I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 88

Hayden lit a cigarette, casually exhaling a thick plume of smoke as if there was no one else around.

When he wasn't speaking, the cold, sharp aura radiating from him was even more terrifying.

Hunter stiffened his neck. He understood Hayden's meaning perfectly well.

He wasn't genuinely asking about his travel plans; he was telling him to get out of the city as soon as possible.

Hunter's fingers rubbed the edge of his trench coat. A breeze swept through the corridor, catching the smoke from Hayden's cigarette.

The glowing ember flickered in the wind, the tension between them heavy and suffocating.

Hayden's intention to drive him away couldn't have been more obvious.

After a long pause, Hunter finally scoffed. "You've been married to Zoe for five years, you even have a child, yet you're still this insecure about me. What exactly are you so unconfident about?

Or is it that your marriage has been broken from the start? I heard you only married her for Sienna and Charles's posthumous child."

Hunter was blatantly provoking Hayden.

"You don't love her at all. You just wanted her to have a baby so your nephew could have a blood bank. I also heard—"

Hunter paused for effect. "Your marriage is just a contract, and time is running out. You're going to divorce her sooner or later."

Hayden flicked the ash from his cigarette, his eyes filled with bottomless mockery.

"Did you spend all your time abroad spying on other people's private lives instead of working?

My agreement with Zoe was entirely voluntary on her part. She got down on her knees and begged me to let Lily donate blood to Holden; I only agreed to consider it.

The terms are in black and white. As for Lily giving blood to Holden, they're cousins. They're family. Even without a contract, she should do it."

The man's eyes were completely undisturbed. He spoke of turning a daughter into a blood bag for a nephew as casually as discussing the weather.

Hunter glanced toward the slightly ajar door, watching Zoe chat with her grandmother. As if suddenly remembering something, a hint of schadenfreude crept into his expression.

"I kept feeling like something was off with Zoe. Whenever I spoke to her, she didn't seem to have the same vibe from before I left. Did you know the thing we talked about the most was what happened five years ago?"

Hunter made a bold guess. "She lost her memory, didn't she?"

He had returned precisely because he heard something had happened to Zoe.

She had fallen from the second floor of Blackwood Manor, landing on her head.

"You'd better finish up your wedding and get the hell back to London. Don't ever let me hear the name 'Zoe' come out of your mouth again. She is off-limits."

Hayden left Hunter standing in the hallway and pushed the door open to find Zoe.

Hunter's back remained rigid. The sunlight stretched his shadow long across the floor, making him look isolated and pathetic.

The man he called family had spoken without a trace of arrogance, yet his steady words carried a threat Hunter couldn't possibly withstand.

There was no need for ferocity, no need to shout.

Telling him to get out seemed to be the greatest mercy Hayden could offer.

Hunter glared at Hayden's back, his eyes bloodshot.

Why?

Hayden was the one who stole his woman, yet he could still casually tell him to get the hell out?

No, he would never give up on Zoe.