Chapter 1378

lan didn't give her a chance to speak, continuing, "But back then, feelings were a luxury for me, a burden. When you confessed, I was ecstatic, but after weighing everything, I decided I had to turn you down."

"I wish you had," Eleanor said bitterly, looking away.

lan kept his eyes on her, his voice lowering. "But then your father came to see me privately. He didn't force me. He just told me about your mother's condition and said he hoped I could provide him with a lab to complete his research."

Eleanor's gaze returned to him. "And you—"

"I agreed," lan sighed. "I agreed to invest ten billion dollars to build a lab, both to help your father finish his research and to create the conditions for my mother's future hematology studies."

He looked down, overcome with guilt and self-reproach. "But I never expected your father to work himself to the bone. I underestimated his drive. If we're talking about responsibility, I can't escape my share."

"It's not your fault," Eleanor quickly replied. She knew that even if he hadn't provided the resources, her father would have found another way, one that would have been harder, more urgent, and would have made him even more anxious.

The air in the room seemed to freeze. Eleanor finally understood that her marriage had been part of her father's plan, a silent entrustment of his legacy.

"But in the end, I failed your father's trust, and I hurt you. I couldn't give you a happy marriage. I thought I could shield you from the storm, but I ended up being the one who hurt you the most."

Eleanor's breathing hitched. So many things were starting to make sense.

From the beginning, her father had appealed to him, using his feelings for her to pull him into the plan to save her life.

"Your father never wanted us to have children right away, but... Evelyn's arrival was a surprise to both of us," lan said with a sigh.

Eleanor remembered it, too. When she told her father the good news, he hadn't seemed overjoyed. She'd chalked it up to his reserved nature and hadn't thought much of it.

It turned out he was worried his granddaughter might inherit her grandmother's leukemia.

Her heart clenched painfully. Although she had already developed the drug for leukemia, the thought that her daughter would face this additional challenge still made her tense up.

lan looked down again. "Two years later, Dr. Smith announced the probability of my mother's blood disorder being hereditary. The day he made that announcement was the same day you and Vanessa Shannon fell into the water. I'm so sorry."

Pain and helplessness flashed in

lan's eyes. "was never a good husband failed the trust your

father placed in me and betrayed the love you gave me. I let my own arrogance blind mes... and m the

end, I lost everything that mattered."

Eleanor looked at the man kneeling before her. He was looking up at her, baring the thoughts he could never speak aloud.

The scene from that day was still vivid in her mind. Vanessa had been so sure lan would save her, most likely because she knew about.

Gina's hereditary condition. la net

saving her wasn't because she was was special, but because in the heat of the moment, she gambled that he would choose her.

Eleanor's hatred at that time had been immense.

But now, all of those emotions had vanished.

She looked at him, this titan of industry, who now appeared weary and wounded before her. He might not have been a perfect husband, and he had put her through a painful marriage.

But he had supported her father's research unconditionally, protected her, and ensured their daughter's well-being. He had even protected the lives of others, like Marilyn and her descendants.

She remembered that the first fund his pharmaceutical company established was a five-billion-dollar donation to leukemia charities. He'd kept his company private to prevent its core research from being made public, preserving medical resources for the country.

He joined the Neural Interface Project and gave the core technology to the military, keeping only the civilian applications. All of this showed he was a man of great foresight and integrity.

In the face of his accomplishments, no one could truly blame him for anything.

He was a man, not a god. And men make mistakes, men have emotions.