The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 138

Did a marriage certificate and a decade of devotion really fail to earn even a shred of his responsibility as a husband?

She was a living, breathing human being too.

Just because she hadn't faced death with him in a kidnapping, just because she hadn't drank his blood when he slit his wrist—did that mean she deserved to spend the rest of her life in this family as an invisible ghost, forever swallowing her pride and backing down?

Nora's shoulders trembled slightly. She wanted so desperately to march right up to Gideon and scream her questions at him. She wanted to ask if he remembered the high fever in the shed, if he remembered the little girl shrinking into the corner, watching him take Giselle away.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the freezing hallway air.

She didn't argue with Franklin, nor did she press further about where Gideon had gone.

She gave Franklin a slight nod.

"Thank you for telling me all of this."

Nora's voice was hoarse, but as stagnant as a dead pool of water.

"Ma'am..."

"I'm going home."

Nora didn't linger another second, turning on her heel toward the foyer.

The driver was already waiting in the first-floor grand hall.

Nora followed him out the front doors of the manor and slid into the black Maybach.

The interior of the car was incredibly warm, but Nora felt as though she had been plunged into an ice cavern. She leaned her head against the window, watching the city nightscape blur past, her eyes hollow and completely out of focus.

The sleek black sedan cruised smoothly down the broad avenue.

"Take a right at the intersection ahead," Nora suddenly spoke, her voice thick and raspy.

Everything she had been proud of, everything she had held onto, was smashed into dust by the suffocating weight of his past.

She didn't know how long she walked before her footsteps finally stopped.

Looking up, her gaze crossed the plaza and landed on a towering high-rise office building.

Driven by sheer subconscious instinct, she had walked all the way to her design studio. In this sprawling, massive city, the studio felt like the only sanctuary left where she could catch her breath.

Half the lights in the lobby were already off, leaving only a few security guards yawning behind the front desk. Nora stood by the planters, glancing up at her floor, which was also pitch black.

She withdrew her gaze, preparing to find a quiet set of steps to sit on for a while.

"Nora?"

A gentle, slightly surprised male voice suddenly rang out in the silent night wind.