The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 39

He was used to Nora's bottomless eagerness to please over the past ten years.

She was always revolving around him, catering to his preferences, and absorbing his coldness without complaint.

Subconsciously, Gideon had categorized Nora as just another fixture in the villa—something that would always be exactly where he left it, completely at his disposal.

Now, the fixture had grown legs, walked out, and severed all financial ties.

Gideon mentally replayed the night she left. The divorce agreement left on the console table, the untouched emerald necklace, and now a month of zeroed-out bank statements.

Connecting the dots, Gideon let out a cold laugh.

Playing hard to get.

She probably realized her usual petty tantrums weren't working anymore, so she escalated to a disappearing act, trying to force him to bow his head and look for her.

"Find out where she's living and what she's doing. And check if the Xavier family has been in contact with her."

"We already did."

Liam answered immediately. "She isn't at the Xavier estate. She's staying at an upscale apartment downtown. Furthermore, it appears she... went back to work at the Lawrence Atelier. Her family has been trying to contact her recently, but she's been rejecting all their calls."

Back to work?

Gideon's gaze turned instantly glacial. He didn't even notice his knuckles turning white from gripping the report so tightly.

Was this her way of putting on a show for him? Trying to prove that she could thrive without Gideon Hayes?

Over the past three years, Nora had tried countless tricks to get his attention. She learned to cook meals he never even touched, took pretentious floral arrangement classes, and even went to work as a low-level employee at the Hayes Group—claiming it was to prove her worth and share his burdens.

To Gideon, all of it was meaningless noise. He didn't need a wife who could cook; he had world-class chefs. He didn't need a low-level marketer; the Hayes Group employed thousands of elite executives.

Everything Nora did was just a desperate attempt to prove she was better than Giselle, begging him to look at her.

Now that those old tricks had failed, she had upgraded to running away and leaving without a dime.

She probably realized that groveling and complaining weren't getting her anywhere, so she changed her strategy.

She deliberately took a slap in public without fighting back, deliberately left a signed divorce paper, deliberately walked out penniless, and deliberately stopped using her cards to hide her tracks.