?Chapter 1594:


    She stepped forward urgently, confusion spilling into her words. “Then why are you still—”


    A soft, mockingugh escaped him before she could finish.


    “Why am I still treating you this way?” Williampleted her sentence for her, his lips twisting into something sardonic and bitter. “Ste, some things don’t simply evaporate because you’ve suddenly gained awareness of them.”


    He closed his eyes briefly. When they reopened, uncontroble irritation red behind them. “Even with your memories restored, do you honestly believe we can pretend everything that transpired between us never urred?”


    When he’d first brought her back here, she had insisted with absolute conviction that she could never love him — that Marc alone upied her heart. Had she conveniently erased all those derations?


    His voice dropped dangerously low, as though he was actively wrestling his true emotions into submission. Veins pulsed visibly at his temples.


    Pain twisted through Ste’s chest, tears flooding her eyes despite her efforts to hold them back. “I’m sorry. I know this is entirely my fault. If not for me, they never would have targeted you, and you wouldn’t have—”


    William cut her off sharply. “What purpose does any of this serve now?”


    Beyond wasting his time, her apologies aplished absolutely nothing. Did she expect him tofort her the way he used to — to resume ying at being a normal couple?


    He forced his breathing back under control, allowing distance to reim his gaze. “Too much damage lies between us now. We can’t go back.”


    Those three words struck Ste’s heart like physical blows.


    Romance and passion on


    No. She refused to let it end like this. She couldn’t ept that their past had been sealed away forever. Her tears fell in endless streams, pooling on the polished surface of the desk.


    He stared at her tear-streaked face, his voice dropping even lower. “Ste, stop wasting your effort. Instead of expending energy on useless tears, focus on figuring out how to appease my anger. As long as I’m not furious with you, perhaps eventually I’ll grant you freedom.”


    He had brought her back here specifically to ensure she atoned, to make her suffer. But now that she imed her memories had returned, holding her captive seemed to have lost its purpose.


    William fully expected Ste to retreat. Instead, she suddenly seized his sleeve. “If we can’t return to what we were, then let’s start over from nothing!”


    She refused to believe his feelings for her had diedpletely. Even with Arlo’s imnted memories corrupting his mind, hadn’t some part of him resisted epting them as truth? And they were actively hunting for the antidote — they would find it eventually. She had to believe that. They simply needed time.


    Ste’s fingers brushed lightly against William’s skin. This time, he didn’t shake her off immediately. Only the muscles along the back of his hand tensed slightly, as though her touch had be something foreign and unfamiliar.


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