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Chapter 702:
“June.” His voice was different. Raw. Stripped of the polish, the control, the absolute certainty that had defined him. “I need—I need to talk to you. Five minutes. Please p>
June felt Easton shift beside her. Felt the tension in his body, the readiness to intervene, to protect, to remove this threat from her presence.
She touched his arm. Stopped him.
“Cole,” she said. Her own voice was flat. Clinical. The tone she used for specimens that had failed to thrive, for experiments that had produced no useful data. “There’s nothing to talk about p>
“There is.” He took a step up. Another. Close enough that she could smell him—expensive cologne, whiskey, the particular sourness of someone who hadn’t slept in days. “I know things now. About Alycia. About—” he stopped, swallowed, “—about everything. I was wrong. I was wrong about everything, and I need you to know that I p>
“I don’t care p>
The words landed between them like stones.
Cole flinched. Actually flinched, as if she had struck him, as if her indifference was more violent than any physical blow could have been.
“You don’t—” he started.
“I don’t care what you know.” June stepped forward, down one step, putting herself at eye level with him. Close enough to see the tears gathering, the desperation consuming him. “I don’t care what you’ve discovered, what you’ve realized, what you’ve finally understood. You could know the secrets of the universe, Cole, and it wouldn’t matter. Because you—” she paused, let the silence stretch, let him see the absolute finality in her eyes, “—you are not my concern. You are not my problem. You are not anything to me p>
𝘘𝘶a𝘭𝗶𝘁y 𝘵r𝘢𝗇𝘀𝗅а𝗍i𝘰n𝗌 𝗈𝗇 𝗀𝘢𝗅ո𝗈𝘷е𝘭s.𝗰𝗼𝗺
The cameras were recording. She knew that. Knew that this moment—this public reckoning with a man who had once controlled her life—would be documented, analyzed, preserved forever.
She didn’t care about that either.
“June.” Cole’s voice broke. “Please. I’m begging you. I’ve never—” he reached for her hand, and she stepped back, out of reach, “—I’ve never begged anyone for anything. But I’m begging now. Give me five minutes. Let me explain. Let me p>
“Let you what?” The question came from Easton, quiet, controlled, absolutely deadly. “Let you perform your remorse until she doubts herself p>
“Stay out of this.” Cole’s head snapped toward Easton, and something of the old violence flared in his eyes. “This is between me and my wife p>
“Ex-wife.” Easton’s voice didn’t rise, but it cut through Cole’s fury like a blade. “Your ex-wife. Who has made it abundantly clear that she wants nothing to do with you p>
“She doesn’t know what she wants!” Cole’s control shattered. “She’s confused, she’s been manipulated, she’s p>
“She’s standing right here.” June’s voice was soft. Dangerous. “And she’s perfectly capable of speaking for herself p>
The silence that followed was absolute.
Cole turned back to her. His face was wet now—rain, tears, the particular undoing of a man who had finally, completely lost control.
“June,” he whispered. “Please p>