The Hide and Seek Game That Lasted a Lifetime novel Chapter 27

Chapter 17

“You want me to just hand over the Whitmore Group—to him?!” Chase’s voice cracked under the weight of disbelief and fury. His eyes blazed as he stared across the table at Dominic, who sat there with an unnerving calmness, barely moving except for a subtle nod.

“Do you really have any other choice?” Dominic’s tone was steady, almost indifferent, as if the decision was already made.

Nora leaned slightly toward Dominic, her expression composed and serene, completely unaffected by Chase’s outburst. “Chase, nobody is trying to destroy you. This is all on you,” she said quietly but firmly.

“I did this to win you back!” Chase’s desperation was palpable, his voice trembling. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and with urgency, he blurted out, “If I merge the company, will that mean you forgive me? Will you come back to me then?”

Nora’s reply was icy and final. “I will never go back to you.”

Her words hit him like a blow, but there was more. “Because I’m pregnant—with Dominic’s child. Chase, it’s over.”

The double shock shattered whatever hope remained inside Chase. His body reacted before his mind could catch up; he lunged at Dominic, fury fueling his every move. The two men grappled fiercely, but Dominic’s strength and control quickly overwhelmed Chase, who was left sprawled on the floor, his face swollen and bleeding.

“Chase,” Dominic said coldly, looking down at him with a mixture of disgust and contempt, “if it weren’t for the fact that you once saved my fiancée’s life, I’d have no mercy. You don’t deserve prison—you deserve damnation.”

The Whitmore Group, once a symbol of Chase’s pride and power, crumbled under the weight of his mistakes. Ultimately, he was forced to merge it into the Faulkner Group, reducing it to nothing more than a subsidiary.

Not long after, the law caught up with him. Chase was arrested for distributing illegal videos online—a final nail in the coffin of his downfall.

“Mr. Whitmore, you are under investigation for coercing an abortion against the woman’s will. Please come with us,” the officers informed him sternly.

After a thorough investigation confirmed the allegations, Chase was formally detained. Despite everything, he pleaded repeatedly for a final meeting with Nora. Reluctantly, she agreed.

In the cold, sterile prison visiting room, Chase held the receiver of the prison phone, silence stretching between them like an unbridgeable gap. Finally, Nora broke it. “Why did you call me here, Chase?”

His head shook slowly, eyes reddened with unshed tears. “I just wanted to see you one last time.”

There was a long pause, then he spoke again, voice trembling. “Nora… I did love you. I didn’t marry you just to solve my financial problems. I really had feelings for you.”

Those words—simple but heavy with meaning—were what Nora had waited seven long years to hear.

But the visit was over.

As the guards came to escort her away, Chase’s eyes locked on hers with desperation. Suddenly, he mouthed something with all the strength he had left.

Nora understood immediately.

He was asking, “Do you still love me?”

A single tear traced down her cheek, but her lips curved into a gentle, resolute smile. She shook her head.

“No.”

Not anymore.

Not for a very long time.