No Divorce? The Billionaire's Love Chase! novel Chapter 729

"It's cold out. Let's talk in the car." York bent down to take the suitcase beside Claudia, gesturing for her to get in the car, but she stepped forward to stop him. They stood under the streetlight, and both, as if on cue, turned to look at the gate of the old Ferguson mansion. The courtyard was just as it had always been.

Claudia tilted her head to look at him. "York, do you remember how I used to beg you to push me on the swing when we were little?" York's gaze fell, fixing on her. How could he forget something they had done countless times throughout their childhood? From when she was very small, she would sit on the swing, and he would stand beside her, pushing. When she was a little older and losing her baby teeth, she'd wear her pretty dresses and sit on that swing, and every time he pushed her higher, her laughter seemed to infect everything around them.

Older still, she became more adventurous, always complaining that he wasn't pushing hard enough, not high enough. Back then, as he pushed the swing, he was always worried she would fall, one hand habitually hovering in the air, ready to catch her. And then, she grew up. She would sit on the swing, and every time he pushed, she would turn her head and smile back at him. Her eyes were fiery, brimming with affection. York was lost in his thoughts, unable to pull himself out.

"York," Claudia said, "I've been thinking a lot lately." She paused for a moment before turning to face him fully. Their eyes met. "What you once gave me... it wasn't all tears," she told him. A simple sentence. The rims of York's eyes turned red. "Claudia..." Claudia sighed, forcing a small smile. She said to him, "York, the past, both the good and the bad... it's all over for me now." Even though the old Ferguson mansion now belonged to someone else, this was where she and York had met, and this was where it should end.

York struggled to move his lips, but no sound came out. Claudia bent down and opened the suitcase she had brought. Inside were the two birthday gifts York had given her. The packaging was still intact; she had never opened them. Claudia said to York, "These are the gifts you gave me. I'll keep the jewelry set, but I can't accept these other two." Claudia didn't even need to open them to guess what was inside.

She pulled a bank card from her purse and held it out to York. "You paid a high price to buy back my mother's jewelry. I have to pay you back for that." She had tried to pay him back for it before, but York had secretly given the money to her parents, asking them not to tell her. Now that she had accepted Gideon's proposal, she had to settle things clearly with York.

York's gaze didn't even flicker to the bank card in her hand. He looked into her eyes. "Where did you get this much money to pay me back? Did Gideon give it to you?!" Claudia didn't answer his question directly. "York, I am very happy with my life now. You must take this money." Their eyes met again, and York asked, word by word, "You can use Gideon's money, but you can't use mine?"

Claudia stood her ground. "Because this is my choice. I have no right to keep your money." The money had come from her parents after she accepted Gideon's proposal. They had also told her how York had refused the money back then, secretly giving it to them for their use. Since he misunderstood and thought the money was from Gideon, she decided to let him believe it.