The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 144

She didn't melt into his embrace. Her hands remained resting on her lap, keeping her original posture completely frozen.

Gideon felt her stiffness, but he didn't pull his arms away. His chin brushed lightly against her hair, and with a low voice, slightly raspy from the hangover, he broke the silence himself.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I lost my temper."

His gaze drifted over Nora's shoulder, naturally landing on the coffee table ahead.

His eyes snapped onto the object, locking in place.

Resting quietly on the smooth glass surface were several crisp white pages. The bold black text at the top was glaringly obvious.

It was the divorce agreement he had refused to sign.

He thought the tension between them had thawed recently. He actually believed she had given up on this ridiculous idea.

Gideon let out a breath, a surge of panic creeping into his tone that even he failed to register.

"Why did you bring this out again?"

He reached out, trying to snatch the papers away.

Nora beat him to it, slamming her hand down flat over the agreement, completely blocking his reach.

Staring at her hand covering the pages, the panic in Gideon's chest violently spiked.

"I know I scared you at the manor yesterday."

Gideon's voice came out rushed, totally stripped of its usual iron control. "I admit I lost control of my temper and I got physical. But those things... those things are important to me. They’ve always sat right there, and I can't handle people going through them. Just don't touch them again, okay?"

He genuinely viewed this as a compromise—a mutual step back. He thought of how hard they had worked to bridge the gap lately, and he absolutely refused to let everything reset to zero over this incident.

Listening to him, Nora nodded calmly, having zero desire to argue.

Those things are important to me.

Important enough that he could obliterate her dignity and scream at her. Important enough that, even while apologizing, he still had to furiously defend that territory as his off-limits sanctuary.

A shrill, piercing phone ring violently shattered the silence in the living room.

The noise came from Gideon's phone resting nearby.

The ringtone mercilessly cut off the words trembling on Nora's lips. Gideon glanced at the caller ID, his face immediately dropping into a severe scowl.

He answered the call, listening to the frantic report from the other end, his brow locking into a tight knot.

"I'll be right there. Tell all department heads to assemble in the conference room immediately."

He hung up decisively and bolted off the sofa.

"There's an emergency at the office. I have to go deal with it right now. Put those papers away. I won't sign it."

The front door slammed shut, and his footsteps faded into nothing.

Nora sat perfectly still on the sofa. Staring down at the divorce agreement, she swallowed the words she never got to say, as the living room plunged back into a suffocating, dead silence.