Chapter 950

1:09 AM.

[I swear to God, I really believed that.]

2:15 AM.

[Are you still ignoring me?]

3:09 AM.

[I’m sorry. I’m a complete bastard! Hit me, curse me out, do whatever you want-just please don’t shut me out.]

3:38 AM.

[Noreen, I want to call you so badly.]

The most recent text had been sent thirty minutes ago.

[If I came upstairs to find you right now, would your friend call the cops on me?]

Upstairs?

When he sent that, was he waiting downstairs?

Noreen checked the time again.

It had been almost an hour since then. He was probably gone by now.

She set her phone down and closed her eyes, trying to fall back asleep.

She really was exhausted.

But less than thirty seconds into the silence, her eyes snapped open. She threw off the covers and jumped out of bed.

Ignoring her slippers, she sprinted barefoot to the window and threw open the curtains to peer down.

The streetlights cast a dim, amber glow, throwing long, swaying shadows through the trees.

A man stood bathed in the pale streetlight, looking up at her window from the half- shadows.

Even from a distance, their eyes locked. Noreen’s heart erupted into a frantic rhythm, a strange, overwhelming warmth tearing wildly through her chest.

Seth saw her.

He lifted his phone and dialed her number again.

Noreen answered, but couldn’t bring herself to speak.

The only sound over the line was her shallow, erratic breathing.

“Can’t go back to sleep?” he asked, his voice smooth and steady against the faint

hum of the night breeze.

Noreen hummed softly.

“I was too impatient,” he apologized.

“Did you follow me all the way from the club?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

He had arrived barely a minute after her.

But he hadn’t dared to march upstairs. He had anchored himself downstairs.

Not because he was afraid of Claire

because

calling the police, benet

2fied of pushing Noreen

away for good.

The five hours he spent waiting had been absolute torture.

He had stubbornly fired off message after message.

The silence had slowly driven him insane leading him to fear she had him was the

blokom entirely. ed.

only reason he had finally called.

Thank God.

She had just been asleep and missed them.

She wasn’t shutting him out.

That was why he had told her to go back to sleep.

No matter how desperately he needed to resolve this, her rest came first.

Nothing was more important than her well-being.

“Are you cold?” Noreen asked, her fingers unconsciously twisting the curtain fabric.

The sheer material rustled softly in her grip.

“I’m alright.”

“I didn’t reply to a single text. Why

the hell would you wait out there et

so long

Are you physically

inle of going home t

to sleep?”

“I just wanted to be close to you. I wanted to be right here the exact second you

decided you were ready to talk.”

Noreen fell silent, continuing to twist the curtain.

The rustling sound carried through the phone to Seth.

He paused, then asked with agonizing care, “Are you ready to talk to me now?”

His head was still tilted back, staring fixedly at her window.

“What do you think? Am I having a conversation with a stray dog?”

Even while being insulted, Seth wasn’t angry. He was completely elated.

“Stay right there. I’m coming up!”

Noreen immediately tensed. “Aren’t you scared Claire will call the cops on you?”

“Let her!”

Right now, even if an entire army stood in his way, he would slaughter his way through them just to see her face.

“I’m coming up!”

He was already moving, his strides purposeful and urgent as he marched toward the apartment building.

“Wait!” Noreen hastily stopped him.

Claire was dead asleep; it wasn’t fair to wake her up over this mess.

Releasing her death grip on the curtain, she spoke into the phone. “I’ll come down.”