Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter

723

"You said you'd been suspicious of Wayne for a while. What about Jace? You were working with him, but when he was surrounded by crocodiles, you just... stood there. Why?" I finally asked, a question that had haunted me for ages. Even though Jace and I had ended things, that moment stuck in my head, like a bad movie scene I couldn't skip. I'd even dreamt about it.

I'd asked Jace once, but his answer didn't feel real. Hayden's answer? That's the one I needed.

"Testing him," Hayden said, cool and straight to the point.

"Testing him? He's Wayne's brother."

"He is," Hayden said, not budging. "But not entirely. There were... other reasons.

"Like what?" I pressed, trying to stay patient.

I was sitting sideways, avoiding his bandaged arm. His face was out of view, but his voice stayed steady.

"Because everything pointed too perfectly at Wayne, like it was staged," he explained.

His words pulled me back to

events of that

soon as I moved into Wayne's villa. The danger seemed aimed at me, but somehow, Hayden and the rest ended up in

trap for Hayden. That's why, during the kidnapping, I'd been

done, he had no reason

the crocodile pit served two purposes for Jace: one, to 'prove' how much he loved you, risking his life and all that. And two,

Jace was faking it? Playing the victim to mess with me? That's why you didn't help him-you wanted to see how far he'd go?" "There was some of that,"

as ever. Out of the corner of

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pretty nurses handle that," I teased, gesturing to his bandages." Pretty sure they'd do a

on mine, unflinching. "I didn't want any woman

1 froze, blinking.

just rizzed me

his arm lightly. "Be serious. What

softened. "Everything he

wasn't just about me. It was about control, ambition, and power. I was just the excuse

that go, I focused on what mattered-the guy sitting right in front of me. But the memory of that moment, when Hayden had stood there, cold and unbothered as I

could you love me and still act so