The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 331

Gideon watched Nora's face, damp with a feverish sheen brought on by the drug's torment.

Was this the confidence she kept parading around when she demanded a divorce?

In the hospital corridor, she had sworn to Lucia Xander that she was going to end this marriage, that she would leave the Hayes family and live her own life.

She had actually believed that once she shed the title of Mrs. Hayes, she would effortlessly thrive in the cutthroat corporate world.

Instead, she had reduced herself to this miserable, pathetic state.

She lacked even the most basic ability to protect herself, failing to dodge a spiked drink and carelessly serving herself up on someone else's chopping block.

If she truly left the protection of the Hayes Manor, without the deterrence of the Head of the Hayes Empire backing her, Nora wouldn't last three days in The Metropolis.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

The woman in his arms suddenly let out a pained whimper.

Gideon's train of thought was severed.

The churning anger, the sharp mockery, and the harsh criticisms in his mind instantly crumbled the moment he caught sight of a single, involuntary tear slipping from the corner of her eye.

He lifted his large, sculpted hand, using his dry, warm palm to gently brush aside the damp strands of hair clinging to her forehead.

"You're safe now."

He spoke in a low voice, desperately suppressing the rage boiling in his chest. His tone echoed with startling clarity in the quiet cabin of the car.

Tortured by the drug, Nora thrashed uncomfortably, twisting her body to seek out any trace of coolness while her hands grasped blindly at the empty air.

Gideon immediately tightened his grip, pressing her firmly against his chest to put a stop to her erratic movements.

He didn't know when, but Nora had opened her eyes. Her usually cool, stubborn gaze was now clouded with a hazy mist, half-open and entirely unfocused.

Driven purely by bodily instinct, she reached out with a scorching hand and clutched his trench coat with an iron grip.

"So hot..."

She whimpered in sheer agony, her voice heavy with the threat of tears. That fragile tug forcefully halted Gideon in his tracks.

He froze.

Turning his head, his gaze followed the fabric down to the hand gripping his coat.

Nora was holding on as if her life depended on it, her knuckles white from the strain.

Using the fabric as leverage, she struggled to push her upper body off the mattress, leaning directly toward him.