Chapter 339 The Last Illusion
Ryan hadn’t had a single drink that night.
Instead of heading back to the office, he drove to the house where he and Rose had once lived together. Lately, it had become the only place he bothered sleeping.
As he pulled into the driveway, he immediately spotted someone waiting beneath the porch light.
Samantha.
The October air had turned cold. Wind swept fallen leaves across the driveway as she stood wrapped in a light coat, hugging herself against the chill.
For a brief moment, the sight would have stirred anyone’s protective instincts.
Ryan only slowed the car.
When Samantha saw him, relief flashed across her face.
She hurried toward the driver’s side before he could park.
Ryan lowered the window but made no move to get out.
Even seated behind the wheel, he somehow managed to look down on her.
The distance between them had never felt greater.
"Ryan."
Her voice trembled despite her efforts to steady it.
"Can we talk?"
He glanced at the clock on the dashboard.
"You’ve got a minute."
She forced herself to smile.
"I know what happened tonight."
"There were a lot of people watching."
"You had to protect your family’s reputation."
"I understand."
She leaned closer to the window.
"We’ve been through too much to let one misunderstanding destroy everything."
Ryan rested one hand on the steering wheel.
His fingers tapped a slow, even rhythm.
He said nothing.
Samantha swallowed.
"We loved each other."
"My past doesn’t change that."
"The rumors about me having a child..."
"They aren’t what people think."
She searched his face desperately.
"Please."
"Don’t throw us away."
"I can’t lose you."
Her fingers tightened around the edge of the open window.
Tears shimmered in her eyes.
Ryan finally looked at her.
"Who you dated before me..."
"...was never my business."
Hope flickered across Samantha’s face.
"Then..."
"What about us?"
Ryan’s expression never changed.
"What us?"
She froze.
He continued quietly.
"The night in D.C."
"I was in the hospital."
"I was awake."
"I never touched the drink you handed me."
For several seconds...
Samantha couldn’t breathe.
She had spent month believing he’d been drugged.
That he’d mistaken someone else for her.
That everything afterward had been nothing more than confusion.
Now—
The truth landed like a hammer.
He’d known.
He had known from the beginning.
He knew she’d tried to drug him.
He knew she’d invited him to her room.
He knew another man had been there instead.
And when she’d appeared the following morning pretending they’d spent the night together...
He’d simply watched her lie.
He had never corrected her.
Never confronted her.
Never stopped her.
She felt heat rush to her face.
Humiliation burned through every nerve.
"...Why?"
Her voice barely came out.
Ryan looked at her calmly.
"Because it wasn’t my problem."
"You made your own choices."
"I let you live with them."
The words were quiet.
Which somehow made them crueler.
Samantha stared at him.
"So you just..."
"...watched?"
"You watched me make a fool of myself?"
Her voice cracked.
"Why?"
"Why would you do that to me?"
"I loved you."
Ryan didn’t answer.
The silence said enough.
Her phone suddenly rang.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
And again.
With shaking hands, she finally answered.
"Hello?"
A man’s voice came through immediately.
"Ms. Hill, we’ve reviewed your request."
"If you’re planning to sell your shares in Sky High, you’re not going to get anywhere close to seventy million."
She frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"The company’s value has collapsed."
"The major projects and intellectual property have already been transferred to Kingswell Group."
"What’s left inside Sky High barely has any market value."
"If you’re hoping for a payout that large..."
"I’m afraid that’s impossible."
The call ended.
Samantha lowered the phone slowly.
Her face had gone white.
She turned toward Ryan.
"What..."
"...did he mean?"
"Kingswell Group?"
Ryan leaned back in his seat.
"You missed the shareholders’ meeting."
Her heart skipped.
A memory flashed through her mind.
That day.
Sky High had called repeatedly.
She’d ignored every call.
She’d been too busy trying to pressure Ryan into marrying her by using the pregnancy.
The meeting hadn’t seemed important.
Ryan continued.
"That vote approved the transfer."
"You never showed up."
"So your voting rights weren’t counted."
There was no accusation in his voice.
Just facts.
Simple.
Irreversible facts.
Samantha’s knees buckled.
She collapsed onto the driveway.
"No..."
Everything she’d built...
Everything she’d invested...
Gone.
Sky High still existed.
But it was nothing more than an empty shell.
The profitable divisions...
The technology...
The future...
All of it belonged to Kingswell Group now.
She looked up at Ryan with tears streaming down her face.
"Why?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"You knew I wasn’t there."
"You knew."
"And you never warned me."
Ryan reached into the center console and took out a pack of cigarettes.
He rolled one between his fingers without lighting it.
"The choice was yours."
His voice remained perfectly even.
"You decided what mattered most that day."
Another wave of panic washed over Samantha.
She suddenly realized something terrifying.
None of this had happened by accident.
Every decision she’d made...
Every opportunity she’d ignored...
Every lie she’d told...
Had quietly closed another door.
Until there were none left.
Ryan finally started the engine.
The headlights swept across the driveway.
He looked at her one last time.
"The investigation into the Hill family’s and the Bennett family’s antique businesses is moving forward."
"If they’ve been hiding anything..."
"It won’t stay hidden much longer."
Samantha’s eyes widened.
Fear replaced despair.
That wasn’t a warning.
It was a certainty.
Ryan shifted the car into gear.
Then, almost as an afterthought, he looked back at her.
"Since everything’s already out in the open..."
"I might as well tell you one more thing."