บททั้งหมดของ The Billionaire’s Desire: Owned By Him : บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

They returned to Manhattan the next day. Zara bought clothes for herself from the fancy malls on Oxford Street and collected a few antiques and artifacts—including a serpentine piece—as mementos of her trip to London. Nat, meanwhile, would cherish the haute suit he’d gotten from Kingsman on Savile Row.The helipad where they landed the private jet was atop Nat’s office building. It was windy and cold when they stepped out. He dropped her off at home and insisted on coming along to see the new house he’d bought for her.“Home!” Zara echoed loudly, her voice reverberating through the quiet house. She wheeled in her suitcases; Nat followed closely behind. She wore a jumpsuit and heels. Nat looked muscular in a grey suit, the shirt open at the neck, revealing a glittering diamond chain.“Isla!” she screamed.“Must be sleeping,” she said, turning to Nat as she climbed the stairs.She opened Isla’s door and froze. To her greatest surprise, a man who looked nothing like Rodney lay there. He

The cold, scary beeping of the hospital vital monitor alarmed the room. Zara lay unconscious on the bed. Isla stood in the waiting lounge, frantic. Her hands shook as she paced up and down to steady herself.“This was really my idea,” she thought to herself. She was numb with grief. She called Nat and gave him the address. He sped across the lawn into the highway, where he drove like a maniac to Mount Sinai Hospital.A few surgeons in scrubs and masks worked on her. They had steel knives and a tray where the bullet, a tiny piece of explosive metal, a weapon from the evil forests of Soviet technology, was removed from her. The accompanying surgeon looked at the lead in fear, as the signals weren’t reading right.“We’re doing everything we can,” he told an exasperated Nat. The news had burst crazed syncopes all over his head. His paranoia was irrecoverable; he felt like he was going to collapse. He held the doctor by the chin.“Do everything you can,” Nat said, with eyes open like that

He sat alone in his office, the glow of his MacBook hovering just above the table on its sleek support stand. The room smelled faintly of leather and steel—order, money, control.At exactly 5:30 p.m., she walked in. A woman who had emailed the office and had been scheduled for his appointment. Her afro was wildly deliberate, coarse and fuzzy. Her peanut-butter skin glowed against a razor-sharp suit that hugged her like it had been tailored to make men forget how to breathe. A gold pendant rested at the hollow of her chest, her name etched into it—Vanessa.“I’m Attorney Vanessa,” she said, extending her hand. Her grip was firm. He hesitated for half a second before shaking it.“Attorney?” he asked, his brows knitted together. The email had been vague—no mention of law, no warning shot. He’d assumed compliance, maybe a routine survey. This felt… heavier.“Attorney Vanessa,” she repeated smoothly. “Lead partner at Pearlstone LP.”Pearlstone LP was an emerging, all-female-led law firm of

The TV in Nat’s office was tuned to the news channel. Attorney Vanessa was unmistakable with her peculiar look.The headline brought goosebumps of fear, his heart pounding slightly and his fingers quivering. His breathing was labored.BREAKING NEWS: CLASS ACTION & MASS TORT FILED AGAINST WOLFE INC.Now, she was not just going against him for her client, but for multiple clients. Nat wondered how many had become sufferers of that single paint batch. He drenched his pain in whiskey.The last statement was horrible.“If you purchased Wolfe Inc. products manufactured within the last eighteen months and experienced structural failure, chemical degradation, or personal injury—”She paused. The pause was deliberate.“preserve the product. Do not alter it. Contact Pearlstone LP immediately.”Nat slammed the remote down and drank his whiskey again. This wasn’t a lawsuit. It was a harvesting operation.He looked down at the city from the glass window—the streams of cars and thought: A mob is r

For the next couple of days, she lay in bed feeling depressed and numb. It wasn’t Alicia that made her feel hurt; it was Nat. She had put her trust in him, gave him a second chance, and after the first wave of the shocking discovery, he had broken it again. It felt like she had collected pieces of glass to fit into a mosaic, only to have it shattered all over again.She thought, This nigga really think I’m foolish.She put on her laptop. She would not be shrunken and despaired as she was the last time, when she was curled up like a snail in its shell, gnarled in bed, snacking unhealthily. No, she said valiantly. If he wanted to go on and have an affair with Alicia behind her back, then so be it. Her energy and root chakra were too sacred, too important. She resolved that the essence of her soul’s being would not be sapped by a green aphid—that aphid being both Nat and Alicia.The FaceTime chime brought hope into her. Her siblings were excited.“Hey! Sis,” they echoed.“My loves… alwa