Left for Dead Came Back for Everything novel Chapter 178

His voice carried a cautious, desperate plea to please her, as if he had slipped into a completely new skin, his entire being consumed by the need to win over the woman standing before him.

Eliza looked down in helpless frustration, letting out a heavy breath, and finally stopped.

She turned her head, her gaze landing on the paper bag.

Then she raised her eyes to look at Zander.

"You remembered wrong."

She enunciated every word with deliberate clarity, ensuring the man in front of her couldn't possibly misunderstand.

"I don't eat chestnuts. I'm allergic to them."

Zander's smile froze.

"I've been allergic since I was a kid. If I eat them, I break out in hives, my lips swell, and if it's bad enough, I stop breathing."

Eliza stared straight into his eyes.

"The one who loves roasted chestnuts is Yvonne."

"Your future wife, Yvonne."

The evening breeze swept through the gap in the apartment doors, rustling the paper bag in his hand.

The hand holding the chestnuts hovered mid-air, frozen stiff, as if his fingers were being crushed one by one.

He opened his mouth.

But no words came out.

Something was violently unraveling in his mind.

—Back then, whenever he pulled night shifts at the fire station, Eliza used to bring him late-night meals.

He found it annoying at the time, feeling like she was disrupting his work, and would just tell her, "Stop bringing food, it's too far."

She would always reply, "It's fine, it's on my way."

He would eat whatever it was without a second glance. He never asked how she got there, why she cooked that specific meal, or where she bought the ingredients—because he simply didn't care.

Yet, every time Yvonne celebrated a birthday, she would post a photo on her social media: a bag of roasted chestnuts, captioned "My favorite taste of autumn ❤️."

He had memorized Yvonne's favorite thing.

And he had mistakenly projected it onto Eliza.

A gust of wind blew past, and he felt like a pathetic, humiliating clown.

Eliza had already turned back around, pressing her access card against the scanner.

"Zander, I expect you to remember the day after tomorrow."

Zander looked up blankly, met only with her back.

"Be at city hall on time."

She pushed open the glass door.

"Bring all the paperwork. It's the final day of the divorce cooling-off period."

She paused for a second.

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