?Chapter 1597:


    Ste studied him carefully, recognizing in him a willingness to surrender before even attempting to fight. Rather than anger, profoundpassion flooded through her. The William sitting before her bore no resemnce to the radiant, confident man she had fallen in love with. Arlo had reduced him to this broken shadow, and she would never forgive Arlo for it — nor anyone else who had participated in destroying the man William had been.


    She locked eyes with him again, her voice steady despite the tears. “So what are you saying? Are you nning to release me and never see me again?”


    Before her memories returned, he had called her his prisoner repeatedly. Now he was instructing her to abandon naive hope. Did he actually intend to let her walk away?


    William wrenched his gaze from hers and redirected it toward theputer screen. “So you said all of this because you want permission to leave?” He’d suspected from the beginning that she wasn’t genuinelymitted to staying — just manufacturing an excuse to escape.


    Recognizing another misunderstanding taking root, Ste rushed to correct it. “No! As long as you don’t explicitly order me to leave, I won’t go. Actually — even if you try to chase me away, I won’t leave!”


    Before, she had been the one desperate to escape. Now wild horses couldn’t drag her away.


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    Her fierce determination made him pause briefly. Then awareness struck — she’d manipted his emotions again — and his expression immediately darkened. “Get out. I don’t want to look at you anymore.”


    He turned back to his work, refusing to grant her even a parting nce.


    Ste epted the dismissal without argument and retreated from the study. But once the door closed behind her, tears spilled freely down her cheeks. Nina and Arlo had transformed her William into this damaged stranger, and recovery — if it even remained possible — would require monumental effort. All of it traced back to her. Self-reproach threatened to drown herpletely.


    After several long moments standing outside the study door, she wiped her tears away. Fierce resolve reced the sorrow burning behind her eyes. He could reject her as many times as he needed to — she wouldn’t surrender. Difficulty meant nothing in the face of what she was fighting for.


    In the days that followed, Ste avoided deliberately cornering William for heavy conversations. Instead, she simply existed naturally in his orbit, allowing each encounter to appear organic and unforced.


    One morning, she descended the stairs thirty minutes earlier than usual and settled quietly at the dining table, waiting for William’s appearance. He came down dressed impably in a suit and paused fractionally upon finding her sitting there — but continued his approach anyway. The moment he settled into his chair, she slid a cup of coffee toward him.


    “I brewed this myself — it’s the blend you prefer. You drank it constantly at the research institute. Remember?”


    Of course he remembered. His memory remained perfectly intact. Yet he refused to touch the coffee, consuming only a few hurried bites of food before departing. Ste didn’t allow disappointment to show. Before he reached the door, she rose and called softly after him, “Have a good day. I’ll be here when you get home.”


    William offered no response, though his hand hesitated fractionally as he pulled the door closed.


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