No Divorce? The Billionaire's Love Chase! novel Chapter 554

"Claudia."

York reached out, blocking the door.

Sensing the tension between them, Claudia's parents looked on with worry. Jessica gently advised her, "Whatever it is, you two should sit down and talk it out properly. Don't keep things bottled up, and don't fight."

Seeing that Claudia wouldn't let him into her room, York suggested, "It's still early. How about we go for a walk?"

Claudia hesitated for a moment before nodding. She needed to find a place to make things clear with him anyway.

They walked out of the residential complex in silence.

As the city lights began to glow, the streetlamps stretched their shadows long behind them.

At a street corner, Claudia stopped beneath a lamppost. Standing on the edge of the sidewalk, she looked at York with a serious expression.

After he turned eighteen, his grandfather and father had gradually started to involve him in the family business. His frame, well over six-foot-three, was clad in a white shirt. He hadn't styled his hair today, and with it down, some of the sharp intensity of his usual aura was softened. But his handsome features still held a maturity that belied his age.

Claudia knew better than anyone that beneath that superior exterior, his heart was dark and his methods were ruthless.

While Claudia was lost in thought, York was studying her. She had just graduated this year and was wearing a cinched-waist dress, her satin-like hair pulled back in a ponytail, exuding a vibrant youthfulness. Without any makeup, her features and skin were flawless, as beautiful as a porcelain doll, making one instinctively want to draw closer.

York stood on the street, just below the curb. He looked into Claudia's eyes and asked, "We agreed to get our marriage certificate today. Why did you suddenly leave?"

His cautious tone was a clear attempt to probe her.

Claudia bit her lip, studying him for a long moment. Could he have been reborn too? Impossible. Given his personality, if he had truly been reborn, he would be acting just as lifeless and desperate as he had in their previous life, begging for her forgiveness.

Claudia told him, "I've thought it over carefully. I'll pay back the money I owe you as soon as possible and move out of your apartment. I'm not going through with this marriage!"

Under the streetlight, around eight in the evening, they stared at each other in silence. York's deep eyes were fixed on Claudia.

He tentatively reached for her hand, but she lifted her own to smooth back her hair, which had been tousled by the wind.

York's hand, left hanging in the air, slowly dropped to his side. A fear began to spread from his heart through his entire body.

He asked, "Claudia, you promised you'd marry me. Why are you backing out all of a sudden?" His careful tone was tinged with suspicion. "Did I do something to hurt you? Something you can't forgive?"