been the pure love he imed.


    The image of William’s cold and using gaze burned behind her eyes, sending a sharp ache through her chest. She had forgotten their past and chosen Marc again. How was that anything but a betrayal? Regret and pain surged through her as she lowered her head, her fingers pressing deep into the dirt.


    Then she snapped her head up.


    The fear and confusion were gone. In their ce was a chilling calm. Her gaze swept across Nina’s stunned face and settled on Marc — bloodied, sprawled on the ground, unable to crawl closer.


    He looked back at her and rasped, “Stel, do not be afraid. I will take you away.”


    She looked at him, her voice quiet and cutting. “Marc, after lying to me and betraying me — what right do you have to say that? Is this situation not entirely of your own making?”


    Each word struck his ears with merciless rity. She stared at him without concern, without affection, without confusion — as though she were looking at something utterly repulsive.


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