Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 959

The harsh wind whipped across the rooftop, violently tangling Noreen's hair around her face.

She desperately racked her brain for a way to talk this stranger off the ledge, but having zero experience with something this dark, all she could manage was a clumsy, "If you jump... your mom is going to be so heartbroken."

A heavy, suffocating silence dragged out before a hollow voice finally drifted back to her.

"My mother is dead," he said.

Realizing how badly she had messed up, Noreen was consumed with guilt and immediately backpedaled. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The man completely ignored her apology, leaning dangerously forward until his toes were perched on the absolute edge of the concrete drop.

Just one more inch, and he would finally be free of all the pain.

He was so incredibly ready to jump. Hitting the pavement meant the end of the inescapable nightmares, the end of the suffocating black tar of despair that was constantly dragging him under.

In Noreen's blurry, tear-filled vision, the dark silhouette swayed forward.

"Wait!" she screamed, pure terror seizing her throat. "I just won the Gold Medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad today! Hey, stranger... can you at least congratulate me?"

Her frantic, tear-choked voice was like a slender silver thread, suddenly wrapping around his ankle and pulling him back from the brink.

That voice didn't belong in his agonizingly dark world. It was a voice entirely devoid of the abyss, untainted by the rot of absolute despair.

"That competition was incredibly hard, but I got a perfect score! Aren't I amazing?"

Seth didn't say a single word, but his body stopped swaying toward the drop.

"I'm going to give this medal to you! Can you keep it safe for me?"

"When I grow up and make a ton of money, you can bring this Gold Medal back to me, and I'll trade you for any present you want!"

She had absolutely no idea how to negotiate with a suicidal person; she just prayed that offering him something to look forward to might anchor him to the living world.

What if the promise of a future reward was enough to make him hesitate?

After a long, stretching pause, the man finally spoke, the ironclad resolve in his voice beginning to fracture. "Can I trade it for something really expensive?"

"Of course! As long as I can afford it, you can have literally whatever you want! You pick!" she yelled back instantly.

Terrified he would change his mind and jump anyway, Noreen carefully placed the gleaming medal on the cold concrete. "I'm leaving it right here! Can you just step back over the ledge and grab it?"

Leaving the prize on the floor, she immediately took several large steps backward to give him space.

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