Betrayed By The Billionaire

144

"I've spent the last two days thinking," Liam Martin said, his voice dropping into a steady, haunting clarity. "I'm done lying to myself, Lana. The person I love is Chloe Bishop."

Lana’s fury peaked instantly, her face turning a ghastly shade of purple. "If you weren't sure of your own heart, why did you promise Snow you’d marry her? Why give her hope just to rip it away? Is this how you 'protect' her?"

Liam’s usually gentle features hardened, a distinct chill settling over his face. "If you had told me about the Bishop family’s situation—if you had told me Chloe went to see Xavier Grayson—none of this would have happened."

He knew now. They all knew she had attended that high-stakes matchmaking gala at the Grayson estate, yet not a single person had uttered a word to him. They had left him in total ignorance while the woman he loved traded her life away.

"So what if I told you?" Lana snapped. "Have you forgotten who caused Snow so much suffering in the first place?"

Liam’s gaze turned razor-sharp. "You definitely knew. Lana, you’re supposed to be the person who knows me best in this world. Why did you stand by and watch me walk into this abyss without a single warning?"

Lana let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Why should I have warned you? Do you really think Chloe would ever forgive you after what happened on your wedding day?"

She leaned in, her words cutting like a serrated blade. "If she could forgive you, she would have called you when her family was falling apart. She wouldn't have married a total stranger instead."

Each word felt like a heavy iron hammer smashing into Liam’s chest, leaving him raw and bleeding. But Lana wasn't finished.

"Liam, you abandoned her at the altar. You drove away without looking back right after her father, Charles Bishop, was crushed in that car accident. She can never forgive you in this lifetime."

"I can see it perfectly," Lana continued, her voice dropping to a haunting whisper. "The moment Chloe was kneeling there, holding her bloodied father, watching your car disappear... the sheer, soul-shredding agony she must have felt."

"I can imagine her sitting outside that operating room, her white wedding dress soaked in her father's blood, shivering and utterly alone. Do you honestly think she still has room in her heart for you?"

The vivid, gruesome images Lana described flashed through Liam’s mind. His handsome face turned a terrifying shade of pale. His heart physically throbbed with a rhythmic, stabbing pain, and his breathing became labored, as if the air in the room had suddenly vanished.

Chloe... my Chloe...

"You're not just telling me this, Lana," he rasped, his voice sounding like broken glass. "You're taking your revenge on me."

Lana didn't flinch, finally tearing off the mask of friendship. "I am. For all those years my sister was imprisoned abroad by Marcus Martin, suffering God knows what, while you were busy falling in love with Chloe Bishop."

"I watched you two stuck together like glue every single day. Do you have any idea how that felt? Liam, look at yourself. What right do you have to question me?"

Liam’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "If you knew I loved her, why did you let her marry Xavier? Look at me now. Even if I marry Snow, do you really think she'll be happy with a man who is a hollow shell?"

As Snow's brother, Lana felt justified. As Liam's lifelong friend, he had been monstrously cruel.

Lana stared at the broken man before her—the bloodshot eyes, the dark circles, the aura of total defeat—but her anger didn't recede an inch.

After a long, suffocating silence, Liam spoke again. "I won't forget what I owe Snow. Whatever she wants, I will give her..."

"But what she wants is to marry you!" Lana shouted, cutting him off. "Snow loves you. She’s loved you since she was a child. Have you forgotten that too?"

Liam’s brow furrowed, his resolve unyielding. "If she stays, I will treat her as my own sister. Nothing more."

"Liam, are you even listening to the garbage coming out of your mouth?" Lana lost control, lunging forward to grab Liam’s collar across the table. Her face was distorted with rage, like a cornered predator. "You will marry Snow. You owe her your life!"

Liam sat motionless, staring into her eyes. "And what about what I owe Chloe? Don't forget, Lana—every step we've taken to get to where we are today was built on the foundation of the Bishop family's support."

"And don't you forget," Lana roared, her eyes burning red, "that Charles Bishop kept Snow locked in a cage for three months!"

The weight of the past has finally fractured the Martin household. Liam is trapped between the immense debt he owes the Bishop family and the blood-debt he owes Snow. With Lana threatening to turn his life into a living hell if he doesn't go through with the wedding, will Liam find the strength to choose Chloe, or will the guilt of Snow's suffering chain him to a marriage he despises?

What do you think is the truth behind Snow's "imprisonment" by Chloe's father?