“She’s defending another man right in front of me? And that man is nothing but a maniptive schemer,” Zac thought, his anger spiking.


    “Liz, can’t you see he’s faking it?” he snapped.


    “What’s he faking?” she shot back, impatience in her eyes. “All I saw was you hitting him for no reason and injuring him.”


    “If he hadn’t said those things, would I have hit him?”


    “You already did it,” she said with a frown. “Whyin about how he reacted?”


    “I’m not going to waste my time arguing with you. Apologize now.


    Her voice was cold, her expression distant, as if she wanted nothing more to do with him. It pushed Zac’s temper past the breaking point.


    “Me? Apologize to him? Keep dreaming.”


    “Fine. If you won’t, then I’ll call the police. But just so you know, under state assaultws, hitting someone without cause cannd you with a fine or even a few days in jail.”


    Zac hadn’t expected Liz to go this far for another man. His gaze turned icy, his voice low and dangerous.


    “Are you really willing to drag this to the police over someone who doesn’t even matter?”


    Her fingers curled slightly, but she lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Zac Lincoln, William is my friend. The one who doesn’t matter to me is you.‘


    Her tone was calm and steady, but her words hit him like a drop from a cliff, shattering something deep inside. He had never imagined she would say something like that to him with suchposure, and that it would hurt this much.


    The pain twisted into something darker, an almost destructive impulse. His hand clenched at his side, <b>his </b>face hardening


    Just then, William spoke quietly. “Liz, there’s no need to involve the police and make this bigger than it has to be. Mr. <b>Lincoln </b>has a reputation. If he’s willing to apologize, I’m willing to let it go.”


    Before Liz could respond, Zac cut in coldly. “I’m not apologizing to you.”


    From the start, this man had been provoking him. the apologized now, it would be like admitting defeat. No matter what, his pride wouldn’t allow it.


    “If he won’t apologize, then we’ll call the police,” said, pulling out her phone without another nce at Zac.


    It wasn’t long before the police arrived the same wo officers who had dealt with Zac’s drunken scene outside her apartment before. They exchange a look when they saw the two of them again and came forward.


    After hearing what happened, they tried to mediate, advising Zac to apologize.


    His face stayed cold as he called hiswyer. But when thewyer arrived, his advice was the same: apologize.


    “It’s just words,” thewyer reasoned. “And you did hit him.”


    Zac’s voice was sharp enough to cut ss. “I pay you this much every year, and this is your grand advice? Tell me to apologize?”


    If he were going to apologize, he wouldn’t need awyer in the first ce. What a waste of money.


    Thewyer sighed. “Mr. Lincoln, if the other party were open to a financial settlement, you could avoid apologizing. But clearly, they aren’t. Between apologizing and spending a few days in jail, apologizing is the smarter choice.”


    Zac’s jaw tightened. William had clearly taken that punch on purpose, just to make him look bad, and now they wanted him to apologize?


    It was like choking something down that made him sick.


    “There’s really no other way?”


    Thewyer shook his head. “No, there isn’t.”