Divorced CEO's Forgotten Wife Strikes Back (Riley and Bryce) novel Chapter 360

hapter 360 That Black Leather Cuff

Riley paused, confused by Sebastian’s tone. “Is there something else?”

“You are not going to ask where I intend to take you?” Sebastian asked. “You are not afraid I might do something improper? Or is it that, for Samuel’s sake, you would sacrifice yourself without hesitation?”

She met his eyes. His voice was cold, yet beneath the surface, she sensed something sorrowful.

“If you wanted my body, you would say so directly. You would not resort to this kind of roundabout game,” she replied. “I know you are not that kind of man.”

“Not that kind of man?” He let out a short laugh. “How much

do

you think you know about me? What sort of man do you believe I am?”

“Then tell me. Were you truly planning something improper?”

she countered.

He felt his confidence fracture. Under those clear eyes, he suddenly felt exposed.

You

really believe I would continue loving a woman who 15:46

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<Chapter 360 That Black Leather Cuff

the sofa.

“Sit. There are some desserts. Eat before you leave.”

Riley looked at the coffee table. A delicate plate of pastries. rested beside a cup of hot chocolate.

“Felix delivered the wrong tray. I never eat these things,” Sebastian said quietly, already walking back to his desk.

Was it truly delivered by mistake? Riley doubted it, but she did not confront him. She sat and ate quietly, then stood, and left the office.

Only after the door clicked shut did Sebastian pick up the phone.

Felix entered moments later. “Mr. Torres, what do you need?”

“Samuel has a woman in Russia who once saved his life. She

has leukemia and is receiving treatment. Check whether Cynthia is a legitimate stem cell match and whether there are any other possible donors,” Sebastian instructed.

“Yes, sir.”

When Felix left, Sebastian lowered his gaze and looked at his left wrist.

The black leather cuff still encircled it, fastened in the same

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He had told himself long ago that he needed to let her go, that he needed to pull back whatever remained of that love. Otherwise, both of them would only spiral deeper into something destructive.

Yet he could not make himself remove it.

The moment he took it off, the last fragile thread between them would vanish. They would become nothing.

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“Riley,” he murmured, “you are willing to forgive Cynthia for Samuel’s sake. Why can’t you forgive me? Can you truly never trust me again?”

One mistake, and he would pay for it with the rest of his life.

But he could not force her.

He refused to repeat the pattern of his father, who had tried to control his mother until their marriage became a cage. He refused to turn Riley into a trapped bird who would look at him with resentment instead of love.

He would rather lose her. He would rather suffer alone.

*****

When Riley stepped out of Torres Group, she saw Vince

approaching.

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“Lara said you came to see Sebastian, so I came to pick you up. Did he give you a hard time?” Vince asked, unable to hide his

concern.

Lara had already told him why Riley came here today.

“No,” she answered.

“Then did he agree?”

“More or less,” Riley admitted.

“What does that mean, more or less?”

“He wants me to accompany him somewhere tomorrow. That is his condition,” she explained.

“What place?” Vince pressed.

“I do not know. He did not tell me.”

“You are agreeing to go without even knowing where? Riley,

that is not safe.”

“I have to go,” she said firmly. “This concerns Samuel’s lifesaver. If I do nothing and Lina dies because Cynthia refuses to donate, I will carry that guilt for the rest of my life.”

“Then I will go with you,” Vince said. 4/6

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will happen.”

“You trust him that much? Even after everything? He did not even tell you where he is taking you.”

Vince’s unease, however, did not come from Sebastian. It came from the simple fact that he understood better than anyone. Whatever Riley felt for him had never been love.

She exhaled slowly. “If he wanted to hurt me, he would not need to use pretense. And I know he will not.”

She thought back over everything between them. Aside from what he kept from her about Samuel, Sebastian had never hurt her.

Vince looked toward Torres Group, his expression dimming.

Their breakup had happened because their trust had fractured. Yet even now, she believed in Sebastian in ways she did not seem to realize.

If she ever became aware of that trust, truly aware of it, then the two of them might…

The possibility stabbed him with a sharp ache. He bit down on the inside of his cheek.

How am I supposed to accept that? 5/6

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