His gaze fell to his own legs, memories flooding back of the three months at the forest lodge. How did Liora care for him day and night? Could it be possible that his legs had actually healed because of her?
His mind spun in chaos. One moment, he remembered her devotion; the next, he recalled all the sacrifices she had made for him.
How long was she going to keep up this game?
She’d run away before. He remembered how she had smashed a bowl and stormed out after he’d thrown away her carefully brewed medicine for seven days straight. But she always came back to coax him in the end.
It had always been this way. But this time, it had been four whole days. She still hadn’t returned to beg him.
Was she really planning to leave him?
The thought twisted in his chest, a suffocating ache rising as he imagined the possibility.
How could he care about a woman as useless as Liora?
As he looked at the messages from his friends, urging him to call her and check, Jaxon began to hesitate.
Forget it. It had been ten years. Lowering his pride once wouldn’t hurt. He'd give her a small reward, and she’d know how to serve him properly next time instead of constantly irritating him.
He asked the housekeeper for a backup phone, opened the contacts, and dialed the number, but no name was saved.
After a pause, a mechanical voice echoed in his ear.
"Sorry, the number you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later..."
He tried again. Same result.
What did that mean?
Confused, he opened their message thread and sent her a text.
A second later, the chat window blinked with an exclamation mark and a prompt: You have been blocked.
