The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 235

During the years Nora was missing, Mrs. Xavier had wept every single day, nearly crying herself blind.

When they finally found her in that run-down St. Jude's Children's Home on the west side of the city, the once bright and bubbly little girl was nothing but skin and bones. She was covered in purple bruises, her eyes filled with nothing but defensive terror.

Mrs. Xavier had rushed forward to hug her daughter, but Nora had shrieked and recoiled, shrinking back in pure panic while screaming, "Don't hit me!"

She had been completely consumed by guilt, wishing she could take on all of her daughter's suffering.

They brought Nora home and tried everything to make up for it. They bought her the best clothes, hired the most expensive tutors, and tried to hand her the absolute best the world had to offer.

But the deep fractures carved into her during those years at the orphanage were permanent.

After returning to the Xavier family, Nora never snuggled into her mother's arms again. She never opened her heart to them.

There was always a transparent, bulletproof glass between mother and daughter—polite, distant, and overly cautious.

Later, when Nora reached her teenage years, Mrs. Xavier watched helplessly as her daughter became completely obsessed with Gideon, pouring her entire soul into him like a woman possessed.

From the very beginning, Gideon made his stance perfectly clear. He ignored all of Nora's affection, his eyes and heart entirely consumed by his adopted sister.

Mrs. Xavier had tried to warn her a million times in private. She cried, she scolded, she warned Nora that a one-sided love like this would only end in agony.

But Nora stubbornly pursued him anyway, blindly trailing behind Gideon for seven agonizing years.

Finally, riding the coattails of Silas Hayes' dying wish, Nora successfully signed the marriage agreement and became the Mrs. Hayes that everyone envied.

At the time, Mrs. Xavier had felt secretly relieved.

She genuinely believed that once her daughter married the man she loved, even if Gideon didn't love her yet, feelings would naturally blossom over time.

She thought that marriage certificate would be the ultimate guarantee for Nora's lifelong security and happiness.

For the past three years, the only reason the company had managed to maintain its glossy facade in The Metropolis's high society—and secure loans to stay afloat—was purely because of their status as "the Hayes family's in-laws."

The second news of a divorce broke, the opportunistic investors would pull their capital. The Xavier family wouldn't just lose their biggest backer; they would instantly become the laughingstock of the elite circle.

And besides, what would Nora do if she divorced?

A discarded woman tossed out by the Hayes family? How would the ruthless socialites and heiresses treat her? How many people would spit on her behind her back?

What could this crumbling Xavier family possibly use to protect her?

"Stop crying."

Mr. Xavier's voice was hoarse as he cut her off. "Nora is just acting out in anger. She got mistreated over there, so she came running home to vent. As her parents, we can't let her make a foolish mistake."