?Chapter 1719:


    “I need you to analyze the drink Hurst gave me at the party — check for any foreign substances. And investigate the nature of his rtionship with Alisha.”


    Luca’s expression darkened immediately. “You suspect Alisha and Hurst coborated to set you up?”


    William ignored the question entirely. “What about the other matter I assigned you? Any results?”


    Luca’s tone turned serious. “I dispatched a team to the second-floor room you upiedst night. Fortunately, housekeeping had changed the sheets but hadn’tundered them yet. We’ve submitted the bloodstains forboratory analysis — results should arrive soon.”


    William nodded curtly. “Make sure Ste remainspletely unaware until we receive confirmed results.”


    Luca grasped the instruction at once, offered his acknowledgment, and departed.


    That afternoon, when William returned to the vi, he found it exactly as he had left it — empty, devoid of any trace of Ste’s presence.


    She still hadn’t returned.


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    Had she genuinely never intended toe back at all?


    Only in her absence did he recognize how profoundly she mattered to him. Yet the longer he dwelled on that realization, the more viciously the pain hammered behind his temples, unleashing a destructive urge to obliterate everything within reach.


    Perhaps her absence was a blessing in disguise. At least distance guaranteed he couldn’t hurt her again.


    Elsewhere in the city, Sharon and Josie were apanying Ste on a shopping expedition when Sharon’s gaze unexpectedly caught William seated inside a café — with another woman sitting across from him.


    Sharon had learned long ago to trust her instincts, and every rm in her system immediately began screaming that something was wrong.


    They were on a second-floor terrace directly across the street. Sharon had nced down casually when William’s profile registered through the café windows below. Her steps stuttered to a halt.


    At first nce, she had nearly mistaken the woman for Ste. If Ste weren’t standing directly beside her in that very moment, she would have convinced herself her eyes were ying tricks. But closer scrutiny revealed crucial differences — the woman appeared younger, her features simr but distinctly not Ste’s.


    Sharon felt near-certain it was Alisha, the one Ste had mentioned before. Her heart plummeted.


    She seized Josie’s arm urgently — Josie had been ordering drinks at a nearby counter — and gestured sharply toward the café below. “Look! Isn’t that him down there?”


    Josie startled, looked, and agreed it was probably him.


    The distance prevented them from hearing a word of the conversation, but bodynguage spoke volumes. The woman was unmistakably crying, her distressid bare before a man who remained visibly unmoved. Only a limited number of scenarios exined that particr dynamic.


    Sharon and Josie maintained their surveince. Within minutes, William rose abruptly and left without sparing the woman a single backward nce.


    Sharon pivoted, bracing herself against the terrace railing, and spotted Ste approaching from down the corridor. Thank God Ste had excused herself to the restroom earlier — witnessing William’s private meeting with that woman would have devastated her.


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