The True Heiress Reborn And Slays (Alicia Delaney) novel Chapter 509

Chapter 509 Moving On

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But he hadn’t. He’d listened and promptly forgotten, never giving it a second thought.

He’d basked in the benefits she brought him, used a fake marriage to keep her bound, let her pour her youth and brilliance into the Ashford Group without cost, while offering her nothing but the barest pretense of care.

Now that he’d finally woken up and wanted to make amends, he realized with crushing despair that she was no longer the Riley who could be satisfied with a scrap of his attention.

She didn’t want what he had.

She didn’t need what he offered.

Lucas’s eyes reddened despite himself. He looked up and asked, “Riley… do you hate me? Really hate me?”

Hate?

Riley gave a faint, dismissive smile.

“When I first found out you’d tricked me into a fake marriage and that you were already married to Sophia with a child,” she said steadily, meeting his gaze without flinching, “yes, I hated you. I wanted to pay back everything you’d done to me tenfold. I wanted to see you fall from grace, ruined.

“But by the time you proposed to Sophia and all the truth came out, I’d already let most of that hatred go.”

That meticulously planned act of revenge had been her final farewell to a past she never wanted to revisit.

“I have my own life to live now, Lucas. And so do you.”

Even with Sebastian’s wedding ring on her finger, even though Lucas had witnessed their public announcement with his own eyes, something inside him still refused to accept defeat.

His throat tightened, and his voice cracked. “So… Sebastian is your choice?”

He couldn’t admit he’d lost so completely. A bitter edge crept into his voice as he pressed, “Are you so sure he won’t turn out like me?”

That line, so devoid of decency, made Riley’s expression cool sharply. Her eyes turned icy.

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14:28 Tue, Jul 21

Chapter 509 Moving On

56

+10 Free Coins

“Lucas, he’s nothing like you,” she said, her tone cutting. “And don’t dress up your lies and betrayal as some universal male flaw just to excuse yourself.”

True love was honesty and devotion, not manipulation and calculation. The security Sebastian gave her was something Lucas would never understand.

Riley had clearly lost patience with this conversation. She glanced at her watch.

Sebastian was waiting in the car outside, and she didn’t want to waste another minute on someone who no longer mattered.

“This is it,” she said, turning back to him. “If you wanted to say a proper goodbye, I was willing to sit here and hear it. But…”

Her voice sharpened, eyes narrowing. “If you’re holding onto any delusions, or planning to team up with anyone against me, let me make myself clear. I don’t mind having one more enemy; even if that enemy is you.”

Lucas’s face went pale.

She was warning him; she already knew about his unfinished schemes with Melissa.

He let his clenched fists fall slack and forced a bitter smile. “Don’t worry… I’ll be staying in Havenbrook from now on. I won’t bother you again.”

Riley nodded without a trace of reluctance and stood. “Good.”

Watching her walk away, Lucas felt a dull ache crush his chest, making it hard to breathe.

It hurt more than he could bear. But he had no choice but to accept the brutal truth.

The Riley of today stood so far above him that a cheap show of concern, the kind that used to work, would never be enough to win her back.

Meanwhile, in Havenbrook, the Ashford family had yet to grasp reality.

News of Riley being the true heiress of Nexopolis’s Harper family had spread quickly.

In a private hospital room in Havenbrook, Caleb propped himself against the bed, clutching a stack of news briefs his assistant had just brought in. His face turned ashen, his breathing growing labored.

What a card they’d once held!

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