Chapter 13
Chapter 13
The headlines painted the Dawsons as the perfect family–devoted husband and wife, accomplished children, a model of success among the elite.
“What a joke… My mother weighed barely ninety pounds when she died, her hands covered in bruised needle marks. She should have lived a long life..
“And the Dawsons? Their business is far from clean. After all the lives they’ve ruined, do they really deserve to be called a model family?”
I pressed a hand over my eyes, forcing back the flood of emotion threatening to break free.
“Liam, I used you. I knew you would never forgive betrayal, so I led her straight into breaking your trust.
“If that hurts you, if you hate me for it, I can live with that. But I need to be the one to drag her to hell myself.”
I pushed everything else down, burying it beneath cold resolve as I met his gaze.
But then Liam reached for my hand, the one I had clenched behind my back.
He lifted it gently to his lips and pressed a kiss against my trembling fingers.
“Chloe, your hands are shaking.”
His voice was quiet, almost soothing.
“Don’t be afraid. If you used me, that only means I still matter to you. And that makes me happy. I told you before that everything in the Hughes family, including me, belongs to you.”
For three days, Linda’s arrest dominated the trending headlines.
Desperate to contain the damage, the Dawsons turned to Liam for help.
Seated behind his desk, he listened patiently as they pleaded their case.
Then, with a slow, amused smile, he said, “That was quite the touching speech. But I’m afraid the final decision isn’t mine to make. You’ll have to ask my fiancée.”
At that, my father turned, his expression stiffening the moment he saw me standing there.
His wealthy socialite wife beside him paled.
I smiled politely.
“I’d start preparing if I were you.”
Because soon enough, both of them would be joining Linda.
Liam held a press conference to clarify his relationship with Linda.
When faced with questions, he responded with a half–smile, his tone casual but sharp.
“Fiancée? I never once acknowledged her as such. The person I spoke about–the one who stayed by my side–was never her.”
A reporter raised a question. “But wasn’t she only taking care of you because Linda paid her to?”
Liam’s smile remained, but his gaze darkened, turning ice–cold.
“I’d advise you to choose your words carefully. There are plenty of wealthy people in this world. So why would she
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Chapter 13
only take money to look after me? Because she loved me.”
Silence fell over the room.
