Aria stood up and gave a cold, scornful laugh. “You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not cold because I’m angry. I’m cold because I don’t respect you. That’s not ‘caring,’ Mark—it’s called disdain. If I hated you because I cared, trust me, I’d be showing it very differently.“The way I treat you now? It’s the same way I’d treat any stranger I don’t owe anything to. This is just professionalism. If that makes you uncomfortable, too bad. I’m not going to change. Because the only person I care about now is Archer. I don’t want to give him even the slightest reason to feel uneasy just because I was polite to you.”She turned to leave. “And if dragging me here was just some excuse to talk about this, then I’m done.”As she moved toward the door, Mark suddenly stood, his chair screeching backward as it hit his leg. He leaned across the desk and grabbed her arm.“Aria, wait,” he said, gripping her wrist. “Alright, fine—I won’t talk about that anymore. Just sit down, please. There’s something impo
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