Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

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.

pulled me

events of that

into Wayne's villa. The danger seemed aimed at me, but somehow, Hayden and the rest ended

me at all-I was just bait in a trap for Hayden. That's why, during the kidnapping, I'd been

that. But since you and Jace were done, he had no reason to stop Wayne. The easiest way to keep you apart was to make Wayne look. like

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

"So you thought 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,"

to read his expression, but his face stayed calm as ever. Out of

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nurses handle that," I teased, gesturing to his bandages." Pretty

didn't want any woman but you seeing

1 froze, blinking.

rizzed

arm lightly. "Be

"Everything he did

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

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,