The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 157

Fifteen minutes earlier.

The black Maybach came to a smooth stop by the curb.

Gideon sat in the backseat, his gaze dropping to the space beside him. Resting there was an elegantly packaged dessert box containing the chestnut mousse Nora had lingered on the other day.

Ever since the conflict on the second floor of the manor, the atmosphere at the villa had been suffocatingly tense.

Gideon knew his outburst that day had genuinely frightened Nora. She had grown even quieter over the last few days, leaving early and returning late, the two of them barely speaking.

He had canceled a meeting today and specifically had the driver take a detour to buy the dessert. He wanted to pick her up from work personally, hoping to salvage their rapidly deteriorating relationship.

Gideon stretched his long legs, striding down the carpeted hallway toward the studio's glass doors.

He was still a dozen steps away when a commotion drifted out from inside.

He hadn't paid much attention until a piercing voice cut through the glass, catching his ear.

"Who the hell do you think you are! You bitch!"

Gideon froze, a deep frown instantly carving into his forehead.

That was Giselle's voice.

Why was Giselle here? Hadn't she just returned from Scandinavia? Given how much she despised Nora, there was no way she would willingly step foot in this studio.

A knot of suspicion tightened in Gideon's chest, and he was about to quicken his pace to see what was happening.

Then, Nora's voice—cold, dripping with mockery—sliced clearly through the glass doors and into the corridor.

"You're nothing more than an orphan they picked up from St. Jude's Children's Home... a bloodsucking parasite."

Gideon's footsteps halted abruptly.

His gaze shot past the open doors and landed dead center in the room.

The first thing he saw was Janie standing in the middle, her right hand still suspended in the air in the follow-through of a violent swing.

Following the trajectory of Janie's hand, he saw Giselle's head knocked to the side. Her perfectly curled hair was in disarray, hiding most of her face. But on her pale right cheek, five bright red finger marks were glaringly visible, the skin already beginning to swell.

Gideon's eyes nearly split open with sheer fury.

"Giselle!"

The man let out a feral roar. The dessert box slipped from his grip, hitting the floor and smashing the mousse cake inside to pieces.

Giselle was so dazed by the slap that she could only cup her burning cheek and cry hysterically. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed, completely unaware that Gideon had even entered the studio.

Gideon crossed the room in a few large strides, forcefully shoving aside Sloane and the assistants blocking his path as he rushed straight to Giselle.