Delete My Love for You novel Chapter 165

Ryan felt a sting at the tip of his nose. “Mom, I’m fine. Mr. Harrington… Mr. Harrington has been taking good care of me.” He deliberately avoided calling Darren by anything more familiar, clearly mindful of Charlotte’s attitude.

Next to him, Noah stood in a tiny suit, his hair combed perfectly into place. He looked every bit the little gentleman, yet his clear blue eyes couldn’t hide the longing for his mother’s affection. He shuffled forward a step, trying to draw her attention, and called softly, “Mom…”

But the word seemed to ripple right past Charlotte’s heart, leaving no trace.

Charlotte turned back to Ryan. “Ryan, before I was taken away, I asked you to keep an eye on the progress bar on my computer for me. Do you remember how far it got in the end?”

That progress bar represented the success rate of a rescue plan she’d developed, using data from both sides of the experiment. If the odds surpassed fifty percent, she was determined to try.

Ryan opened his mouth to answer, but Darren cut in sharply. “Charlotte, didn’t you hear Noah calling you?”

Charlotte turned toward the voice. Darren was leaning against the wall, hands in the pockets of his tailored pants, his eyes fixed intently on her. Before coming here, he’d counted on Charlotte’s weakness—he knew that seeing Noah, even with his memory gone, would get to her somehow. If he could just awaken her motherly love, she wouldn’t be able to leave him; she’d always be under his control.

But the woman in front of him didn’t even flinch. To Charlotte, Noah might as well have been a stranger, not her own flesh and blood. Darren couldn’t hold back his anger any longer.

Noah, encouraged by his father’s support, opened his mouth as if to call “Mom” again, but Charlotte simply repeated, “Ryan? Do you remember?”

Ryan answered immediately. “Mom, I saw it. It was at one hundred.”

“One hundred?” Charlotte’s face lit up. The algorithm’s calculations were never wrong, which meant her plan would work.

Ryan’s eyes grew wide, listening intently.

Noah, still sniffling in Darren’s arms, couldn’t help but listen too.

Darren’s expression darkened; he had a feeling he knew where this was going.

Charlotte continued, “One day, a squirrel trampled all over the mushrooms the little hedgehog had worked so hard to gather. But she didn’t get upset—she just smiled and said it was all right. Later, the squirrel borrowed her food for the winter. The little hedgehog went hungry but didn’t get angry, thinking maybe the squirrel had just forgotten to return it.”

Her voice grew quieter. “Until one day, the little hedgehog fell into a hunter’s trap. She cried for help, and the squirrel passed by on the path. But the squirrel didn’t even look back.”