If you are looking for While I Was Bleeding Out He Lit Lanterns For Her Chapter 1 read online…
Chapter 444
Chapter 444:
His gaze dropped involuntarily. He scanned her chest, searching for the heavy sapphire brooch. It was not there. His eyes moved to her left wrist. Completely bare.
He swallowed hard. His heart gave a violent kick against his ribs. He forced his eyes back up to her face.
“How was your weekend in the Hamptons?” Crawford asked, his voice a low, cautious rasp. He was bracing himself for the executioner’s blow.
June let out a long, heavy sigh and raised her free hand to rub her temple. She looked thoroughly annoyed.
“It was a disaster,” she said, dropping her guard entirely. “Old Mr. Clements is impossibly stubborn. He created a massive, humiliating scene at dinner p>
Crawford stopped breathing.
“He practically forced his family’s heirloom brooch onto me,” June continued, her tone laced with pure frustration. “He had a cardiac episode right at the table — his doctor was in a panic. I had absolutely no choice but to temporarily accept it just to keep his heart rate from spiking p>
She reached into her large leather tote and pulled out a heavy, matte-black security lockbox with a biometric keypad. She set it on the small café table with a solid thud.
“The brooch is in here,” June said, tapping the reinforced steel lid. “It is worth a ridiculous amount of money, and I am arranging professional armored transport to return it to the estate today. I refuse to keep it another twenty-four hours p>
Crawford’s mind went completely blank.
For three full seconds, the noise of the coffee shop ceased to exist. Then a wave of pure, unadulterated relief crashed through him with the force of a tsunami, washing away every hour of freezing rain, every drop of poisonous jealousy, every crack in his palm.
𝘛𝗁𝗲 𝗯еs𝘁 𝗋еa𝘥𝘪ոg е𝗑р𝘦𝗿іe𝗇ce 𝗼𝗇 ѕ.𝘤𝗈𝗺
She was not keeping it. She was rejecting the Clements claim entirely.
June looked up at him. She noticed that his bloodshot gray eyes had become suddenly, almost feverishly bright.
“Are you alright?” she asked, studying him.
Crawford pressed his fingernails into his injured palm to stop himself from reaching out and pulling her against his chest. A slow, quiet, entirely victorious smile spread across his face.
“I am perfectly fine,” Crawford said, his voice smooth and steady once more. “As it happens, my private security team is currently available. I can have my men escort the box to a secure appraiser and handle the transport back to the Hamptons personally. Free of charge p>
June hesitated. She glanced at the lockbox, then back at him. She knew his security apparatus was military-grade.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to impose p>
“It is no imposition at all,” Crawford said, his eyes locking onto hers. “Let me help you p>
June nodded slowly. “Alright. Thank you, Crawford p>
The misunderstanding was dead.
The hunter had locked back onto his target.
The morning air on Fifth Avenue was crisp, cut through with the aggressive honking of Manhattan rush hour.
A sleek silver Aston Martin pulled up to the curb outside the boutique coffee shop. Crawford’s driver stepped out and held the door open.