Chapter 4

At the hospital, after making the payment, Natalie walked back out with the receipt in hand.

Zeke caught up to her and grabbed her arm. "So? How do you feel about what I suggested last time?"

Natalie shook him off angrily before turning around to glare at him. "You're deluded."

Zeke's face darkened. Grinding his teeth, he crossed his arms and eyed her imperiously, as if she owed him something.

"If you marry me, Natalie, I won't ask for the 800 thousand dollars in compensation the court awarded to my family. I won't make you pay my dad's hospital bills either. I can even satisfy your mom's demands and take out a bank loan of 660 thousand dollars to give to your family as a wedding gift. The grudge between our two families will be settled."

Natalie didn't even feel like speaking to him. Just looking at him nauseated her. Reining in her temper, she whipped back around and kept walking.

However, Zeke ran after her and grabbed her arm again, his voice forceful as he declared, "Your mom has already agreed to it, so why are you acting like you're—"

"Go ahead and marry my mom then," Natalie retorted bluntly, cutting him off.

Zeke's mouth twitched in rage, and his gaze turned sharp with determination. He hooked his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. "You should be honored that I'm even interested in you. There's a limit to my patience. Don't make me do things the hard way, or you won't be able to handle the consequences."

The fact that his filthy hand was currently pressing against the back of her head made her stomach churn. Glaring daggers at him, she snarled, "We have laws for a reason. If you dare lay a finger on me, I'll see to it that you spend the rest of your life in prison."

"Hah! Don't even try to threaten me with the law." Zeke scoffed arrogantly. "Your dad owes my family, so it's perfectly reasonable for you to pay it back for him."

"My dad is innocent," Natalie said firmly.

She would definitely get the ruling overturned. She wouldn't be giving the Cox family a single cent in compensation, and she was going to get back all the money she'd spent on Billy's hospital bills, too. The court would also have to compensate Franklin for the fact that he'd been wrongfully imprisoned for five years.

Zeke sneered. "Don't give me that crap about him being innocent. He got a 22-year prison sentence."

Natalie shoved his hand away. Refusing to waste any more of her breath on him, she strode off. His furious roar rang from behind.

"You're mine, Natalie Sherman! You're not getting away from me!"

Feeling like her ears had been sullied, she quickened her pace. How revolting it was to deal with a scumbag like him who didn't give a damn about the law.

…

A week later, Natalie got a call at 1:00 am. The sound of her phone ringing stirred her. After groggily feeling around for her phone in the dark, she answered the call out of pure habit and said, "Hello…"

"Nat… I'm not getting married anymore… I want to break up with Shane…" Hestia's drunk, tearful voice came through the phone.

Natalie's mind snapped into focus at once. She shot up in bed and asked worriedly, "Where are you? Have you been drinking?"

Hestia and Shane were having their wedding ceremony in 15 days. They'd already gotten their marriage license and sent out the invitations. The pre-wedding photoshoot had been completed, and all the bookings had been made. The only thing left for them to do was complete the ceremony.

There was no way they'd break up over a petty issue. Something major must've happened.

As she hastily got out of bed, Natalie asked again, "Where are you, Hessy?"

"I'm at Starheart Bar."

"You stay right there, got it? Don't go anywhere! I'm coming over right away to get you."

Natalie yanked open the closet doors and quickly pulled out an outfit.

Panicked, she rushed to the bar and entered the private room, only to find Shane there as well.

He and Hestia were both in a drunken stupor, slumped over opposite ends of the couch with over six feet between them.

"Nat…" Hestia reached out to her, her face flushed red from alcohol. Tears streamed down as she cried out, "I want to break up with him. Take me away. I never want to see him again."

Natalie dropped her handbag and took out a bunch of tissues. She sat down next to Hestia and gently wiped her tears. "Why did you drink so much? Don't make decisions when you're emotional. Whatever it is, you two can talk about it when you're sober."

Meanwhile, Shane staggered to his feet, his face also flushed from alcohol. "You're here, Austin."

Natalie's heart clenched at the name. Her blood seemed to stop flowing. Feeling numb, she lifted her head and looked over.

Austin stood there in a black outfit, looking cold and aloof. His dark, unreadable gaze locked firmly on her.

When their eyes met, Natalie's mind went blank. For some reason, she felt panicked. The memory of the forced kiss from last week flashed vividly in her mind. The wound on his lip had healed, but the knot in her heart was still there.

Shane stumbled and grabbed Austin, who grabbed his arm to steady him.

"She wants to break up with me," Shane said in a trembling voice as he pointed at Hestia. "She's heartless, isn't she?"

But Austin wasn't looking at Hestia. He was looking at Natalie. His gaze made her heart tighten bitterly.

"You're right. She's heartless," Austin replied, his voice light yet dark and cold.

Natalie averted her eyes and helped Hestia up, picking up both their handbags. "I'll take you home now, Hessy."

Hestia swayed unsteadily, leaning heavily on Natalie as they staggered out.

Outside the bar, Natalie called a cab and helped Hestia into the car.

"I'll take you to your mom's place, Hessy," she said while gently caressing Hestia's hair.

Hestia shook her head, tearfully saying, "No… I don't want my mom to see me like this. She'll get worried."

"Then we'll go back to my place."

"No, I don't want to keep you up. Just take me back to my place with Shane."

"But Shane might go back there, too. I don't want you two to end up arguing again tonight."

Hestia straightened up and drunkenly fumed, "He's a mommy's boy. I bet he'll go back to his mom's place so she can tuck him into bed. He won't come back to our place."

That gave Natalie an idea as to what the fight had been about.

Shane came from a single-parent household, with his mom raising him alone since he was little. Meanwhile, Hestia was the pampered princess of her family. She wanted to live comfortably and have the freedom to do as she pleased, so she definitely didn't want to live with her mother-in-law.

Natalie had no choice but to take Hestia back to the house that she and Shane had prepared to use as their future marital home. It was a spacious apartment that had been cozily set up.

Once they were inside, Natalie helped Hestia into bed. She removed Hestia's shoes and socks before wiping her down with a warm towel. She also removed Hestia's makeup and changed her into a set of pajamas.

Lastly, she prepared a cup of chamomile tea, poured it into a flask, and left it on the bedside table. She didn't forget to leave a pair of indoor slippers by the bed for Hestia's convenience when she woke up.

At that moment, Natalie heard the front door open. Tensing up, she hastily scrambled out of the room, just in time to see Austin hauling a wasted Shane into the apartment. He threw Shane onto the couch and rolled his shoulders before turning his head.

Their eyes met.

Natalie flinched and quickly fled back inside the room, her heart pounding. She felt both nervous and uneasy. Austin had warned her to disappear completely from his world and not appear in front of him again.

A little while later, she heard the front door opening and closing again. She waited for a bit to confirm there were no other sounds outside before feeling at ease enough to leave the room again.

Austin wasn't in the apartment anymore, and Shane looked pitiful just lying there on the couch.

Natalie mused to herself that men were truly careless. Even if they didn't want to tend to their friend after bringing him back, shouldn't they at least cover their friend with a blanket? What if he caught a cold?

She went back inside the bedroom, pulled out a spare blanket, and tucked it around Shane.

By now, it was already 2:30 am, and she felt exhausted. She barely had the strength to move. Grabbing her handbag, she walked out of the apartment, her expression weary.

After closing the door, she turned around and lifted her head, only to jump back in alarm when she saw a man standing right in front of her. With her back pressed against the door, she frantically grabbed the doorknob.

Alas, the door was locked. She had nowhere to hide.

Natalie's heart rate shot up. Even her breathing turned erratic as she nervously gulped.

Austin stood in front of her with one hand in his pocket, looking like he was just chilling by the wall. A half-smoked cigarette dangled from his long, slender fingers.

He slowly lifted his head, and his dark eyes locked onto hers.