?Chapter 513:


    “Mom, did you hear me?” Javier prompted.


    “Oh… yes, I understand.” Samira nodded, reflecting on her own frustrations from Elyse’s maniptions.


    Javier returned to his room, but minutester came a knock. He opened the door to find Elyse standing there.


    “Is there something you need?” he asked coldly.


    Elyse’s face was pale as she said cautiously, “Javier, I’m injured. Do you have any medicine?”


    Javier frowned slightly, suspecting another calcted ploy. Whenever her misdeeds were exposed, she would pretend to be vulnerable and y the sympathy card. His expression hardened. “If you’re injured, you should go to the hospital.”


    “It’s true!” Elyse rolled up her sleeve with dramatic ir, revealing her palm—angry and raw with scrapes.


    The wound was from yesterday’s confrontation with Karen, now inmed and deepened to a threatening crimson after a night’s neglect. Though medicine sat waiting in her room, she had deliberately left the injury untreated, calcting the perfect moment to approach Javier with her crafted vulnerability.


    Seeing her wound, Javier’s first instinct was cold indifference, yet some stubborn remnant ofpassion preventedplete callousness. He said, “Wait a moment.”


    He refused to invite Elyse into his room, instead moving to a drawer to retrieve the ointment.


    Returning to the doorway, Javier extended it toward her with mechanical courtesy. “Here.”


    Elyse didn’t take it, biting her lip in practiced hesitation before whispering, “Are you angry?”


    Javier’s face remained a stone mask of disapproval. His anger ran deep and true. Fury at Elyse’s selfishness burned within him—at her casual willingness to sow chaos without regard for Bertha’s precarious health. But equally potent was his anger toward himself—for his blind devotion, for championing Elyse while vilifying Elena, for bing not just a witness but an aplice in Elena’s torment.


    The weight of his past foolishness pressed down upon Javier, filling him with a remorse so profound it threatened to consume him.


    Feel inspired by g?lnσν????s???????


    Elyse’s eyes welled with perfectly timed tears before she copsed into theatrical sobs. “I know I did something wrong. You have every right to be angry with me. I’m sorry, I really am. I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.” She continued with practiced desperation, “Javier, I truly regret everything. I want to apologize to Elena. Can you help me meet with her?”


    When his cold indifference persisted, Elyse escted her performance, delivering a sharp p across her own cheek. “It’s all my fault,” she dered, raising her hand for another self-inflicted blow when Javier’s reflexes intervened to stop her.


    A spark of triumph shed in Elyse’s eyes. She was certain that after such a dramatic disy, Javier would inevitably yield to her request!


    Yet, Javier had merely prevented her self-harm. His resolve remained unbroken. “If your remorse is genuine, then approach Elena directly. Don’t use me as your intermediary. I won’t facilitate any meeting between you.”


    Elyse was dumbfounded. How could this be? She had pped herself, and yet Javier didn’t buy any of it.


    Elyse wanted to say more, but Javier had already closed the door.


    She stomped her foot in anger and threw the ointment Javier had given her into the trash. Since he wouldn’t help her, she would find another way. A toxic cocktail of jealousy and rage coursed through Elyse’s veins. The sight of Elena basking in happiness and privilege was utterly unbearable, fueling her determination to systematically dismantle Elena’s perfect world. If happiness eluded her, then Elena had no right to experience it either!


    .


    .


    .