The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 265

Nora's fingers stiffened violently, yet she didn't rip her hand away with her usual aggressive revulsion.

The ride back was suffocated by a profoundly bizarre silence.

Gideon sat right beside her, his right hand still locking down her left.

His palm ran hot, his calloused thumb occasionally swiping unconsciously across the icy skin of her hand.

It was as if the billionaire sitting next to her—the man who had just casually incinerated a fortune while patiently helping her shop—was genuinely a hopelessly devoted husband.

It was as if the insurmountable barrier of Giselle didn't exist, as if Julian's psychological warfare had been wiped clean, and as if they hadn't spent the last three years trapped in a toxic nightmare of cold wars and mutual destruction.

And yet, this entire facade of domestic bliss was aggressively built on the temporary absence of another woman.

Nora could feel it radiating off him—the man's mind wasn't anywhere near her orbit.

Dragging her eyes up from their tangled hands, she stared at Gideon.

While his right hand maintained a death grip on hers, his impossibly handsome face had instantly plunged back into a lethal scowl.

His left hand was working overtime, constantly yanking out his sleek black phone, his thumb frantically swiping across the glass.

He mashed the power button repeatedly. The screen would flare, reflecting his bloodshot, predatory eyes, only to black out moments later in a suffocating void.

Zero missed calls.

Zero message notifications.

And absolutely zero contact from the little girl who usually clung to him, whining for him to rush back and keep her company.

Enraged, he force-quit the app, locked the screen, and hurled the phone onto the empty seat.

Slumping into the leather, Gideon twisted his brow into a violent knot. He shut his eyes, his fingers drumming an erratic beat against his knee.

Nora stated coldly, aiming to shatter this suffocating, hypocritical display of affection.

"There's no emergency,"

Gideon snapped without looking up, his eyes practically trying to laser a text message onto the screen. "We're going straight to the villa. You're injured; quit trying to run around."

Leaning against the window, Nora tried to rip her left hand out of his grip.

It didn't budge.

"Let go of me, Gideon."

Nora's voice dropped into an absolute freeze.

This time, Gideon finally killed the screen with a frustrated sigh. He turned his head, his bloodshot, pitch-black eyes drilling deep into Nora's. The familiar disgust was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, pathetic brand of dominance.