The price of betrayal (Jack and Ashley) novel Chapter 92

"Of course, there is. Everything still matters as long as you still love me," Megan said.

"Nolan, I know I've hurt you deeply, but I had my reasons." Megan's eyes started welling up with tears as if she were extremely aggrieved.

Nolan frowned. "Megan, what are you trying to say?"

Megan smiled bitterly. "Forget it. You wouldn't understand. While you were constantly being watched in prison, I was out here, seemingly free. But in reality, I had no control over my own life.

"You see me now, thinking I'm living the high life as the CEO of some major company and having more money than I could ever spend. But the truth is that I've been walking on a tightrope, constantly on edge.

"You have no idea how many people I've had to appease, and how many times I've had to swallow my pride and beg. You don't know how one wrong step for me could mean falling into an abyss.

"Nolan, it's been so hard. It's been so very hard. Do you even know what it's been like for me?"

Megan painted herself as this pitiful woman who had gone through so much, as if her rise in the corporate world had been a hellish path rather than a smooth ascent.

If Nolan hadn't already known the truth, he might have been swayed by her words. But he knew very well that she was lying.

For many, starting a business might be risky, but that wasn't the case for Megan. She had been protected and supported every step of the way.

How else could she and her family have become so arrogant and condescending? It was precisely because they had lived such easy lives.

The fact that he could still stand before Megan and speak to her civilly was a testament to how deeply he once loved her and the very last measure of his chivalry.

Megan looked down, her voice softening. "I won't deny that I made mistakes, that my family made mistakes. But that doesn't justify you hitting my mother and brother.

"Nolan, I'm not here to argue about who's right or wrong. I just want you to know I'm regretting it. In fact, I started regretting it the moment you signed the divorce papers.

"When I saw you close to Audrey, it felt like a knife in my heart. That's when I realized I still love you. I've never forgotten about you.

"Nolan, I know Audrey is not the reason you've done everything you could to trick me and pretend like you're rich and successful. It was all for me, wasn't it?"