Love Me Back (Amelia and Daniel) novel Chapter 91

Winter sunlight never lasted long; before you knew it, the clouds would roll in, cloaking the sky in a dull gray.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, daylight faded by degrees. No one could say exactly when it happened, but soon enough, night swallowed the city, and neon lights flickered on, one after another.

Daniel hadn’t moved an inch since an hour ago. He sat slouched in his chair, gaze fixed and unblinking on the darkening world beyond the glass.

Anyone walking in might have thought he’d been frozen in place by some magic spell.

His assistant finally entered, a neat folder in hand. “Mr. Campbell, once you sign these, you’re done for the day.”

Daniel blinked back into the present, swiveled his chair, and reached for his pen.

The assistant’s eyes drifted to the ashtray on the desk—overflowing with cigarette butts. Daniel had always smoked, but never like this, not even under the worst work stress.

As the assistant collected the signed papers, he hesitated, then said quietly, “You really should cut back on the cigarettes, Mr. Campbell.”

Daniel barely nodded, expression unreadable.

Just then, his phone buzzed on the desk. Daniel glanced at the screen, ignored the call, and let it ring out. He didn’t want to talk to anyone.

A message came through immediately after. He skimmed it with a detached eye—he already knew what it was about, and wanted nothing to do with it.

But the sender was persistent, firing off more texts, then a long voice message—one of those drawn-out sixty-second recordings no one ever wants to listen to.

With a sigh of clear irritation, Daniel stretched out his long, elegant fingers, picked up the phone, and typed out a reply with a kind of lazy defiance:

“Send one more and I’ll block you—even if you’re my mother.”

. . .

Deep into the night, when the world was quiet and dreams were at their sweetest, Amelia was jolted awake by her phone buzzing on the desk. Eyes still closed, she fumbled for the phone and answered, half-asleep.

“Why don’t you love me anymore?” Daniel’s voice was thick in her ear.

Still drifting somewhere between sleep and waking, Amelia thought she must be dreaming. She mumbled an incoherent response.

He pressed on, “You used to love me. Why don’t you now?”

“So, does love really just fade away?”

“Don’t let it go, okay? Just try a little. Find that feeling again. I won’t blame you.”

That last part finally cut through her sleep-fog. Amelia sat up, checked the caller ID—no, this wasn’t a dream. Daniel had really called her in the dead of night.

Was he insane? Waking people up at this hour, rambling about love and feelings? He must be out of his mind.

She was about to unleash a tirade when another voice interrupted—Finley, sounding apologetic. “Sorry to bother you, Amelia. Daniel’s had too much to drink. He’s just talking nonsense.”

Amelia spent the morning in her lab, then headed to the hospital in the afternoon to visit Sophia. Zachary happened to arrive at the same time.

Sophia had just lost a video game, her phone blaring the unmistakable ‘defeat’ jingle—a sound that had haunted the room for days. Amelia plucked the phone from her hand. “Quit dragging your team down if you’re only playing with one hand.”

Sophia huffed. “Even one-handed, I can carry the team. It’s not my fault they’re all hopeless.”

“Of course,” Amelia said, humoring her. “Every team you’re on magically starts losing. What a coincidence.”

Sophia reached over and mock-choked her.

Zachary watched their antics with a smile, then handed a peeled apple to Sophia. “Here, fuel up before your next match.”

Amelia’s eyes darted between Sophia and Zachary, a knowing grin on her lips. Zachary just smiled and started peeling another apple. “Has Mr. Campbell still not signed the papers?”

Sophia bit into the apple with extra force, as if it were Daniel’s head. “That bastard—messing around with his mistress, refusing to sign the divorce papers. He’s even worse than the guys on those trashy TV dramas. I spit on him!”

Zachary shook his head. “If he refuses to sign, it’ll be hard to move forward.”

Amelia stood, phone in hand. “I’ll make a call.”

Grace wasn’t surprised to hear from Amelia. What did catch her off guard was how often their usually distant relationship had turned into frequent contact—all thanks to the looming divorce.