?Chapter 623:


    Out in the parking lot, Freya slid into her car with Kristian taking the passenger seat beside her.


    She didn’t start the engine. Instead, she turned to him and asked calmly, “What brings you here?”


    “It’s been a month.”


    “What?”


    “It’s been almost a month since Grandpa’s birthday,” Kristian said, his eyes softer than usual. “You should be on your period by now, but you’re not. So… you should pretend to be pregnant.” His words jerked Freya’s mind back to the present.


    The man who had told Ashley to keep an eye on Freya’s signs of pregnancy clearly had an agenda behind it.


    Freya’s brows pinched slightly before she replied, “I’ll tell Ashley.”


    “Freya,” Kristian’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed down a tangle of unspoken words.


    He felt a weight pressing down on him, dreading that Freya might see him as just another stranger.


    Even if sheshed out, he’d rather that than this cold, indifferent distance.


    Freya met his eyes. The loneliness and confusion behind them hit her with a jolt, stopping her heart for a beat.


    She pushed past the sensation and asked lightly, “What is it that you want to say?”


    “I’m sorry…” Kristian’s voice was rough, his hair tousled and casting shadows across his eyes, making him lookpletely wrecked.


    He finally admitted what he had never wanted to face—that he regretted everything. Regretted the choices he made, regretted letting Freya go, regretted not treasuring her when he had the chance.


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    Freya hesitated, her gaze drifting unfocused for a second.


    She didn’t know what she was feeling. Kristian had said those words before, but they had never carried the same gravity.


    Before the divorce, all she’d wanted was to prove him wrong—to force him to see his mistake and regret it.


    But now, watching him crumble beneath the weight of his apology, she didn’t feel the triumph she once craved.


    Instead, she felt eerily calm. Maybe even a bit sympathetic.


    It was tragic, really, that someone as gifted as Kristian had been so utterly lost in matters of the heart. He was meant to be wless.


    “I’m sorry…” Kristian murmured again, his head hanging low.


    Freya nced at him. If she still loved him, this sight might have shattered her. She might’ve wrapped her arms around him, told him she’d always be there.


    But now, aside from that trace of pity, all she felt was detachment.


    Remembering the affection shown to her by Melinda, Isaac, and Lionel, Freya finally spoke, her voice light with release.


    “It’s okay, Kristian.”


    He stirred slightly at the sound.


    But before he could reply, Freya continued, “I forgive you. I forgive you for not believing me, for choosing to divorce me because of Ashley.”


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