The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 119

Julian's voice was low. “Nora, you don't always have to credit your success to others. You have your own brilliance.”

The atmosphere in the booth shifted into a delicate silence.

Julian looked at her calm face, a thoughtful gleam passing behind his lenses.

“In this circle, many people get used to swallowing their pride, thinking that endless compromise will buy them peace. But the opposite is usually true.”

He paused, looking directly into Nora's eyes.

“You are an incredibly talented designer. You deserve to stand on a higher pedestal, rather than being trapped by burdens and grievances that don't belong to you.”

“If there ever comes a day when you feel tired, or if you need any help, the doors at Pierce Investments are always open to you. And I don't just mean for business.”

Nora looked up at him. Her reflection was clear in Julian's eyes, and beneath that almost blunt gentleness lay a startling, probing proposition.

He was hinting that as long as she was willing to walk away from the Hayes family, to leave the marriage that had left her covered in scars, he could offer her a completely new safe haven.

“Sometimes I wonder, if you hadn't stayed in the country and had gone abroad to study instead, would your eyes look a little more carefree today?”

Nora's fingers tightened around her glass.

He always did this—casually brushing against the deepest regrets buried in her heart.

She was grateful for the professional support Julian had given her, but she had no intention of using her personal life as a bargaining chip.

She had suffered endlessly in this marriage and had long since lost the courage to trust another man.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Julian.”

Nora set down her cup and sat up straight, her tone shifting to something much more formal. “The studio is stabilizing nicely, and my personal life is fine. I will repay your company's faith in me with the best designs possible.”

She drew a clear, absolute boundary between them in the most graceful way possible.

He hadn't let his driver do it. He held the umbrella himself, standing at the base of the steps as the rain slid down the canopy, smashing into the asphalt and splashing fine mist into the air.

The man's features looked even more imposing in the gloomy weather. He looked up, his penetrating gaze sweeping past the steps and landing dead center on Nora and the man standing beside her.

Their eyes met.

The air outside the tea house seemed to freeze in place.

Standing next to Nora, Julian watched Gideon in the rain. The smile on his lips remained polite, but his eyes grew visibly cold.

Gideon didn't spare Julian a single glance. His eyes were locked solely on Nora. Seeing her standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Julian, watching them walk out of the same private tea house, that familiar surge of dark irritation boiled over in his chest.

“Nora.”

Gideon's voice cut through the rain, steady and crystal clear. “Come here.”