The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 203

Gideon despised her so much. At the old estate, he had told her to get the hell out just for touching some old belongings. At the atelier, for the sake of a slap Giselle had taken, he had watched coldly as his bodyguards returned a hundred slaps to Janie.

He believed she was a vicious woman who targeted Giselle at every turn, and even just a few hours ago in the pouring rain, he had used the most ruthless words to warn her to put away her malicious thoughts.

How could such a high-and-mighty man, who tossed her aside like trash, brave the freezing winter rain to find her in a cheap, noisy tavern smelling of bottom-shelf booze?

Right now, he should be sitting in the CEO's office on the top floor of The Hayes Group orchestrating his empire, or in the warm living room of the estate, keeping his beloved Giselle company.

The tall figure stopped beside the bar.

A familiar scent—a mix of crisp cedar and the cold bite of the rain—quietly invaded Nora's breathing space.

Nora tilted her head back, looking at the man standing before her.

Even for a hallucination, this phantom was far too convincing.

He looked down at her from his imposing height, his eyes swirling with complex emotions she couldn't read. His brows were slightly furrowed as his gaze swept over the mostly empty whiskey bottle in front of her.

Nora shifted her head, burying her face back in the crook of her arm, trying to banish this sickening alcohol-induced illusion from her mind.

But even knowing it was fake, even knowing his eyes only saw Giselle, her liquor-addled brain remained completely out of her control.

Large teardrops spilled from her eyes without warning, sliding down the bridge of her nose. The tears blurred her vision, making the Gideon before her look even more twisted and unreal.

Nora didn't wipe them away.

She just lay there, letting the floodgates open.

Since it was just a hallucination, since she was finally in a corner with no one around, she could drop all her armor and false strength.

That half a cracker, that warm back, had become her sole source of faith in fighting off all the darkness and despair over the past eighteen years.

But when she finally married him full of hope, eager to awaken that shared memory, she realized it had been a one-woman show all along.

"Why did you only care about protecting Giselle... when she showed up... and completely forgot about me?"

You gave me that warmth first.

We met first.

Before Giselle was even sent there, he had given her warmth too. In that tool shed where even the air smelled of mold, she and he had survived the coldest winter together.

She remembered it vividly—the heat of his fingers, his dark, stubborn eyes, and his thin silhouette protecting her in the dark.