She Took The House The Car And My Heart

Chapter 388:

Watching the tension simmer like a pot on the verge of boiling over, Ethel quietly sat down nearby, choosing the role of silent spectator rather than stepping into the storm.

This wasn’t a scene meant for interruption. It was theater—messy, unscripted, and charged.

“Freya,” Kristian called her name again, his voice a strange cocktail of warmth and ice. “You ought to have at least a shred of conscience. If I end up trapped in a loveless marriage, you’ll carry part of that burden.”

Freya stared at him in disbelief. “How about you try having a little self-respect first?”

“That deal we made? It’s off the table,” Kristian declared, as if reclaiming a lost battlefield. “Instead of staying out of your way, the new arrangement is this—you stay with me until my grandpa finally drops the idea of pushing me to another random woman.”

The declaration seemed to offer him a moment of relief.

Lately, he’d been haunted by regret—why had he ever agreed to terms that gained him nothing? If he failed those three challenges, would that mean losing her forever?

The thought gnawed at him, especially when images of her first love or that ever-hovering Charlie danced through his mind like unwelcome ghosts.

Freya’s brows pinched together. Her voice came low and biting. “Keep dreaming.”

she

caught her arm

by such tactics anymore. She had always been able to shake off his grip with

to slip free using her usual

?????? ??

tried again. Still

time—and still, his hand stayed

would

those other times because I couldn’t stop you?” Kristian leaned in, closing the space between them. The sudden proximity triggered a reflex in Freya.

hated this

liked

at Ethel, who remained seated nearby, and turned back to Freya. “Are you going to come

your luck,” Freya snapped, fury

the fire in her eyes, Kristian’s expression softened—just a

she wasn’t brushing him off like he didn’t

words slow and measured. “The