The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 230

Soon enough, Gideon pulled out three black sketchbooks with yellowing edges from the very back of the drawer.

"Are these the ones?"

Gideon straightened up, holding the sketchbooks, and turned to look at Nora.

Nora stared at the items in his hands, a flash of surprise crossing her eyes.

She had only said it offhandedly, never expecting him to actually dig them out from that chaotic pile of junk.

"Give them to me."

Nora masked her surprise, holding out her hand to him, her tone remaining frosty.

Gideon stepped forward and handed over the sketchbooks.

Nora took the files, turned around, and sat in the chair in front of her desk, casually pressing the power button on the desktop tower.

This was the computer she had left at home before marrying into the Hayes family; it was already showing its age.

The tower emitted a faint humming sound, and the screen lit up, transitioning to a blue login screen with a white password input box in the center.

Nora rested her hands on the keyboard, just about to type the numbers, when her movements abruptly froze mid-air.

She remembered.

Over their three years of marriage, she had returned home only a handful of times, leaving this computer completely unused, which meant the boot password had never been changed.

The password was Gideon's birthday.

The Nora from back then had her heart and eyes so completely full of Gideon that she wanted to brand every detail of her life with his mark. All she ever thought about was how to please this man.

She treated his birthday, his preferences, and his dietary restrictions as her most sacred creeds, going so far as to set her home computer's login password to his birthday.

When she first set that password, she even fantasized that if Gideon ever discovered this little secret, he might feel the slightest ripple of emotion.

After marrying into the Hayes family, amidst endless disappointment and cold violence, she had changed all the passwords she used regularly. The only thing she had missed was this old computer left at her parents' house.

Nora's face went dark, cursing herself silently. She withdrew her hands, turned her head, and cast a wary glance at Gideon, who was standing nearby.

Standing beside her, Gideon watched her bizarre and awkward behavior, raising an eyebrow.

"Is the computer broken?"

Gideon's gaze lingered on the black screen for a second. "I'll have Liam York send over a new one."

"Don't trouble yourself."

Nora stood up and directly grabbed the phone off the desk. "I'll just take pictures with my phone."

She held the phone in one hand, her thumb swiping quickly across the screen as she tapped into the file management app.

The screen was jam-packed with folders. As her finger scrolled to the next page, she accidentally bumped an audio file nearby.

In the quiet bedroom, a young woman's artificially sweet voice suddenly rang out.

"Nora, did you really think..."

It was Giselle's voice.