No Strings Attached

Chapter 180

Just as she was about to speak, Clam heard the unmistakable ringtone of lan’s cell phone cutting through the air.

A glimpse of the caller ID showed Edwin. lan’s expression soured as he reluctantly hit the answer button, prepared to declare catastrophe If it wasn’t crucial. Yet it was Heidi’s piercing walls that erupted from the other side, so shrill that Clara, standing beside him, could hear every note of distress.

Clara’s fingers, hanging limply at her side, involuntarily curled into a fist. This wasn’t the first time Clara had heard Heidi cry over the phone like this. Back before Clam and lan had called it quits, it was a common occurrence.

lan used to dash off to Heidi’s side no matter how late or what he was in the middle of doing. Even if Clara herself had been the one calling for help, he never seemed to be able to make time for her.

The bitterness of those dark days crept onto Clara’s lips as she forced a wry smile and quickened her pace, wheeling her luggage away.

say, “lan, Mrs. Leonora got hit by a car, while she was trying to

upon hearing this. “How is Grandma

so much as a goodbye to Clara, lan’s figure disappeared into the bustling crowd of the airport terminal, his urgency palpable.

fall back into Heidi’s orbit as he had so adamantly voiced. But it wasn’t him who had

an engagement, the longstanding friendship between their families remained, as did the life debt that bound lan to her.

Clara’s lips as she turned to Anders. “Ryker’s here to pick us

the hospital to find Grandma Rose already out of danger, suffering nothing more than a broken leg. But Leonora was another story–unconscious with a

Helena when, at this

the situation at hand, he decided to make a personal