?Chapter 1692:


    Alisha lifted two movie tickets and waved them lightly. “I came to see you. There’s a ssic film being re-screened at the cinema today, and I thought we could watch it together. If you’re busy right now, we could always goter tonight.” Her smile was innocent and hopeful, as though she saw nothing inappropriate about showing up like this.


    William studied her for a brief moment before letting out a soft, humorlessugh. His tone was steady and controlled, but there was a cool detachment beneath it — an unmistakable boundary. “Alisha, I don’t feel that way about you. Please stoping to me.”


    The expression on Alisha’s face stiffened instantly. She blinked, clearly stunned, as if she hadn’t fully processed what he had just said. “Mr. Briggs, what are you talking about? Did I do something to offend you?”


    William didn’t soften his words. “Ste and I are getting married soon. I don’t want you interfering between us. Do you understand?”


    The color drained from Alisha’s face in one swift moment. She stared at him in disbelief, her body shaking slightly. “But you helped me at the hospital, you invited me to dinner afterward, and you let me take you around the campus. If you truly don’t have feelings for me, then why would you do all that?”


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    A surge of irritation washed over William, and his eyes hardened. “I helped you at the hospital because you were about to pass out, and I didn’t want you copsing onto me.” He went on without softening his tone. “I asked you to dinner to provoke my fiancée. Letting you guide me around campus served the same purpose. I even told you during that tour that she was my fiancée.”


    Each sentence struck like a de, cutting straight into Alisha’s chest. Her eyes flew open, tears welling almost instantly. “So… you were just taking advantage of me from the beginning?”


    She had never imagined that this was the real reason William had drawn close to her. She had assumed things between William and Ste were unstable — never realizing that she herself had simply been a tool caught between them.


    William didn’t bother to deny it. “You knew I was engaged, yet you still came to invite me to a movie. Are you sure I’m the one who was using someone here?”


    The truth was simple: if Alisha hadn’t kept approaching him, he never would have deliberately tried to make Ste jealous. When he thought back on how they had met, every encounter had been initiated by Alisha. He hadn’t pursued her, hadn’t encouraged her. Even the cake she once gave him had ended up thrown away. From start to finish, he had felt absolutely nothing for her.


    Alisha struggled to ept that reality. If he had been using her all along, why stop now? She would have preferred that — being used without ever knowing — rather than having the truthid bare in front of her. She could have ignored everything else, as long as she was allowed to stay near him, even as a disposable piece on the board.


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