Betrayed by Blood: My Second Life as a Queen novel Chapter 162

Her indifferent tone infuriated him, and his gaze turned somber. "Is that how you speak to me? You have the nerve to blame me for favoring Tessa, but just look at yourself! You can't even compare to her!"

It was the same familiar emotional manipulation. In her past life, those words would have broken her, sending her into a spiral of self-doubt. But not anymore.

Someone who didn't love her would never love her, no matter what she did.

But to someone who truly cared, simply existing was enough to be cherished.

"You're right, I don't compare to her, and I don't care to," Willow replied flatly. "Save the emotional blackmail, Xavier. Cut to the chase. You went through all this trouble to drag me here—so what exactly do you need me to do for Tessa?"

She spoke quietly, without a hint of emotion, yet her words pierced through his defenses like perfectly aimed daggers, leaving a lingering, suffocating tension in their wake.

The sting wasn't overtly violent, yet it was so relentless it made it hard for him to breathe.

Anger surged within Xavier, accompanied by a disturbing realization that he was losing his grip on her.

The feeling was glaringly obvious, filling him with an inexplicable, bitter frustration.

Taking a deep breath, his expression hardened. "Willow. I'm giving you one last chance. Go online and clear the air right now. Say the rumors about the Jagger family were just your own jealous lies. Take all the blame. I don't care how you do it, but you are going to clear Tessa's name completely!"

He paused, his tone growing even colder. "Also, you're close with Vivienne Vance, aren't you? Convince her to take Tessa on as a student. Fix this mess, and I'll forgive you. I'll even let you come back to the Shaw family, and you can go back to being the privileged heiress everyone envies. How about that?"

He said it with absolute certainty, convinced she would leap at the offer.

After all, he had just heard her tell the kidnappers that she was still a member of the Shaw family.

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