?Chapter 1296:


    Catherine was staring right at her, her gaze unwavering. There was a hint of hurt in her eyes.


    “Why?” Catherine asked. “Why did you conspire with Niko to harm me? We were supposed to be best friends…”


    When Johnson had revealed to Catherine that Niko had bribed her trusted friend Gillian to betray her, Catherine hadn’t believed him. But once the damning evidence wasid bare before her, reality struck hard. Catherine could no longer deny it.


    What she wanted more than anything was an answer. Why would Gillian do this to her?


    Hadn’t they shared a genuine friendship?


    “Let me tell you why. It’s all because of Stanley Ortega,” Gillian said directly. At this point, she no longer needed to put on an act before Catherine.


    The rage she had harbored for years finally surged to the surface.


    “Stanley Ortega?” Catherine echoed, her brows furrowed. The name took her a moment to ce.


    After a pause, she asked, “You mean the guy who pursued me before?”


    “That’s the one!” Gillian said.


    Her voice quivered with emotion as she inhaled sharply, eyes burning. “I loved him—do you understand? I loved him with everything I had. I thought his kindness to me was because he liked me. But… just when I was about to confess my feelings to him, he told me that the person he liked was you! The absurd thing is, he even asked me if I could help him pursue you!”


    She let out a mirthlessugh, oneced with bitterness and pain.


    She had been utterly heartbroken at that time.


    Honestly, she really wanted to kill Catherine then.


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    “All of this… just because of that?” Belinda interjected, her voice tinged with disbelief.


    She truly hadn’t expected this reason.


    “That’s not enough of a reason for you?” Gillian snapped, ring at her.


    Belinda said, “Then hate him! He’s the one who yed with your heart. He misled you with his sweet gestures. From beginning to end, he was the one at fault. Why direct your hatred at Catherine? Just because that man happened to like her? That’s ridiculous!”


    Belinda’s tone grew sharp with frustration.


    She simply couldn’tprehend how Gillian’s logic worked.


    How could she twist her heartbreak into a vendetta against Catherine? But Gillian wasn’t interested in reason. “She stole his heart!” she shouted. “Catherine is the one to me!”


    Catherine said nothing.


    Because right now, she didn’t know what to say.


    She couldn’t even feel anger. She just felt the situation was absurd. Was their friendship so fragile that it could be shattered by something like this?


    Catherine’s legs faltered slightly.


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