Chapter 1373

Pretending to be utterly perplexed, Allan shook his head as if the memory had been erased. “Is that so? I don’t recall any of it. My memory tells me we got along perfectly at that dinner. Didn’t we even reassure my grandpa that marriage was on the horizon and he’d soon have a great-grandchild to spoil?”

Adah was left utterly stunned by his audacity. She could only stare at him, annoyed. How could he spin such a tale and keep a straight face?

Exasperation finally got the better of her. “Did you lose your memory, or have you lost your mind? Aren’t you afraid the sky will punish you for lying so brazenly?”

Allan glanced skyward, studying the endless blue above. Not a single cloud drifted by. After a moment, he lowered his gaze and gave Adah a casual shrug. “See? The heavens didn’t strike me down. That should prove I’m being honest.”

Allan’s infuriatingly smug expression made Adah’s knuckles itch. It took every ounce of restraint not to drive her fist straight into his face. If this were any other setting, she might have already snapped and left him sprawled on the floor. How could a person be this shameless? To erase his own words and actions as if they had never existed.

Adah hadn’t forgotten that back when Allan believed she was nothing more than a rude bumpkin, he had looked down on her without mercy and treated her like an inconvenience, a mistake he was eager to discard, even choosing to fork out three billion dollars just to break their engagement. And now that he knew she was Ava—the stunning beauty he’d fallen for at first sight—he suddenly wanted her back, clawing at her with every disgraceful tactic he could muster. What a shallow jerk.

Adah suppressed the urge to beat Allan senseless. A bright, captivating smile curved her lips as she spoke, her tone light and polished. “Mr. Shaw, please know that I don’t take back what’s already been thrown away. Harassing me won’t change that.”

With that, she turned to leave. But once again, Allan’s fingers closed around her wrist.

She tugged, but Allan held firm. Each time she tried to break free, he countered her strength effortlessly, refusing to loosen his grip.

The fake smile gradually faded from Adah’s face. Frost settled over her striking features as a violent storm raged within her—she was on the verge of throwing down with him. Only the thought of not disrupting Elliana’s wedding forced her to rein herself in.

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After a slow, steadying breath, Adah turned around. Her gaze cut into Allan like ice. “Allan,” she asked flatly, “have you no sense of shame?”

Allan looked entirely unbothered, one brow lifting in lazy amusement. “If it leads to a lifetime of happiness, a little thick skin is hardly a flaw,” he replied. “And let’s not forget, you were dishonest during our engagement.”

The message was unmistakable. If she had not hidden her true appearance and misled him in the beginning, none of this would have happened. Since she had deceived him first, he felt fully justified in clinging to her now.

Adah’s anger burned so fiercely that her jaw tightened until her teeth throbbed. With his elegant appearance and gentlemanly manners, no one would ever guess how brazen he truly was. He was a scoundrel wrapped in a refined facade.

Adah recalled how, back when she was still living in Apricot Blossom Village and hadn’t even met Allan, Elliana had described him over the phone with a single phrase—a polished jerk.

Later on, when Adah had finally encountered Allan in person and saw his mild expression and courteous behavior, she had assumed Elliana was being unfair.

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