My Wife is a Hacker novel (Nicole)

Chapter 2696
Patricia immediately understood that what Nicole had said was true. "Alright. I will follow you closely until this is over."
Patricia promised herself that there was no room for any errors when it came to Nicole's safety and protection.
"Okay, you can go now," Nicole said.
"Yes, Ms. Riddle," Patricia replied as she nodded and left the office.
Nicole leaned back against her seat as her gaze darkened. *1 will not let her get away with this so easily.'
The afternoon sun shone high and bright, and before long, Nicole and Lulu returned to the office from their lunch break.
"Nicole," a familiar voice sounded from behind.
Nicole halted in her tracks and whirled around to discover that the source of the voice that had called out for her was none other
than Lawrence himself.
"When did you return?" Nicole asked with a look of surprise on her face.
"I just landed a while ago and thought of paying you a visit,' Lawrence replied as he handed two boxes over to Nicole." Here you
go. Some souvenirs for the twins, courtesy of yours truly."
Nicole reached out and accepted the gifts. "Thank you. That's very thoughtful of you, Lawrence. Do you want to have a cup of
coffee before you go?"
"Sure, why not?" Lawrence replied as he followed Nicole into her office.
"What's up with the sudden return? Did you manage to sort whatever you were there?" asked Nicole, her tone was polite yet
awkward.
"Yeah, it's to some extent sorted out that's why I came back, " replied Lawrence with a calm demeanor.
Lulu suddenly entered the room, holding two cups of coffee in her hands. She shot Nicole a look that asked her if Nicole would
need someone to accompany her in the room, "Here is your coffee, please enjoy."
Nicole shot Lulu a reassuring smile and signaled her not to worry.

Lulu immediately understood and left the office.
Nicole turned to look at Lawrence, "I'm glad you've sorted out the things there, I guess you won't be leaving here for the time
being, right?"
The elephant in the room was rather difficult to ignore, as the awkwardness between the both of them was very palpable; both of
them were actively trying to keep the conversation alive.
Naturally, Lawrence was able to sense the awkwardness between the two of them. However, he was clear that things between
them would never be the same anymore. If anything, their friendship would only continue to experience a downward spiral.
Lawrence gritted his teeth before drawing a deep breath." To be honest, we don't have to do this."
"I think it's alright," Nicole said before flashing him a bitter smile.
The strain in their relationship had reached a point where neither of them were able to hold a proper conversation anymore. In
fact, it was not easy for the both of them to be sitting in the same room together.
"To be very honest with you, I never should've held you back when you wanted to return. Perhaps we would still be on Crescent
Island and things would not have been this way now," Lawrence said, his voice heavy with sorrow and disappointment.
Lawrence was sure that they were fated to meet just so that they could be a part of each other's lives at one point.
"You should know that it's not going to make any difference to how things are now," Nicole pointed out.
'He should know that even if I had stayed in Crescent Island and never returned to the family I have here, I would still not let
anything develop between the both of us. Besides, none of my memories would return if I had stayed there,' Nicole thought.
"You must know that I've never really wanted to put you in danger, Nicole," Lawrence pleaded.
There were plenty of things that had happened, and yet he had simply chosen to maintain his silence, even with the knowledge
that Nicole would come to discover the truth in the end.
"I know you didn't have the intention of putting me in danger. However, there are certain things in this world that you can't and
shouldn't keep in the dark. But you did exactly that, and our friendship paid the price," Nicole said as she looked Lawrence dead
in the eyes.