Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 283

“No wonder my kid always calls me an idiot. I really was so clueless back then.”

“No, you’re actually smart—you just follow Landon’s lead.”

“Why do I get the feeling you two are calling me a spineless fence-sitter in a roundabout way?”

Noelle slumped to the floor, disbelief clouding her eyes.

She never imagined that all those people who once flattered and coddled her would now turn their backs and walk away without a second thought.

Had their kindness all been a lie?

“No, that can’t be. It’s impossible. I saved Landon’s life—there’s no way he’d treat me like this.”

Noelle refused to accept the reality staring her in the face.

She staggered to her feet and stumbled out of the hospital.

“Mr. Ford, should we head back to Eastlight Estate?” the driver asked.

Landon pressed his aching temples, Zinnia’s cold voice from the phone still echoing in his mind, tightening something in his chest.

At last, he spoke, weary and drained, “No. Take me to Royal Bay.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the car had left the hospital and driven a while, Charles—sitting up front—heard Landon’s low voice from the back seat.

“There’s one more thing I need you to look into. Whatever it takes.”

When Charles heard what Landon wanted him to investigate, he fell silent.

That was over a decade ago, and you want me to dig it up now?

Why didn’t you do this back then?

Anyone could see that the so-called “angel” was never the selfless type. If you’d just done your homework years ago, maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess now.

Noticing Charles’s silence and the tangled look on his face, Landon’s brows drew together, cold and sharp.

“Is it impossible to check?”

“Ms. Quinn, here’s your pen,” the store manager said, handing over an elegantly wrapped box.

“Thank you.”

Without checking the gift box, she slipped it into her bag and spent the rest of the morning wandering the mall with Dapper.

By the time she’d loaded up on toys and snacks for him, it was already midday.

That’s when she got a message from Yuri.

[I'm about to ascend the throne. Make sure you’re at the airport to greet me.]

Zinnia chuckled when she saw the word “ascend”—unsure if Yuri had misspelled “ascend” instead of “board” or was just being dramatic.

She replied:

[Of course, I’ll be there to welcome you with all due pomp.]

After sending the message, she paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that in three years of marriage to Landon, she’d never once felt so at ease joking with him.