Chapter 509 Secrets Laid Bare

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    Hudson’s gaze burned with cruelty, and Elsa’s heart skipped hard against her ribs. Her voice faltered, softening into fear.

    “Hudson, you can’t treat me like this! We’re husband and wife, we’re one. I know yourpany’s been in trouble these years… if John keeps caring for me, I can use the money he gives me to help you-”

    “Hah!”

    Hudson’sughter cut her off, sharp and mocking.

    Yes, she was his wife. Which meant everything Simon or John gave her also belonged to him. Hispany was bleeding cash, true, but why should he beg her? A few beatings, and she would hand over what he wanted.

    His lips twisted in a cruel smile. “Simon’s savior, are you?”

    His tone turned venomous.

    “You stole the jade pendant Simon gave to Lily when they were children. You wore it, pretended to be her, and imed her ce in his life. That’s your big ‘heroic deed‘? Elsa, you’re as filthy and shameless as ever.”

    Bitch!

    The curse burned at the back of Elsa’s throat, but she dared not say it. Not when defiance could earn her another brutal beating.

    Hudson’s perversions ran deep. He had made her confess her darkest secrets under torture, forcing her to bare what she had buried in her soul. Lies never fooled him–one look and he knew.

    She had spilled everything just to survive. Later she’d regretted it bitterly, praying those secrets had died with him in that “ident.”

    But he lived. And now he wielded her secrets like a knife against her throat.

    At the doorway, John’s face grew darker with every word.

    O

    11:01 Mon, 1 Sept

    Chapter 509 Secrets Laid Bare

    Elsa faking her illness had already been a shock. But this?

    The girl who had once saved Simon wasn’t Elsa–it was Lily.

    Simon’s long–cherished Lizzy had always been Lily.

    “You can’t tell Simon…”

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    Elsa’s tears rolled heavy down her cheeks. Her pitifulness blurred truth and performance alike—John couldn’t tell if it was an act, and even Hudson paused.

    Once, Hudson had admired her–her icy beauty, her aloof pride. But the day he caught her tangled with his friend, all tenderness rotted into loathing.

    He had caged her with marriage, not out of love, but out of vengeance. He would make her pay for her duplicity, her games.

    He saw through the cold mask–saw the shameless woman who warmed every man’s bed. Back home, she hadn’t changed. Still dangling, still deceiving. His hatred zed hotter.

    He released her throat suddenly, looming over her with a predator’s sneer. “Please me. Beg like a dog. Do it well enough, and maybe I won’t kill you today. Maybe I’ll keep your secrets safe–for now.”

    The memories of foreign nights, forced to abase herself under his cruelty, flooded Elsa’s mind. Humiliation. Pain. Fury.

    Her pride screamed against iit/i—but fear of death, fear of exposure, crushed her resistance.

    Simon was herst card. She couldn’t let him know his beloved Lizzy was Lily. She couldn’t let him abandon her.

    Her hands shook as she stripped off her clothes, her soul shattering with each discarded piece. She bent herself to Hudson’s will, drowning in pain and degradation.

    The master bedroom’s window was open.

    A sudden gust swept through, mming the half–closed door wide.

    b /b

    11:01 Mon, 1 Sept s

    Chapter 509 Secrets Laid Bare

    33%

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    Elsa flinched at the sound, her gaze darting instinctively toward the doorway-

    And froze.

    Her blood ran to ice.

    John was standing there.

    Watching.

    He had seen her–seen her stripped of dignity, crawling in shame before Hudson.

    And worse–he had heard it all.

    Hudson’s taunts, every vile secret–every truth.

    Elsa’s heart plummeted into an abyss.

    O