Even though she hadn't physically pushed him away, lan felt as if she had just shoved him miles out of her heart.

It felt like she was abandoning him all over again.

Eleanor took a step back, breaking the intimate proximity, but lan kept his arms raised, forming a cage that refused to let her fully escape his space.

Eleanor took a deep breath, meeting his intense, desperate gaze without flinching. "lan, you are a good man. I've seen everything you've done for me lately, and I appreciate it. But I've thought about this clearly today. We are not getting remarried. And we are not getting back together."

Ian's Adam's apple bobbed. His pupils dilated in shock, a raw, bleeding vulnerability shattering his composure.

"Why? Why can't we be together? We don't have to get married. I told you, that piece of paper doesn't matter. What matters is us—" lan's breath hitched. "As long as we're together, that's enough."

Eleanor suddenly shoved him hard, taking another massive step back and crossing her arms defensively. "Why do I have to tie my life to yours, lan? I was perfectly fine on my own. People change. Feelings change. Right now, relationships are nothing but a burden to me. And men are too."

She delivered the final blow with absolute, terrifying indifference. "The rest of my life is about my career and my daughter. I don't have room for anyone else. And I don't need anyone else."

With that, she turned on her heel, fully prepared to walk away forever.

However, the moment she spun around, lan lunged forward, desperately trying to grab her wrist.

Eleanor swiftly dodged his hand.

He missed.

An instant later, Eleanor heard a heavy thud on the floor behind her. A completely irresistible force locked around her right hand, dragging her to a halt. She whipped her head around.

Ilan had collapsed to the floor right behind her. He was looking up at her, his eyes swirling with absolute agony and fierce obsession.

"Ellie... don't go. Please don't leave me." His voice was wrecked, trembling with a sheer, unmistakable panic that he couldn't hide.

Eleanor's breath caught in her throat. She didn't expect him to break down like this, and seeing him on the floor physically slammed into her chest. She reached down, trying to haul him up. "lan, get up."

lan refused to move. Instead, he pulled her hand flat against his burning cheek. "If you think marriage is a trap, we won't get married. But don't look at me like a burden will give you everything-money resources, connections. I will help you build your empire. I won't ask for anything in return... just please, don't leave me. Okay?"

For a few agonizing seconds, Eleanor's heart fractured. But the memory of Magdalen's dying wish and Miranda's cruel reminder of his father's final regret, forced her walls backup Being cruel now was thể only way to save lan's future.

He needed to marry someone else. He needed to fulfill his family's legacy, give the Goodwins a son who could carry the empire, and have a house full of children.

Before lan could react, Eleanor

violently ripped her hand from his grasp. She stumbled back two steps, forcing her voice to turn into jaggechice. Enough A broken mirror can never be fixed. Even if you glue it back together, the cracks are still there. It's pointless."

lan looked up, his eyes bloodshot and devastated. Collapsed on the floor, he looked

like a man who had finally shattered into a million pieces.

Eleanor opened her mouth, wanting to say something else, but she couldn't. She yanked the door open and fled back to her own house.

The room fell into a dead, echoing silence.

lan slowly curled his empty hand into a fist, realizing that sometimes, the tighter you held on, the faster you lost everything.

The light in his eyes slowly died out. He remained on the floor, still as a statue, desperately waiting for the woman who had just walked away to come back and look at him one last time.