"What good is love?" Denis scoffed with cynicism. "Can it bring your father back to consciousness? Can it pay his medical bills? Love doesn't exist, Anne. It's all just a transaction—give and take. You do something for me, and I return the favor. That's how the world works."
He took a step closer, his gaze dark and insistent. "Where is love in any of that? Come back to me. Be mine like before, and I'll give you everything you want. Money, power—name it, and it's yours. That's the only thing that really matters."
Anne sneered to herself. A storm of emotions raged inside her—anger, regret, and an overwhelming sense of betrayal. She had wasted ten years loving a man who saw emotions as nothing more than leverage, a game to manipulate. Every word he uttered only fueled the disgust curling in her chest.
She despised herself for being so blind, for not recognizing his true nature sooner. She wanted to know how he was planning to live with two women in his life.
