"Ah, ah, ah!”Natalie was stunned when suddenly her husband's lover, Gina, slid to the floor.What the hell was going on here? She didn't push her.Then, when she heard Charles growling angrily behind her, she understood."NATHALIE! ARE YOU CRAZY? DO YOU WANT TO KILL GINA'S BABY?" Charles immediately hugged Gina and shouted at her.What?!Natalie's eyes darkened and she stroked her stomach, trying to digest this new development. Little did she know that her husband's mistress was also pregnant, and her heart was squeezed again.She knew her husband had cheated on her because she had been unable to give him a child, and she had just been informed by the hospital that she was pregnant.She had come to ask her husband to return. She froze."You can be angry with me, Nathalie, but please have mercy on my baby," Gina moaned pitifully. "This baby is innocent and even though Charles won't marry me, I will still keep him.""Who said I wouldn't marry you, baby?" Charles snapped, ignoring natal
Nicolas gazed intently at the woman lying on the bed before him, his fists clenched and the veins on his forearms pulsing, showing his anger. After being separated for nearly seven years, he never expected to see Natalie again in such a miserable state.Natalie was an exceptionally beautiful woman, with an oval face, smooth porcelain-like skin, round clear eyes the deep green of emeralds, and a near-perfect nose and lips. Her long, wavy golden-brown hair cascaded down her back. When they were still in the same school, she was undoubtedly the campus star.But now, the sight before him was starkingly different. She was still beautiful, but her face was gaunt, with dark hollows under her sunken eyes that made one uneasy, and her body was emaciated.Nicolas took out his phone from his coat pocket and sent a message to his personal assistant George, who was handling some matters.As he saw Natalie's fingers move slowly, he lifted his gaze from the phone screen."My baby..." Natalie said in
Angel Wing Hospital"Don't worry, Mr. Frederick, your wife and your baby are safe and sound. Your wife is just in a bit of shock and needs to rest," said Dr. Torrance."Are you sure there is no danger that will threaten their safety, doc?" asked Charles, still with great worry."Yes, Mr. Frederick, I will continue to monitor the condition of your wife and baby," replied Dr. Torrance. "No need to worry."However, what Dr. Torrance said did not calm Charles down. He was worried about Gina.His lover continued to tremble and her eyes were blank. Charles thought that Gina's emotions were on edge."Baby, hey, don't worry. You and our baby are fine," Charles tried to persuade. He stroked Gina's messy hair, trying to encourage his future wife.Gina sobbed and she gripped Charles' arm tightly. "I must have made a big mistake, Charles. I have made a big mistake and this child will suffer the consequences! My child would be a bastard, and I feared that he would be discriminated against at birt
Nathalie stared at the sheets of paper in front of her with a blank stare. These papers, once she signed them, would be the fire that burned everything she had been through with Charles for the past five, no, eight years.Nathalie took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then scratched her pen on the paper.Nathalie called the nurse who had previously brought the papers to her and asked her to return the papers to Charles.Nathalie lay on a comfortable bed in the VIP treatment room, staring at the high ceiling above her.Her hand touched her flat stomach. Before, even though it was flat, she felt something trying to grow inside it. A small and weak soul, hoping to become big and strong.What Charles, Gina, and Kelly did, was just killing that soul, taking away its chance to live."I'm sorry, baby," Nathalie whispered to herself. "I couldn't protect you. I promise I'll do anything to repay them, baby."Tears flowed down Nathalie's cheeks, fast and silent. She squeezed her stom
"W-what do you mean, you want to propose to me?" Nathalie was nervous, worried that her ears had misheard Nicholas's words.Natalie couldn't believe that Nicholas had made such a request.Is he playing with me, or is he deliberately trying to make me even more depressed, Nathalie thought, as she stared into Nicholas' sharp and deep eyes, trying to find out what the man in front of her was thinking.She was a woman who had just gotten divorced and worse, she had also just had a miscarriage. Not to mention, her father was still sick.It was an unpleasant experience, experienced at the same time in succession. Nathalie was sure that no other woman could endure all that craziness.Nathalie couldn't even believe that she had gone through all that and was still sane enough to sit here and listen to Nicholas's unreasonable words."Nicholas, you're playing with me, right?" Nathalie asked. She felt irritated, but because Nicholas had helped her so much and she was not someone who was shameles
"Who?"Nathalie couldn't believe her ears. Nurse Lyla from Angel Wing hospital called and told her that a woman came to her father and after the woman left, her father's condition deteriorated again."I don't know who she is, ma'am, but as far as I remember, she was also waiting for someone who was being treated on the sixth floor, obstetrics and gynecology section," Nurse Lyla answered anxiously."I'll be right there," Nathalie said angrily.No need to think too hard, the woman that Nurse Lyla was referring to must be Kelly, or maybe Gina's mother. Both women had evil hearts.Gina was also being treated in the same hospital as her father, because Charles' health insurance referred to Angel Wing hospital as a partner.Now, after all the medical expenses and care were taken over by Nicholas, her father should be able to be transferred to The Grand Care Hospital. That would be safer and more secure, and also make Nathalie calm. She would talk to Nicholas about it.Nathalie slipped out o
Charles PoV"What do you mean, we're getting complaints?" Charles asked angrily. "Everything was fine all this time, why are there complaints all of a sudden? Are you guys doing your job properly?""Mr. Frederick, this is all because of the new design that came out. Customers are dissatisfied because they think there are a lot of insignificant changes and they don't like it," Eren said. He is the chief of marketing division."I'll be there soon," Charles said impatiently."What's wrong, honey?" asked Gina who was woken up from her sleep by Charles' loud voice. "You disturbed my sleep!"Charles felt annoyed because Gina was pouting. He took his jacket and put it on. His mind was tangled."There's a problem at the office," Charles said. "I'll be gone for a while.""But, who will accompany me here," Gina asked in surprise. "I don't want to be alone.""Gina, you're safe here," Charles said in a firm tone. "If anything happens, you can call the nurse and they will take good care of you. I
Natalie PoV"Dad, I didn't do it because of you," Nathalie said carefully.She didn't expect that her father would immediately object when she said she would marry Nicholas.She understood very well that in a state of illness like this, a person can be very sensitive and her father was a man with high self-esteem.He must have felt very weak and helpless that he had to accept help from others, and his daughter had to sacrifice to cover up his weakness."You don't have to do it, honey, you've sacrificed too much for yourself and Charles! I'll knock out all his teeth when I recover and meet him!" Hardy growled emotionally.He really didn't expect that his son-in-law could easily betray and hurt Nathalie. He want to kill Charles!Plus he did it because he thought that Nathalie couldn't give him a child, while at the same time he himself killed his future child. Charles is an evil. How could he did that to his daughter?"Dad, don't worry about Charles. He has nothing to do with me, you, o
"Who?"Nathalie's eyes widened.She was finishing checking some new designs her staff had made when the phone on her desk rang and the receptionist told her that a man named Charles Frederick wanted to see her."He said his name was Charles Frederick, ma'am. He said he wanted to talk about a joint project."Nathalie didn't know what Charles wanted, but it must have been important enough for him to come to what was clearly a rival company."Tell him to wait in the main living room," Nathalie said. "Ah, Katty?""Yes, ma'am?" Katty said."Turn on the AC to maximum, and all the lights on our display boards," Nathalie said."Yes, ma'am, I will," Katty said."Call me back in half an hour after he sits down," Nathalie added.After hanging up, Nathalie picked up her phone and sent a message to Nicholas."Charles came here and said he wanted to meet to discuss a joint project."Nicholas' reply came about three minutes later."I'm leading a meeting, can't call you. Make sure all the CCTV camera
"So far, in two months, Nicholas has completed four pending project tenders and secured two major projects that previously did not even include us as tender participants," said Mario Marwin."You're right," responded Lorenzo Urbin. "Have you checked the development graph of The Grand Enterprise last month? After previously there was a fairly large decline in numbers, at the beginning of last month the line had registered and at the beginning of this month the line actually went up.""Gentlemen, it crossed my mind some time ago, when observing the development of our shares, could it be that we have chosen the wrong person all this time?" said Abner Jhonson carefully.Lorenzo and Mario exchanged glances. Each was struggling with their thoughts. Questioning again what Abner had said."I've thought about that too," said Lorenzo somewhat embarrassedly. "If we had chosen Nicholas from the start, perhaps the benefits we would have gained would have been enormous."Mario nodded, agreeing with
"Are you busy?" Nicholas asked. He had just finished taking a shower, shirtless, wearing only pajama pants, and his hair was half wet.Nathalie looked up, looking away from the laptop. Her eyebrows furrowed."Why don't you dry your hair?" Nathalie asked as she took the towel draped over Nicholas' shoulder. "This is a bad habit. It can make you catch a cold quickly."Nathalie led Nicholas to the chair she had been sitting in and she stood behind him, wiping his hair with the towel."I'm revising some sketches," Nathalie said. "There are materials that are hard to get lately, because of the shortage in the wood market, so I have to find alternative materials."Nicholas looked up and looked at Nathalie whose face looked tired."Don't push yourself too hard, baby," Nicholas said. "You should start training some of your trusted staff to do the more complicated tasks, so they don't have to rely on you all the time.""Yeah, I'm doing that too, honey," Nathalie said, leaning down and kissing
"Lilian used to be my father's secretary. She was a distant cousin of grandpa Jerome and because her family was poor, but she was kind and diligent, my grandmother made her my father's secretary," Nicholas said while rolling spaghetti on his plate. "She started working not long after my grandfather appointed my father as his successor at The Grand Enterprise.""She said, you will never be able to become the leader of The Grand because that position belongs to Leon," Nathalie said. "I got goosebumps when I saw her face, when she said that. She was so determined that I think she was capable of killing anyone who tried to disturb Leon."Nicholas' face was gloomy. He didn't like to talk about his family, because he himself had never felt comfortable with the real situation there.Other people saw the Grand family as a symbol of unlimited wealth and power, success and glory, but inside, it was not that grand."When I was born, Leon was already four years old," Nicholas said. "When I was ab
Lilian PoVI started to feel restless, every time I heard my husband talking about Nicholas.Two days ago, Andy said that Nicholas won a tender from a South Korean electronics company that would build two branches here and they would use The Grand Enterprise as their construction partner."Leon, why does it seem so easy for Nicholas to win big tenders?" Andy asked, while we were at the dining table.Leon's spoon and fork stopped moving. I looked up and saw that he had turned a little pale, while Andy continued to eat calmly. To me, it was a dangerous calm."The tender didn't even exist when I took office, dad," Leon answered after a while. "It was just a coincidence, the tender took place when Nicholas filled my position."I felt relieved to hear Leon's answer. At least he didn't keep quiet when his father criticized or criticized him."Then what about the other old projects?" Andy asked again. "Lately, all the staff have been busy digging through the archives of all the delayed proje
"So, all this time you were separated by Charles?" Hardy muttered. He looked at Nathalie sadly. "How could he do something like that to his own best friend?""I think Charles never considered Nicholas as his best friend. He only approached Nicholas because he was a Grand. He wanted to get the privilege of being someone who was considered close to Nicholas," Nathalie said."I think it's good that you finally divorced him and met Nicholas again. It must have been fate's will, which brought you together again," Hardy said. "So, are you sure you want to marry Nicholas?"Nathalie looked at her father with conflicted feelings. She knew that deep down, her father was worried. She had just divorced Charles and the time must have been considered too soon to start over.But, she had already made a pact with Nicholas and even though now everything felt absurd, because in reality she and Nicholas loved each other, there was still a promise that had been made between them."And what about the chil
The kiss was slow, soft, and smooth, like silk. Nathalie's lips brushed Nicholas's possessively, as if afraid of losing him.Nathalie and Nicholas, sat on a sofa, chosen by a special contractor of George's choice, who worked on Nathalie's dream office space in just five days, based on Nathalie's detailed sketches.The sofa was long and wide, made to a certain size, because Nathalie wanted maximum comfort when clients came to her room, they would be happy and price negotiations would go smoothly.Made of number one suede fabric, the color of old teak tree trunk, now it was a witness to two people who were making love after being separated due to a misunderstanding.Nicholas hugged Nathalie's waist tightly, looked up to receive her kiss, responded equally warmly and patiently let the woman he loved lead their intimacy.Nicholas had felt deep intimacy with Nathalie before, but at that time they were both half drunk and it felt like once it started, everything went by quickly. After that
Nathalie stood in the middle of her new office space, feeling like she was in a dreamland.This was what she had poured into her first sketch, which she then made a hope that it would come true one day.When Charles said that he would make her sketch come true, after they got married and founded a company together, Nathalie was very touched.And when she found out that it was just lip service from the man she had hoped would be her life and death partner, Nathalie could do nothing but suppress her feelings of disappointment.At that time, she was worried that she would make Charles upset if she insisted that her sketch be realized as Charles had promised.She didn't want to be considered troublesome and demanding, especially because Charles was quite strict when it came to managing the family's finances.So, she just left her dream sketch on her laptop, in her personal folder. She didn't even ask Charles where she had thrown the copy of the sketch, which Charles had asked for.Now, af
"That bastard! He didn't keep his promise at all! He lied to me all the way and had no shame whatsoever!"Nicholas slammed his fist on the table, letting out his anger.George shook his head slowly, understanding his employer's anger."Don't worry, sir, it's almost done," George said. "I made sure everyone worked on it like their lives depended on it.""Good," Nicholas said. "I know you can always be counted on, George."Nicholas went to Nathalie's office that was being renovated. There were three workers working diligently on their tasks. They all bowed their heads respectfully to Nicholas when he came to inspect.Nicholas looked at the room with a sense of satisfaction, although there was still some regret, because he was late in doing what his people were doing now.If it weren't for the incident at the hospital five days ago, he probably wouldn't have done this either because he didn't know any better."You can bring Ms. Nathalie here tomorrow afternoon," George said, following be