The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 521

Franco shot him a flat, freezing glance that practically screamed, "Shut your mouth."

Galen clicked his tongue again, quickly correcting himself, "A handsome house-husband. Is that better?"

"Get out," Franco dropped a single word, grabbing the heavy grocery bags and heading straight into the suite's private kitchen, completely abandoning the mountain of urgent corporate documents on the table.

"Degenerate."

Galen eyed the neglected paperwork and voiced his judgment.

"Tyrant."

Once Franco was out of sight, he added one more for good measure: "Hopeless romantic."

But the mention of Franco cooking lunch for Petty sparked a thought in his own head. He pulled his phone from his pocket and made a quick call.

"Have Miyabi Dining deliver lunch to the lab at noon. Make sure she doesn't eat those cheap boxed lunches again."

"Right away, Mr. Carter."

Hanging up, Galen opened WeChat and tapped on his pinned chat. The last message he'd sent Livia was from half a month ago—a picture of her ex-boyfriend completely wasted, being practically carried into a hotel by some random woman.

Livia hadn't replied. She had simply blocked him. He had been a bit too rough with her the last few times they were together and had forgotten to commandeer her phone to unblock himself.

Whatever. He'd deal with it once Abacus's situation stabilized.

Eventually, he was going to have a child with Livia too.

He refused to believe she wouldn't stay obediently by his side once they had a kid tying them together.

...

The three days waiting for Abacus to finish his chemotherapy felt agonizingly slow.

Hans had completely cleared his schedule, canceling every single commercial activity just to stay at the hospital, keep Petty company, and wait for Abacus.

He had Petty's meals meticulously prepared under his strict orders. Even if she could only stomach a few bites, he refused to compromise on quality, desperate for her to absorb whatever nutrients she could.

"Why is lunch here so early today?" he asked Aaron.

And why were Aaron and the rest of the bodyguards walking into the room carrying actual plates instead of the usual insulated food boxes?

Four main courses and a soup.

Petty hadn't been able to taste much of anything over the last few days, but the moment the food hit her tongue, it was as if her taste buds had unlocked a hidden memory. She vividly remembered that she really had eaten Franco's cooking before.

Back when she was trapped with him at Misty Vale.

Her grip on her fork tightened. General nudged his warm snout against her leg. She looked down at the dog; he clearly recognized the familiar scent of the food, too.

Hans watched her in silence, silently transferring a few choice pieces of meat into her bowl.

"Don't overthink it. Free food is free food; you might as well eat it. Eating his food is one thing; how you treat him is entirely separate. No one gets to dictate how you feel."

Petty murmured a quiet agreement.

She didn't take an afternoon nap, terrified that sleeping during the day would mean lying awake all night. She stayed up until the sky turned black, obsessively reading through every single one of Abacus's medical files from the day he was born, before finally forcing herself to lie down.

"Baby!"

In the dead of night, Petty jolted awake from a horrific nightmare, drenched in cold sweat, her face ashen.