The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 207

Gideon stared at Nora's alcohol-flushed cheeks.

Regarding Nora's past, the Xavier family had once provided an official narrative.

They claimed this eldest daughter had gone missing as a child, suffered greatly on the outside, and was only found later.

The Xaviers deliberately concealed her exact whereabouts during the time she was lost.

Missing. Orphanage. Memories.

These keywords collided and assembled in Gideon's mind.

She went missing for a few years and just happened to stay at that exact same shady orphanage on the west side with him? Just happened to become one of the blurred background figures in his memory?

Gideon sneered inwardly, dismissing the absurd thought.

There were so many shelters and rescue stations in The Metropolis; how could there be such a coincidence in the world?

If she had really stayed at that orphanage, the Xavier family would have made a huge spectacle out of it long ago to forge closer ties between the two families.

Moreover, there were hundreds of kids in that orphanage. He couldn't possibly take responsibility for every single person who had benefited from his favors.

Having seen his fair share of deceit and scheming in the business world, Gideon habitually viewed everything through a lens of suspicion.

Was this yet another trick she concocted to grab his attention?

Nora was simply too calculating.

She would sneak around the old estate to flip through his most deeply hidden photo albums, and publicly humiliate Giselle using vicious words like "bloodless adoptee."

But Nora's reaction was unusually fierce. With surprising strength, she locked her ten fingers tightly together behind his neck, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder, refusing to let go.

The usually poised and dignified Mrs. Hayes had zero regard for her image right now. She wept pitifully, her fingers gripping the collar of his coat in a death grip, treating him like some heinous, heartless scoundrel.

"Nora, let go."

Gideon spoke with strained patience, his voice low.

Nora turned a deaf ear, merely continuing to cry as hot tears streamed down the skin of his neck.

"Let go, you're drunk."

But she just clung to him tightly, her entire body wrapping around him like a suffocating vine.