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Chapter 317
Marina kept her smile steady, but when she noticed Daron staring at her with that cold, piercing look, she forced her smile to grow a bit wider.
“Is there anything else you want to say?”
Daron’s deep, dark eyes lingered on her, the anger in them fading a little. In the end, he just let go of her, walked right past her, and said in a low voice, “Let’s head back home first.”
Marina nodded, “Okay.”
Daron stopped in his tracks for a second before moving on.
Bette watched Daron, one eyebrow arched and a smirk playing at her lips.
She knew exactly what that little pause was about.
Marina must’ve really gotten under his skin,
Honestly, she was fine with that.
‘Serves him right, after the way he treats me,’ Bette thought.
They were true siblings, born of the same mother, while Hayley was just someone the Blanchards had hired with a generous salary to take care of him.
Yet somehow, he was closer to them than to his own sister, treating her like she didn’t matter at all.
Seeing that even Daron had someone he couldn’t handle made Bette’s mood instantly lighter.
Bette looked Marina up and down, a sly smile tugging at her lips as she spoke, “Let’s go.”
“Although you are a little worse than your sister, it seems that you are not bad now.”
Marina just kept quiet.
Bette spoke up, her voice flat. “Not even a reaction?”
Marina finally glanced at her. “Am I supposed to react?”
Bette frowned, a trace of annoyance in her eyes. “Hey, I just gave you a compliment. Aren’t you supposed to say something back
Marina’s eyes flickered with a hint of contemplation before she replied, “Thanks. But I don’t think that’s the kind of praise that’s supposed to make me happy,”
Is it really a compliment if you have to drag someone else down?‘
Bette didn’t seem to care. She just arched an eyebrow, gave Marina a sidelong look, and murmured quietly
“Tell me, if those contracts you signed ever landed right in front of him, do you think he’ll be so pissed heil drop dead?”
As she spoke, her gaze followed Daron’s retreating figure.
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Chapter 317
He was moving fast, clearly not planning to wait for them.
Marina paused, frowning a little as she looked over at Bette.
“So you saw all of it?” Marina asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.
Right after she’d signed the contract, Bette had shown up at the side courtyard.
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She’d probably been hanging around the doorway for ages, listening in on Marina’s conversation with Hayley and the
others.
Bette nodded. “Yeah, I heard everything.”
“You’ve got some guts, signing whatever they throw at you.”
“With those contracts, if Daron ever kicks you to the curb, you’ll walk away with nothing.”
“Does your sister even know you signed all that?”
Marina hadn’t discussed any of this with her sister before signing those contracts. Now that Bette brought it up, she just went quiet.
Bette smirked, looking straight at Marina as she said coolly, “Guess your sister was right. You really don’t know what you
want.”
“So, do you actually want Daron, or are you just after his money?”
Bette was sure that after Marina signed the prenup, there was absolutely no way she’d ever put her name on a divorce
agreement.
But when Hayley showed up with those divorce papers, Marina went ahead and signed them anyway like it was no big deal.
Bette just couldn’t figure out what was going on in Marina’s mind.
Marina looked ahead and saw Daron already at the car. He must have noticed they weren’t coming, so he stopped and glanced back at them.
She started walking again, her voice calm as she spoke to Bette.
“Whether it’s Daron or his money, just because I want them doesn’t mean I get to keep them, does it?” Marina said.
‘If I wanted his money, do you really think the Zamora family would just let me walk away with it?”
‘And if I wanted him, but he’s got other plans, or someone better comes along, do you really think I could hold onto him!”
Bette hadn’t expected Marina to just dodge the question like that. She stood there for a few seconds, eyebrows furrowed, not sure what to make of it.
Clearly, after ten years away from the Finley family, Marina wasn’t the same person she used to be
Then again, with all the changes the Finley family had gone through, if Marina hadn’t changed at all, it would be even more
strange.
Marina made her way over to Daron.
Daron glanced at her as she came closer, gave Bette a quick once–over, then slipped into the car without saying a word.
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Marina climbed in after him and settled into the seat beside him.
As soon as Marina sat down, Daron asked in a low voice, a hint of suspicion in it, “What did she say to you?”
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Marina picked up on the wariness in his tone and glanced out the window, seeing Bette making her way to her car.
“Not really,” Marina said quietly, turning her eyes back inside.
Daron reached out and took her hand, his voice low and firm.
“Bette’s been used to throwing her weight around all these years. Whatever she says, just let it go. Her words don’t reflect how I feel,” Daron said.
Marina nodded gently. “I know.”
Bette figured Daron would totally lose his mind if he ever found out about those contracts.
But for now, that simply wouldn’t happen.
Even if Hayley showed up and slapped those papers down in front of him right now, at worst he’d just get annoyed that Marina signed them without telling him first, or maybe it’d just tick him off that she had the guts to sign a divorce agreement right after they got married.
He was not the type to lose his cool over something like that.
Judging by how Daron handled things with Bette about Hayley before, even if he did get mad, it’d be nothing major.
After all, those contracts were personally given to her to sign by the aunt Daron held in high regard.
The car started moving slowly.
Marina turned to look out the window.
Back when her grandfather was still around, he helped her make sense of all the tangled drama in the Zamora family, and she’d learned exactly how to deal with Hayley.
She admitted that her grandfather could predict things like magic.
He knew that after Daron took over the company and Hayley ended up living in that main house, she’d be stuck there with no kids and craving some company.
And sure enough, over the years, he’d even guessed Hayley would wait for Daron to grow up, then bring home a kid to call her own.
Her grandfather once told her, and those words still echoed in her mind.
Hayley was someone who could only be used as an ally, never allowed to become an adversary. So after marrying Daron, Marina had to make sure to stay on Hayley’s good side, show her respect, and put an end to any idea Hayley might have about adopting a child for herself.
But her grandfather probably never imagined that the ever–compliant Marina would suddenly show up at the Zamora family’s door and demand to break off the engagement.
He definitely didn’t expect her to decide to leave with her mother and start a new life in North City
Now Hayley had got an adopted daughter sticking close to her.
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And she’d go to any lengths, scheming and planning, all for her adopted daughter.
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Her grandfather could see things coming a mile away, but he forgot that in this world, nothing ever went exactly as planned.
Hayley really sacrificed a lot for Daron. No matter how many sweet deals the Blanchards threw her way when they brought her into the Zamora family, none of it could ever balance out all the care and effort Hayley poured into looking after him.
Just like her grandfather used to say.
A debt like that would haunt Daron for the rest of his life.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
