Bound by the Past, Locked by the Heart novel Chapter 162

She turned off the stove and turned around to look at him. "Randal, thank you for what you did for my dad."

He frowned slightly, the light that had just appeared in his eyes dimming for a moment. "So... you only cooked tonight to return the favor?"

"Willa, when will you stop keeping score with me?"

Willa was slightly taken aback, not expecting him to think that way. She quickly explained, "No..."

Randal interrupted her, "Willa, I didn't do those things to get anything out of you."

"I know, otherwise you would have come to claim credit by now." Willa smiled. "So, I'm not doing this to pay you back either. I just wanted to ease the tension between us."

Randal froze for a second before reaching out and pulling her into a tight embrace.

Leaning against his chest, Willa felt a sudden lump in her throat.

The current Randal acted erratically and without boundaries, which made her both fearful and exhausted.

But the way he treated her so well couldn't be faked either.

She really didn't understand what this all meant.

Was it love? Perhaps a little.

But it felt more like the maddening obsession that had plagued him for the past five years.

He wanted to properly go through a normal relationship.

Falling in love, arguing, heartbreak, and breaking up.

Not a sudden, sheer drop of a withdrawal, forced to quit cold turkey when their feelings were at their most intense.

She struggled slightly and pulled away from his embrace. "Let's eat, the food is getting cold."

During dinner, Randal remained silent, only looking up at her from time to time.

Willa felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze. She kept her head down and picked at her food, trying to hide her emotional turmoil.

But she couldn't hide it from him.

"Willa," he said, putting down his fork. "You're acting strange today."

Willa's hand paused, but she didn't look up. "It's nothing, let's just eat."

"You're lying." His voice deepened. "What happened?"

After dinner, Willa sat in the living room for a while before returning to her bedroom.

She pulled her phone out from under her pillow and glanced at it.

There was a new message from Iris Underwood on the screen.

[Willa, I heard about what's happening online. Do you need any help?]

She replied: [No need, I can handle it myself, thank you.]

Iris replied again: [Then you should turn off the comments, don't let those people keep cursing at you.]

That sentence woke Willa up.

In a single day, such a massive influx of malicious comments, all perfectly synchronized—it was too unnatural.

Someone was clearly orchestrating this behind the scenes to ruin her.

After thanking Iris, she considered whether she should tell Randal about this.

Following the trail of online malice might actually lead to some clues about the case.