The Love I Begged For Was Never Real novel Chapter 69

She held his gaze without flinching. "Are you speaking as the devoted brother who obsesses over his adopted sister, or as the ruthless CEO ready to kick me out on the street?"

The air in the car instantly turned to ice.

He narrowed his eyes, a dangerous tension pooling between them.

"Capacity?"

He let out a dark chuckle, as if she'd just told a hilarious joke. "As your legal husband, obviously."

"We are divorced!"

She snapped, her chest heaving heavily. She was exhausted from repeating those words, but the man beside her stubbornly refused to acknowledge them.

"Until my signature is on those papers, you are Mrs. Hayes. Until that divorce certificate is stamped, you belong to my family. And I will not tolerate you dragging my name through the mud while wearing my ring."

Staring at her defiant face, raw anger torched through his veins. He had to shatter this pathetic facade she was using to try and push him away.

"Don't forget, Nora. You begged for this marriage."

He ruthlessly ripped apart her last shred of dignity, every word a fatal strike. "What gives you the right to end this whenever you feel like it? You were the one who groveled to join this family. You signed the prenuptial agreement of your own free will."

"You swore an oath by my grandfather's deathbed to stand by the Hayes family for the rest of your life. Now you're tired and want to run? Too late."

A suffocating silence blanketed the vehicle.

He had mercilessly exhumed her most pathetic, buried memories, parading the bloody remains right in front of her.

He was right. She had begged for it.

For three years, he had abandoned her in that massive estate. Where was he when she was sick? Where was he when she was being mocked in public? He only ever showed up when Giselle called. And now he wanted to police her wardrobe and social circle? What a sick joke.

A deathly hush settled over the interior.

Gideon watched her averted profile. She was practically glued to the door, her fragile shoulders shaking slightly. The faint scent of champagne drifted through the air, mixing with her natural, clean fragrance.

Seeing her pale skin and reddened eyes didn't bring him the triumphant satisfaction he'd expected. Instead, it triggered an even heavier, infuriating tightness in his chest.

He loathed her rebellion. He hated how she constantly used Giselle to lash out at him, and he absolutely despised how casually she threw around the word 'divorce'.

But seeing her tear down his boundaries with such finality, calmly challenging his authority, stirred an unprecedented panic in his gut. He despised this sudden loss of control, and he hated that she was looking at him like a total stranger.

He had only meant to warn her to stay away from Julian before she got used as a pawn. But somehow, the words had weaponized into a vicious blade the second they left his mouth.