Chapter 229.

Christain said a few things. And then, he looked directly at the center camera.

"And I will never understand how anyone could look at a woman like that and reduce her to a photograph."

His voice hardened. "So no."

He straightened. "Kylie Benneth is not a scandal."

Multiple flash moved across the hall at once.

"She is not an affair. She is not my mistake."

He let the next sentence fall without raising his voice.

"She is not the woman who came between Isabel Dolce and me."

He paused. "There was never anything to come between what never was."

A murmur swept through the press.

Christian continued before anyone could interrupt. "The engagement was never my choice. Isabel amd I have never had even a normal conversation."

He held the podium firmly.

"And Kylie was never the other woman."

He looked down for a moment, then back up. "She was simply the woman I fell in love with."

A long pause. "And perhaps I should have said that sooner."

For the first time, he looked uncomfortable. "Perhaps I should have protected her sooner. When the truth comes out, it’s quiet."

His eyes moved across the room.

He stopped speaking.

The silence stretched.

He leaned forward slightly. "She didn’t deserve to become a target because of my surname."

He was only beginning to understand how easily it could become a weapon.

"And Kylie..." He stopped. He swallowed softly.

The room waited.

His gaze moved toward the camera directly in front of him.

"If you’re watching this—" His throat moved. "I’m sorry." He closed his eyes briefly.

The cameras seemed to hesitate.

"I’m sorry that being around me brought this to your door even after you asked me to go back to Isabel."

He drew a breath that didn’t quite steady him.

"I’m sorry that I wasn’t fast enough to stand between you and all of this."

His voice lowered.

"I’m sorry that you had to learn how cruel the world can be simply because you became important to me."

He stopped.

For a moment, he looked as though he wanted to say something else. Something private.

Something that didn’t belong to the thousands of people listening.

He couldn’t make her private life public again just to prove he loved her. He had to be careful.

He had to remember that this was her life, too.

So he continued, choosing his words slowly.

"But I need you to know something."

His fingers loosened around the podium. His mouth tightened.

"I love you. I’m saying this here because I fear you would not want to listen to me."

He looked down.

The words seemed to cost him something.

"You make me want to choose my own life."

He raised his head.

"You made me realise that I spent years confusing obedience with love."

He didn’t look away. "Don’t forsake me for this. Please."

Christain shook his head. "I don’t know what happens after today."

Christian looked out at the press. "I don’t know what I’ll lose."

His voice remained steady, but the words came more slowly now.

"Maybe I’ll lose the name that opened every door before I ever learned how to knock."

Several reporters began typing faster.

A man in the front row leaned toward his colleague. "He’s talking about the inheritance."

Another shook his head. "He’s talking about more than that."

Christian heard neither of them.

He was thinking about the first time he had walked into a room and watched people change the way they spoke because they recognised his surname.

He had been young enough to believe that was respect.

It took him years to understand that many people didn’t see him at all.

They saw the money, the position, 5he access, and the possibilities attached to the Sinclair name.

They saw a man who could make things happen for them.

They saw an heir. An investment. They saw everything he could give them before they considered who he might be.

And for a long time, he had allowed it.

It was easier to be the man everyone expected than to disappoint them by becoming someone else.

He had never needed to explain himself.

His name did the work for him.

He thought about Kylie again.

She had never treated his name as a reason to agree with him. She had never been impressed enough to stop arguing.

She had looked him in the eye and told him when he was being an idiot. She had never made him feel smaller for being human.

She had never asked him to be perfect.

She had simply expected him to be honest. And when he had failed her, she had been hurt.

Not because he was a Sinclair, but because he was Christian. He looked down at his hands.

He had thought that being loved by Kylie would be the most frightening thing that had ever happened to him.

He was beginning to understand that being worthy of that love was the harder part.

"But I’ve finally realised something."

He lifted his head.

"If I have to lose everything that makes me a Sinclair to finally become myself..."

He paused.

"Then maybe I was never meant to keep it."

A low murmur moved through the room.

Christian continued. "So I’m done."

The words were simple..

"I’m stepping down as a Sinclair."

The hall erupted.

For a second, the sound was so loud that his next words were swallowed.

Reporters stood, the cameras turned, and someone shouted his name. A producer near the back waved frantically at a cameraman, signalling for a tighter shot.

Christian waited.

When the noise began to settle, he continued.

"I renounce my title."

The words appeared on television screens across the country before he finished the sentence.

"I renounce every privilege attached to my name."

A reporter near the front rose so quickly that his chair fell backward.

"Mr. Sinclair, are you saying you’re giving up your inheritance?"

Christian glanced toward him. "I’m saying exactly what I mean."

The room went wild again.

"I drop everything that made me a Sinclair." He let the words ring. "The money. The position. The expectations. The legacy."

He took a breath.

"All of it."

His lawyers exchanged a look at the side of the stage.

One of them stepped closer to the curtain, but Christian lifted his hand without turning around.

The man stopped.

Christian wasn’t finished. He looked toward the cameras. "If loving Kylie means standing alone..."

His jaw tightened. "Then I’ll stand alone."