The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 361

Nora leaned back against the freezing, rough concrete wall, her legs curled up weakly, her eyes entirely devoid of light.

The exact moment Gideon had his hands wrapped around her throat, she saw the undeniable intent to kill in his eyes.

He truly wanted to end her life.

If Liam York hadn't desperately invoked Giselle's name to stop him, Gideon would have snapped her neck without a second thought, sending her to the grave with Giselle.

Julian walked over from the bed and stood over Nora, looking down at her crumpled form on the ground.

He slowly crouched down, bringing his eyes level with her pale, oxygen-deprived face.

Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, those eyes that were usually so gentle and warm now harbored nothing but pure, unfiltered malice and vengeance.

"Nora."

Julian spoke, his voice eerily soft, yet dripping with a bone-chilling venom.

"Just to save that pathetic studio of yours, to keep your people employed, what did you promise me?"

He stared dead into Nora's eyes. "You promised me that you would quietly play your role as Mrs. Hayes, and that you would never touch a single hair on Giselle's head."

"I didn't..."

Nora parted her lips, barely squeezing a faint, raspy breath from her painfully dry throat.

She tilted her head back, tears endlessly tracking down the corners of her eyes.

"It really... wasn't me..."

She tried to explain, to tell Julian that she was tricked onto the roof by The Anonymous Email, and that Giselle had already fallen the second she opened the door.

Julian didn't give a damn about her pathetic excuses. His right hand shot forward, viciously grabbing a handful of Nora's hair and violently jerking her head up, forcing her to look him in the eye.

Gideon, who had been slumped on the floor, jerked his head up at those words.

"She is a Hayes!"

Gideon forced himself to stand, glaring at Julian with wildly bloodshot eyes, his voice ruined but unyielding. "Her funeral will be held at The Hayes Manor. It's not your place to interfere."

Gideon's fists were clenched so tight the veins on the back of his hands pulsed violently.

Giselle belongs to the Hayes family.

Julian stood his ground. Facing Gideon's explosive fury, he didn't retreat a single inch.

He scoffed, his eyes sweeping over Gideon's bloody, utterly pathetic state with blatant mockery.

"Gideon, this is how you protected Giselle?!"