I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 660

Hearing this, the tension in the room skyrocketed.

Zoe's eyes widened in sheer terror. "So that means she's going to contact us, right?"

Sylvia's heart sank even further. "She didn't just ask for that one lump sum. A few days after I gave her the money, she asked again. This time, she wanted a ten-year advance. But I said no."

Mr. Kendall Sr. understood perfectly, giving his wife a helpless look.

"You are too soft-hearted and far too generous. Julie realized how incredibly easy it was to bleed you dry. She fed you a sob story, and you handed her a quarter of a million dollars without blinking. So she decided to go for the ultimate payout. A ten-year advance? Added to what she already had, that's nearly a million dollars.

For an ordinary person, a hundred thousand is a fortune. A million dollars is more money than she could make in ten lifetimes. When you refused, she set her sights on little Ian. To have the sheer audacity to pull this off, she's either a hardened career criminal, or she's got someone powerful backing her. She will absolutely contact us to demand a ransom."

The logic was flawless; everyone agreed it was the most likely scenario.

Hayden's expression relaxed a fraction.

When he had kicked down the door to the nursery and found it empty, with no sign of human remains, he had immediately suspected a kidnapping.

"So you're not going to accuse me of being the grim reaper who brought this disaster upon you?"

Hayden stared intently at Zoe, desperate to find even a shred of guilt or realization on her face for having viciously blamed him earlier.

Zoe just turned her head away, completely ignoring his accusation.

Seeing her sitting there, hollowed out and trembling with anxiety over her missing son, Hayden couldn't bring himself to berate her for the venomous words she had hurled at him.

Garrett was about to defend Zoe when his eyes fell on Hayden's arm. His eyes widened in shock. "Mr. Thorne, your arm is severely burned. You need to get that treated immediately."

Only then did the room's attention shift to Hayden.

It wasn't just his arm. His clothes were singed, and he had various burns across his body. Zoe actually looked up at him, but when their eyes met, her expression remained entirely blank.

Mr. Kendall Sr. finally broke the silence. "Thank you."

Hayden let out a dark scoff. "I was saving my own wife and child. I did what I had to do. I don't need anyone's gratitude."

He kept his eyes locked on Zoe the entire time, but disappointment washed over him yet again.

Zoe's gaze swept over his blistered arm with chilling indifference. There was no concern, not even the basic human sympathy one might offer a total stranger.

"Sylvia, when do you think Julie will contact us?"

Zoe's entire universe had narrowed down to her son. Whether Hayden lived or died meant absolutely nothing to her.

Even if he hadn't started the fire, he was still a walking curse.

Every time he was near her, tragedy struck.

Zoe wished she could throw him onto another planet. Sympathy? She had none to spare for him.

"Julie is only after the money; she won't hurt Ian. We've been up all night, and you're exhausted. You take the bedroom and get some sleep. We'll be right next door in the lounge. If anything happens, just yell."

There was no way Zoe could sleep. Garrett looked at her gently. "Zoe, listen to my mom and get some rest. When Julie calls, you're going to need all your strength to get Ian back. If you collapse, we'll have to divide our focus between handling the kidnapper and taking care of you."

Garrett's logic finally broke through to her. She didn't want to become a burden to the Kendalls. She nodded faintly. "Okay."

As everyone prepared to settle in, Mr. Kendall Sr. turned to Hayden. "Mr. Thorne, you need to get to a hospital. You can't ignore burns like that. If it causes permanent nerve damage, you'll regret it."

"The lights in her room are off. She went through a massive trauma tonight. We just want her to protect her health; Ian is going to need her at a hundred percent."

Hayden's chest tightened with a suffocating bitterness. "So all of you get to play the saints, and I'm left playing the villain."

He hung up on Garrett without another word. Garrett stared at his phone, utterly bewildered.

This Hayden Thorne was truly impossible to deal with.

Did he actually think Zoe would suddenly forgive him just because he got burned, after five years of inflicting pure psychological torment on her?

He was delusional. Garrett genuinely felt a pang of pity for how naive Hayden was being.

Knowing Zoe's personality, even if Hayden had died in that fire for her, she wouldn't have cared. Her prejudice against him was absolute; a single act of bravery wasn't going to erase half a decade of trauma.

First impressions and deep-rooted history dictated everything.

Hayden stared at his left arm, wrapped tightly in thick white bandages, and reached over with his right hand, preparing to rip them off.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

The young nurse who had just spent thirty minutes meticulously cleaning and wrapping his burns shouted at him.

"What is wrong with you?! We spent forever disinfecting your wounds and applying the ointment, and you're just going to rip it all off?!"

Consumed by a dark, toxic rage, Hayden glared murderously at the young woman. "It's my arm. If I want to rip the bandages off, I will."

Clearly sleep-deprived from a grueling night shift, the nurse's temper immediately flared, proving to be even more explosive than Hayden's.