Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 95

She walked over to Landon and knelt beside him. Her hand reached out to rest on his thigh, but he instinctively moved away.

Noelle’s eyes dimmed. She kept sobbing, her voice trembling.

“Landon, is it because I’m just useless?”

Landon kept his gaze lowered, silent. Noelle couldn’t tell what was going on in his mind.

She realized that, despite her tears, Landon made no move to comfort her. The more she cried, the more hollow it felt.

Wiping at her cheeks, Noelle’s weeping quieted, her energy spent.

“Landon…”

“If she misunderstood, it means we really have crossed a line,” Landon said suddenly.

His words left Noelle speechless, the disbelief in her eyes only growing.

“Landon…”

“Noelle, you’ll get married someday. You can’t keep coming to me for everything. Otherwise, it’s not just Zinnia who’ll get the wrong idea—your future husband would, too.” Landon’s tone was calm, almost cold. “Of course, if you truly need help, you can always ask Charles. He’ll take care of things.”

Shock rippled across Noelle’s face, her emotions threatening to spill over.

“Landon, do you think I’m a burden too? Are you done with me, just like everyone else?”

Her face had gone pale, her voice rising to a sharp pitch.

She suddenly lost control, shaking her head and muttering brokenly:

“I knew it—I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t even exist, I’m nothing but trouble for anyone who looks at me, I shouldn’t live, I shouldn’t…”

She rocked back and forth, sometimes clutching her head as she crouched on the floor.

Landon saw she was spiraling and quickly got up to steady her.

“Noelle! Noelle, calm down. Please, listen to me!”

But it was as if she couldn’t hear him, lost in a world of her own, repeating over and over:

“I shouldn’t live, I’m just a burden, I ruin everything for everyone.”

She screamed, flinging the knife to the ground.

“Landon, are you okay?”

She scrambled to his side, reaching for his injured hand, but he pulled away before she could touch him.

“This is all my fault, it’s my fault—I lost control, didn’t I? I hurt you, didn’t I? Please, let me see, please?”

Tears streamed down her face as she clung to his hand, making Landon wince in pain.

He tried to pull away, but then the sound of the door code unlocking echoed through the living room. Zinnia stepped inside.

This was the scene she walked in on: Noelle kneeling at Landon’s feet, her hands clutching his, the two of them so close their heads nearly touched, an intimacy that looked, from Zinnia’s perspective, unmistakably tender.

Landon looked up sharply. The moment he met Zinnia’s eyes, he knew she’d misunderstood.

Almost on instinct, he shoved Noelle away from him, sprang to his feet, and hurried toward Zinnia.

“It’s not what it looks like!” he blurted, panic in his voice before Zinnia could even say a word.