The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 122

“I'll be right there.”

Gideon barked into the phone and immediately hung up.

He strode to the entryway and snatched his car keys off the rack.

He turned back and looked at Nora, who was still sitting on the sofa.

“Sorry, I have to go. Giselle fell at the manor.”

Gideon threw the words over his shoulder as he hastily shoved his arms into his coat.

Nora sat motionless, watching his back as he frantically changed his shoes.

Just minutes ago, he was touching her face, gazing at her with such profound affection, making it seem like she was the most important person in his world.

But now, it only took one phone call from Giselle, a few complaints about a sore ankle, to shatter every illusion of romance between them.

Giselle didn't even need a legitimate crisis. She just needed to shed a few tears, and Gideon would drop absolutely everything to rush to her side in an absolute panic.

Nora's fingers dug viciously into the fabric of the sofa.

“It's just a minor injury. There are so many maids and butlers at the manor, they can handle it.”

Nora stared at his back, her voice trembling slightly as she made one final, desperate attempt to make him stay. “Do you... really have to go right this second?”

Gideon's hands paused on his shoes.

He turned and glared at her.

His eyes were entirely consumed by anxiety, his brows knitted together furiously, completely unable to fathom why Nora would try to stop him at a time like this.

“Giselle has had a fragile constitution since she was a child. She's hurt, and no one else can calm her down.”

Gideon's voice was laced with blatant impatience and reprimand. “She is my sister. I have to go check on her. Go to sleep.”

Without another word of explanation, without a shred of comfort.

Giselle was the absolute, unquestionable priority in his life. And Nora was just the convenient option he could discard at any given moment.

She bit down hard on her lip, her hands gripping the edge of the cushions.

What was there to be sad about?

Weren't these facts she had known all along?

Over the past three years, this exact scene had played out countless times. Every time she stupidly believed he was starting to care about her, Giselle would miraculously appear, using some extreme, highly effective method to snatch him right back.

When boiling soup was poured on her, he didn't care. When she was abandoned at the dinner table, he didn't care. Now she had just been abandoned again. What was the big deal?

Since he was gone, that was perfect. She could stay up all night and finish drafting that technical proposal in peace.

In this world, Gideon's care could be revoked at any moment, and family warmth always came with a price tag. Only the design blueprints under her hands would never betray her.

She had stopped caring a long time ago.