Everything was a deal until divorce novel Chapter 273

Chapter 273 No More Excuses

“Get the makeup artist here now. You’re coming over to explain everything to Arden and Celine.”

“Got it, boss. I’m on my way.”

Finished

Since it involved Arden and Celine, Colton didn’t dare slack off. He immediately called for the makeup

artist.

Celine looked thrilled. “So, you didn’t have a baby?”

“No.”

“Then why did you lie to Arden and stage that whole act?”

Dorian glanced at Arden, her wide eyes locked on him. He pressed his lips together. “I’ll explain when Colton gets here.”

Half an hour later, Colton arrived at Silverbay Villa.

He looked exactly like the pregnant woman they’d seen in the café.

Celine walked a circle around him, then poked his belly. “I knew it. My brother would never go for someone that beefy. Colton, it was you?”

“Yeah, that was me. I swear–there hasn’t been a single woman around him. Not even close.”

Colton pulled a pillow from under his shirt. “This bump? Just stuffing. Heh.”

Arden stared, intrigued. It really was the same person from that day–same posture, same walk. She looked at the pillow in his hand and the now–flat stomach, unsure what to say.

Once it was confirmed the pregnant woman was Colton in disguise, Dorian asked him and Celine to leave the room.

Now it was just him and Arden.

‘I’m sorry, Arden,” Dorian said quietly.

Even after telling her the truth, she stayed distant. The girl who used to light up when she saw him–she

was gone.

‘You didn’t do anything to me.”

Arden thought back on the past four years and found it absurd. She had once loved him so completely, so sincerely. And he had crushed that feeling, piece by piece.

To force her into divorce, to make her stay away, to kill off any love she had left for him–he’d used every

method he could think of.

Vivienne. Mira. Lacey. And finally, Colton dressed up like a pregnant woman to push her over the edge.

10:20 pm P & DD.

Chapter 273 No More Excuses

What was she to him, exactly? So unbearable he couldn’t wait to get away?

Even if he had his reasons, what gave him the right to assume she couldn’t endure it with him?

Finished

“Mr. Vale,” she said, voice cold, “you really went all in just to make me divorce you and stop loving you.”

She laughed suddenly, and it was beautiful–her dimple flashing faintly.

But the chill in her eyes only deepened.

She stepped toward him, until she was right in front of him. “So, Mr. Vale, what exactly did you want to tell

me?”

Dorian looked at her–composed, guarded. It unsettled him. “I never touched another woman. No one’s pregnant.”

“And?”

“I had Colton fake the pregnancy to mislead the people watching us. Someone’s been tracking you from the shadows. I had to act like I hated you, like I couldn’t stand you, to shift their focus away. It was the only way to keep you safe.”

Arden didn’t understand the nature of his missions. And Dorian couldn’t tell her everything–not if he wanted to keep her out of it.

“So I’m in danger… because of you?”

“Yes.”

“And if I stay away from you, that danger disappears?”

Dorian didn’t want to admit it. But he wasn’t going to lie. “Yes.”

“I get it now,” Arden said, her tone calm but steady. “We’re already divorced. As long as I keep my distance, as long as we don’t get tangled up again, I’ll be safe. And to be honest… while you were away overseas, after the divorce, I’ve been doing great. My life’s been light, full, peaceful.

“We’re over. You telling me all this now–don’t you think it’s ridiculous? You never told me what was going on. You let me misunderstand everything. Do you even know how that felt?

“Mr. Vale, I hope we can walk away clean. No more drama. Let’s let each other go.”

Why did he get to control the beginning and the end?

He wanted a divorce, so she gave it to him. Now he wanted to explain, so she had to forgive?

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