Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 960

You were the girl I secretly loved.

You were my unforgettable Old Flame.

There was never anyone else.

Seth's voice was hopelessly ragged, completely losing his battle for control as he leaned down to press a trembling kiss against her closed eyelids.

Her mind violently flashed to Riley Lynch. Her chest tightened painfully, and she asked in a trembling whisper, "So... the guy who saved me in that alleyway that night... that was you too?"

"Yeah," Seth confessed, his tone impossibly gentle. "I had been secretly following you everywhere back then. I was terrified something bad might happen to you, but I never expected those bastards to actually corner you."

During those agonizing weeks, he had successfully convinced Wade to pull back the bodyguards by swearing he wouldn't do anything reckless or self-destructive again.

He just wanted to be completely alone so he could watch over her from the shadows.

Even if they never formally met, even if they never exchanged a single word.

Just catching a glimpse of her beautiful face gave him the strength to keep breathing for one more day.

Noreen recalled Principal Shaw's horrifying description of the bloodbath—how Seth had mercilessly fought off eight armed attackers completely by himself, shattering his ribs and ending up hospitalized for two weeks just to get her out safely.

The hot tears she had just forced down surged violently right back to the surface.

Seth held her gaze with terrifying intensity, staring straight into the depths of her soul. "What completely broke me was that the very day I was finally discharged and went looking for you, you already had a knight in shining armor standing right by your side."

"And I had to stand there and listen to you explicitly tell everyone that he was your boyfriend."

It truly was a colossal, tragic misunderstanding.

"Why didn't you just ask me the truth later on?" she demanded, absolutely sick with frustration.

Twelve entire years of their lives, completely wasted.

How many decades did a person even get to live?

"I did try to ask you," he murmured bitterly. "You looked me straight in the eyes and said your heart already belonged to someone else. I assumed you meant Dylan."

The mere mention of Dylan's name was enough to make Seth's predatory gaze instantly dim with profound insecurity.

That man's name had triggered him for over a decade.

"I only said that because you were acting so cold and completely dismissive toward me!" Noreen protested, genuinely aggrieved.

"You donated the bone marrow to save my mom's life. I went to see you, and I explicitly offered to do whatever it took to repay the debt."

This was the absolute darkest, most mortifying chapter of Noreen's past, one she desperately wished she could erase entirely.

She had only been an eighteen-year-old girl at the time. She was completely naive to the real world and hopelessly terrible at reading people's intentions.

She had stupidly convinced herself that the only logical reason a powerful man like Seth would help a penniless nobody like her was because he was physically attracted to her.

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