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

villa. The danger seemed aimed at me, but somehow,

The setup wasn't about me at all-I was just bait in a trap for Hayden.

liked you. Jace knew that. But since you and Jace were done, he had no reason

he loved you, risking his life and all that. And two, to clear suspicion. Who'd suspect someone fighting

mess with me? That's why you

ever. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the doctors finish wrapping his

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+25 BONUS

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

didn't want any woman but you

1 froze, blinking.

rizzed me out of

"Be serious.

softened. "Everything he did was for

just about me. It was about control, ambition, and power. I was just the excuse they used to

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 dangled in danger, still

it, Hayden? How could you love me and still act so indifferent, like