Trash Husband, I'm the Top novel Chapter 285

After everything was finally settled, Nora and Louis picked a bright, peaceful afternoon to visit Grandma Grace and Aurora, and to pay their respects to Susan as well.

Payne knelt down with solemn respect, bowing his head in the traditional gesture.

Once Louis led Payne away, Nora lingered at her grandmother’s grave, sitting quietly for a long while.

Outside the cemetery, Louis noticed a man leaning casually against the car door and blinked in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Hans ruffled Payne’s hair, sending the boy off to play nearby. He stayed propped against the car, his usual air of nonchalance unchanged.

“Just came to see you all,” Hans replied.

“All of us?” Louis caught the implication in his tone.

Hans glanced down, thoughtful. “Payne calls you Dad and Nora Mom. Haven’t you ever thought about making it official?”

Louis only chuckled, thinking Hans was joking. “She’s in love with someone else.”

His gaze lingered on Payne, his voice light. “At least for now, her heart still belongs to Daniel.”

Hans fell silent, second-guessing his assumptions. Maybe he’d read things wrong. But regardless of what he suspected, one thing was clear: Nora truly wanted to leave.

“So do you like her?” he pressed.

Louis shot Hans a puzzled look. There was something strange about the way Hans kept pushing the topic, as if he genuinely hoped Louis and Nora would end up together—not just as a joke.

But Louis had someone else on his mind as well.

Hans seemed to pick up on it and tried to reason with him. “You have to look forward, you know. Besides, Payne needs a mom.”

Louis didn’t respond, his brow furrowing. “You… seem to care about her a lot.”

You helped her leave Daniel, and now you’ve come all this way to encourage me to be with her.

He remembered hearing that the Cooper family had once lost a daughter, a girl who’d vanished and never been found. Could it be that Nora was—

Hans didn’t elaborate. He just gave Louis’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Think about what I said.”

“You…” Louis started, wanting to ask why Hans didn’t tell all this to Nora directly.

Ever since she’d started the divorce proceedings with Daniel, she hadn’t felt this light or at ease. Her mood had never been better, which did wonders for her appetite—especially with Louis’s skills in the kitchen.

So, she wasn’t about to be picky.

The three of them made their way back, laughter and conversation trailing behind them.

At the front door, they found Mrs. Winters waiting, her eyes red and puffy. Clearly, Louis’s departure had hit her hard.

“Louis,” she called, her voice thick with hurt.

Nora led Payne inside, leaving them privacy.

“What brings you here?” Louis offered her a seat in the little garden by the door.

Tears glistened in Mrs. Winters’s eyes, her expression torn between anger and fear. “Louis, I came because I want you to come home.”

“If you don’t want to follow the family’s plans, I won’t force you. But staying here—are you really willing to throw away your future?”

Louis tapped his temple. “Lately I keep having dreams—hazy flashes of things that happened before. I want to stay here a while, see if I can remember.”