?Chapter 654:


    Her voice trembled with desperation, her grip tightening. Being sent abroad was no different from exile.


    If she left now, she might never return to Lyhaton again.


    But Hodge remained unmoved. If anything, his patience thinned further. With a practiced gentleness that only made his dismissal sting more, he lifted a hand and lightly patted her head.


    “Listen to me,” he murmured.


    Then, with a single nce toward his assistant, he gave his unspokenmand.


    The assistant stepped forward, his tone even, almost sympathetic.


    “Miss Seymour, it iste. We should go.”


    Hodge was known for his quiet,posed demeanor. But when it came to decisions, he was swift and ruthless.


    And Judie had left him no choice.


    She had caused a mess too big to ignore. If he did not deal with her now, smoothing things over with the Ford family would be impossible.


    Corrine nced down at her phone, Karina’s message shing across the screen. A slow smile curled her lips.


    Sending Judie abroad served two purposes—it was punishment, but also a shield. If something happened to Judie while she was abroad, all fingers would point to the Ford family.


    A strategy like that… Only someone like Hodge could pull it off so cleanly.


    Ga ln ovels . fuels your imagination


    “It seems you have no objections to how I handled my cousin,” came a voice from nearby.


    Corrine looked up, her gaze settling on Hodge, who was d in a pristine white suit.


    Corrine arched a brow and set her phone down on the table with deliberate ease.


    “Mr. Seymour, are you here to settle scores with me?”


    Hodge strode toward the armchair in the lounge area, his expression unreadable.


    “Do you think I am someone who cannot tell right from wrong?”


    He lowered himself into the chair, a faint smile tugging at his lips.


    Corrine met his gaze, her eyes sharp with unspoken meaning.


    “People change, do they not?”


    She had single-handedly dismantled the Seymour family’s marriage arrangement. Even if Hodge and Quentin chose to stay silent on the matter, it was hard to believe the rest of the Seymour family would not hold some resentment.


    Hodge did not flinch under her scrutiny. A glimmer of understanding shed in his eyes.


    “An arranged marriage is just one option. It is not the only path forward for the Seymour family.”


    A subtle message—losing the alliance with the Hoffmans would not be the end of the world. Corrine was not surprised. The Seymours were one of the most powerful families in Lyhaton. If they were relying on an arranged marriage for survival, they would not be here at this event, rubbing shoulders with business elites.


    She tilted her head slightly, studying him.


    “You werete. What kept you?”


    “Had to attend a social event before I could slip away.”


    Hodge reached into his pocket and retrieved a small rectangr velvet box. With a flick of his fingers, he opened it.


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