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Chapter 612
Chapter 612:
“Why?” The word tore from his throat, ragged and raw. He took a step toward her, then stopped, as if some invisible barrier prevented closer approach. “I’ve done everything you asked. I’ve cleared out the garbage. I’ve cut them off. I’ve begged. I’ve crawled. Why won’t you even look at me p>
“Alycia,” he pressed on, his voice cracking. “She’s gone. I paid her ten million to disappear — her whole family. They’ll never set foot in New York again. I bought them a penthouse in Dubai. They’re on a plane tonight. It’s finished. We’re clean. We can p>
June laughed.
It was a short, sharp sound, utterly devoid of humor. It stopped Cole’s words mid-sentence.
“You think,” she said slowly, “that removing a piece of trash gives you the right to speak to me? You think you’ve earned something p>
She pushed off the desk and walked toward him, each step deliberate, her heels clicking against the floor like a countdown. She stopped three feet away — close enough to smell the stale whiskey on his breath, the desperation sweating through his pores.
Ad𝘥𝗶𝘤𝗍іv𝗲 n𝘰𝘷𝗲𝗅ѕ о𝗻
“You want to know why, Cole?” She held his gaze. “You want the truth p>
He nodded, his eyes wet, his hands reaching for her.
She stepped back. Just out of reach.
“I never loved you p>
The words fell like stones into still water.
Cole went rigid. His face went blank, as if the muscles had simply stopped working.
“No.” The whisper barely carried. “That’s not — three years. You cared for me. You stayed. You p>
“I cared for a ghost.” June’s voice was clear and precise, each syllable carved from ice. “I loved a man who pulled me out of a snowbank in Switzerland. Who held my hand while I detoxed from medications that were killing me. Who told me I was worth saving, even when I believed I deserved to die p>
She took a step closer, looking directly into his eyes, searching for something she already knew she would not find.
“That man was Caleb. Your brother. Your twin p>
Cole’s mouth opened. No sound emerged.
“I married you because I thought you were him. I stayed because I told myself you were simply damaged, simply lost — that the man I loved was still in there somewhere, buried under the cruelty and the control.” She tilted her head, studying him with clinical detachment. “Every time you touched me, I saw his face. Every time you spoke, I heard his voice. I built a marriage on a mistake, Cole. On a case of mistaken identity that cost me everything p>
She reached out and touched his cheek with one finger — a gesture so light it might have been affectionate, if her eyes had held anything but absolute emptiness.
“You are not him. You never were. You are a thief who stole his face and used it to destroy the woman who loved him.” She dropped her hand. “So no, Cole. I don’t hate you. I don’t resent you. You are simply irrelevant. A stranger who happens to share my last name. Nothing more p>
Cole’s knees buckled.