No Strings Attached

At this moment, lan was stripped of all his usual defenses, resembling a pitiful little puppy. His big, doleful eyes begged for sympathy.

Clara's heart felt as though it had been pricked with a needle, which sent waves of sharp pain throughout her chest. She slowly crouched down, gently stroked lan's hair, and whispered softly, "lan, let me take you home."

Red-eyed, lan looked up at her. "Promise you won't leave, and I'll go with you."

"Alright, I promise."

Hearing this, lan stood, albeit unsteadily, and allowed himself to be led away. His grip on Clara's hand never loosened. It was as if he feared he'd lose her the moment he let go.

Upon arriving at the Miller family residence, Clara helped lan clean up a little and tucked him into bed.

His brows still furrowed in distress. When she watched him sleep in this way, she felt a twinge of heartache and softly smoothed his furrowed brow with her fingers. Her fingertips couldn't resist tracing the contours of his handsome face, from his eyebrows to his eyes, from his nose down to his mouth.

skin her fingers caressed, Clara's heart ached in tandem. She knew that after she left, lan would be in pain for a while, and she hoped that time would be as brief as possible. The cool touch of her fingertips lingered on his sensual

leaned in close to lan's lips and murmured hoarsely, "lan,

as pearls, fell one by one onto lan's face. At last, she couldn't hold back any longer

dream. In that dream, Clara had cried. She

racing through his mind, he immediately grabbed his phone to call Clara.

eyes. "I had some stuff to take care of, so I headed back to

you tell

me. You enjoy your time with Grandma Rose and the others. I need to spend some time with my dad

off. Why was Sasha putting herself through all this back and forth while pregnant? Was she going to look for

Paolo, pale as a sheet, was on the phone. "Eddie, what the hell is going on? What do you mean Heidi

now? Don't hurt her. She's innocent," Paolo

a soft spot for this daughter. Her mother must have

watch how you speak to me. I've only ever loved your mother.