She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 893

The night was thick, the rain coming down in a relentless drizzle.

As Giselle walked out of the estate gates, her pace was much faster than when she arrived. She didn't look back, but she knew someone was following her. The steady rhythm of leather shoes against the wet pavement moved like a silent shadow behind her.

"Mr. Lonsdale." She stopped at the bottom of the steps and turned around. "You can go back now. Those people are waiting for you."

Hank didn't stop. He walked right up to her, the rain soaking his shoulders and leaving dark stains on his shirt.

"I'm not going back," he said. "That dinner ruined my appetite. Let me give you a ride."

She looked at him. "I'll call a car."

"In this area, with this weather? You won't get one," he replied.

Refusing to believe him, she checked her phone and frowned. Her return to Metropia had been sudden, and she hadn't bought a car yet. The earliest ride-share option required an absurd surcharge and would take forever to arrive from miles away.

A faint smirk touched Hank's lips. "It's on my way. Let me take you. Give me this much, at least?"

Giselle eventually got into his car.

As the black sedan pulled out of the estate, the rain intensified. The warm air in the car dispelled the lingering damp chill from her clothes. She leaned against the seat, the passing streetlights casting flickering shadows across her face.

"Address," he asked.

She gave him the name of her apartment complex. They sat in heavy silence, listening to the rain against the glass.

Hank occasionally checked the rearview mirror to look at her. "Is the kid adjusting well since you've been back?"

"She's fine," she murmured.

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. He wanted to ask more, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

When he parked outside her building, she offered a polite thanks, opened her umbrella, and stepped out to head up the stairs. Suddenly, Hank got out of the driver's side and caught up to her in a few strides.

"Wait." He called out from behind. When she turned to him with a confused look, he spoke quietly. "I have absolutely nothing going on with Jocelyn. I only agreed to attend that dinner because I knew you'd be there. I just wanted to see you."

"If they told you anything else privately, it was a lie."

He looked at her earnestly. "All these years, I've kept myself completely—"

Before he could finish his sentence, she cut him off. "That's in the past."

Her expression didn't change; it remained utterly void of emotion. "Who you are with now, or who you'll be with in the future, has nothing to do with me. You can belong to anyone you want, Hank. Because I stopped wanting you a long time ago."

*I stopped wanting you a long time ago.*

Those words blasted a hole straight through his heart.

His breathing grew heavy. "Giselle..."

"If you want to threaten me, lock me up, or do whatever else you want, go ahead," she said coldly. "It would just be history repeating itself anyway."

The rain swept diagonally between them.

Hank stood frozen, the water dripping from his wet hair down his face. Giselle stood on the steps above him, holding her umbrella, looking down at him with a gaze so calm it bordered on cruel.

It was as if absolutely nothing could make her turn back.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify