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Chapter 132

Author: C.ELLICA
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

“Can you say no?” Lea’s best friend, Iris, said on the phone later that evening. “I'm not sure if you can say no. What I’m sure of is that you’ll get your heartbroken for sure.”

“Of course not.”

"Yes, I am one million percent sure; the man is rich, handsome, and hot. Girls like us? Fall for that every time. And he will break your heart a fucking million times, Lea.”

“But it will break my heart to see Brathellae sold,” Lea said. “This is the first real home I’ve ever had. I’ve spent the last fourteen years here—it’s made me who I am today. I can’t bear the thought of it going out of the Borthman family. It belongs to Dave and Mary now. It was wrong of the old man to make his will in such a way.”

“Do you know why he did it that way?”

Lea sighed so heavily that her shoulders slumped. “Dave has made it pretty clear over the years that he has no intention of settling down again. Losing his ex was such a terrible shock to him—as it would be to anyone. I’ve overheard a few conversations wher
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    Later that evening, Lea fed Flossie and let her out for a comfort walk. When she got back, the old dog began to snore almost as soon as she settled back in her wicker basket in front of the fire in the old Borthman’s study, a few doors away from the kitchen. There was a pet door in one of the back doors off the kitchen, but Flossie was too arthritic these days to get through it.It was sad to see the old girl’s decline. Lea had only been at Brathellae a couple of weeks when Angus McLaughlin brought Flossie home as a playful and needle-toothed puppy. She had often wondered if he had bought the dog to help her settle in. She had asked him once, but he’d dismissed the suggestion in a gruff and off-hand way.Lea had spent many a happy time playing with Flossie, brushing her silky coat, and taking her on walks about the estate, which had seemed so huge and terrifying when she had first arrived. But with the company of the ebullient puppy, it had suddenly become a home. A home she could not

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    “And so I’ve been waiting for you to remember. Every place I’ve taken you, every memory I’ve hoped to reignite, was so you could tell me why.” Suddenly, she understood everything. “Not just that,” she whispered. “You wanted to punish me. It’s what you’ve wanted since the day you found me in London. You wanted revenge—” “Justice,” he corrected coldly. “But when you found out I was pregnant, that changed everything, didn’t it?” She gave a choked laugh, then covered her mouth with an intake of breath. “You felt you had to marry me because I was pregnant with your baby. You never loved me. All you wanted was to hurt me.” “I spent months trying to find you before you resurfaced at your father’s funeral. You’re a wealthy woman, Leah, so you couldn’t have betrayed me for money. So you must have done it out of love. You’re in love with Jake Skinner. It’s the only explanation.” She thought of the playboy with his bleached-white smile and shook her head. “I could never love him.” “Then wh

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