The journalists adjusted their cameras so that they could get the best possible pictures. These were seasoned reporters, and when the slideshow began, even they were caught off guard. The images on the screen were pornographic. They were not expected or appropriate for a wedding.
The audience gasped in unison. Even though the private parts had been blurred, the photographs left nothing to the imagination.
Nancy was dumbfounded. She was the woman in the pictures!
The slides kept changing, and each photograph was more incriminating than the last. Worst of all, the pictures had been carefully chosen to protect the identity of the man in them. The one thing that people could tell about the man, though, was that he was not Noah.
Nancy’s mind went blank. She could no
Nathan glared at their hands, and the daggers that shot from his eyes cut deep into Crystal’s heart. Why is he here? she asked herself. - He must have known that nothing good could come from barging in like this… “Remove your dirty hands from my woman,” Nathan shouted. There were over a dozen guns aimed at Eric’s head, but they did not seem to faze him. “Your woman?” Eric scoffed. “Good Sir, she is my wife! “She didn’t say, I do.” Nathan chuckled and said, “If yet she goes, I will let you live.” Eric shrugged, “I’m not afraid of your tanks. However, you should look outside and see how the situation has changed.”
The gun seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, and Crystal’s arms were trembling. Her face was flushed, and her forehead was damp with perspiration. She had thought that she could shoot him easily, but something was holding her back. Crystal wanted to turn around and point the gun at Eric. She felt like she was in a nightmare, and she wanted time to stop so that she could walk away from all of this. Nathan smiled weakly and said, “If you are going to do it, do it. You have my blessing. I cannot live without you anyway.” Crystal’s whole body began to shake, and she began to weep quietly. She turned to Eric. “I’m sorry,” she whined. “But I’m not a killer…” Eric nodded encouragingly. He smiled and said, “You can. I believe in you, you just need to believe in yourself.
“Fine, then,” Crystal growled. She glared at Eric and said, “If you insist on acting this way, our marriage will never be consummated - That, I guarantee!”Eric’s pupils dilated, and when he spoke, his voice was cold. “You do not fulfill your obligations to me, I will not lay a hand on you. Instead, it will be your family and friends that feel my wrath. You should think carefully about what you say next, because it may come back to haunt you.“If you break your vows, then I can also break mine, and without me, what will happen to Nancy and Clark or your ailing father? And Carlos?”Crystal’s eyes went wide. “What does any of this have to do with Carlos?”Eric burst into laughter. “I will give you time
Noah grabbed Paul’s ankle, and he pulled it towards him as hard as he could. It was totally unexpected, and as Paul fell flat on his ass, he shrieked in pain. His tailbone was shattered.For the first time in her life, Nancy’s reflexes were quick. She grabbed the lamp on the bedside table and smashed the base against the back of Paul’s head, and he went down like a sack of bricks. Then she crawled off the bed and went to sit with Noah. She cradled him in her arms and asked him if he was okay.Noah did not reply. He was severely injured. His face was bruised and puffy, and there was congealed blood under his nose and mouth.She ran her hands through his hair as he flickered in and out of consciousness, and she wept over him. “There, there,” she cried. “Everything will be alri
Nancy felt helpless. She worried about Noah constantly, but other than keeping him comfortable, there was nothing that she could do to help him.After the wedding, both couples had settled down in a castle in Kuerto, and they had each chosen a room for themselves on the second floor. Noah, who was still barely holding on, was given the room closest to the bathroom. They had brought Nathan with them as well, but he was put in the servants’ quarters on the main level. A week had passed since the ceremony, and both men had shown signs that their conditions were improving, but the ladies were still nervous. The doctor had said that neither of them was completely out of the woods yet.In the kitchen, Nancy was brewing turkey stock from the bones that had been saved from Thanksgiving dinner. She scooped some out with a spoon, tasted it, and added some more pepp
The servant dropped her eyes, and it seemed that she had been struck dumb.“Well?” Crystal hissed. “Out with it, or away with you!”“M-M-Miss S-Smith,” the servant stammered. “The g-gentleman has been p-pounding on his w-wounds with his f-fists.”“Do I have to do everything myself?” Crystal growled. She gave the servants a dirty look, and then she stormed off in the direction of the servants’ quarters. “I should just let him die,” she muttered. “After all the trouble we went to in saving his life, this is how he shows his gratitude?!?!”When she reached the room that he had been recovering in, she pushed open the door and barged in.
Eric was sitting on the sofa in the living room. His feet were on the coffee table, and he was watching a surveillance recording that had been taken from the room Nathan was occupying. He was watching Crystal’s performance, and so far, he was pleased with what he had seen, that is until he saw the kiss that Nathan had given her.His cold eyes filled with anger, and when he heard Crystal coming down the stairs, he turned and said, “I saw the kiss. Do you mind telling me what that was about?”Crystal’s face turned red from shame, and she said, “He caught me off guard. It won’t happen again.”“It had better not!” Eric growled. He abruptly got up from the sofa, strode towards her, and picked her up. He threw her over his shoulder, and then he carried her into the bat
Nancy was shocked by Crystal and Eric’s behavior. She knew how Crystal felt about him, so it did not make sense that she was letting him feed her.Eric smiled as Crystal chewed. “Do you like it, Darling?”“It’s not bad,” Crystal replied. “But can you please not call me that?”“Alright,” Eric thought for a while, and then he said, “You can be ‘My Little Pretty! ‘Now get me a bowl of soup, My Little Pretty!”Crystal gazed at her fork on the table. “I don’t like that either,” she grumbled.“Be my baby, be my baby,” Eric sang. It was an old Phil Spector song that had been made popular by The Ronettes in 1963. “W
Crystal looked at Mrs. Bush in a trance.“Amos Davis is…”Eric stood up and pressed the wound with a swab of alcohol.“Is Amos Davis Nathan’s father?” Crystal asked again.“Yes.” Eric looked down at her. “Are you surprised?”“So you and Nathan...”“You have a good imagination. We are not related.”“What about the child?”“Isn’t it obvious? The child’s death was the main cause of her nervous breakdown.” Eric held out his injured hand and said, “Honey, aren’t yo
At night, Crystal woke up sweating from her nightmare.The servant somehow slipped down on the carpet and fell asleep by the door.Crystal opened her eyes in tears. It was dark and still. She looked down at the overlapping lights, her heart aching as if she had been sliced open by razor blades.She tiptoed out of bed and picked up the phone from the bedside table.She walked barefoot into the bathroom, sat on the toilet, and stared at the black screen for a while.A week before, she had lost control of herself and seemed to have unconsciously dialed the number she had branded at her fingertips.But there came a female voice without feeling:
Eric looked at Crystal in shock.“You can rest assured that these small cuts will not affect the child’s physical health. And it won’t affect your revenge on Nathan!” Crystal said happily, her jaw suddenly strangled.Eric clutched her jaw tightly. “I thought you were a strong woman, but you’re just so vulnerable.”“That’s right. I’m vulnerable. Didn’t you know that?”That was why Eric asked the servant to put the blades away.Just now, it was also the servant who heard that Crystal was looking for the blade, so she rushed to find Eric immediately.Looking at the sweat on his forehead, the way he was out of bre
Inside the villa, doctors came in and out. Luckily, Eric sent Crystal into his car, and he gave her warm measures in time and kept her cold feet warm.“Miss Smith and the baby are fine. But Miss Smith was cold and somewhat weak. As for her feet, it’s taboo to touch cold water in this weather,” replied the doctor. “You’d better help her now, help her to activate her blood lest she might fall off rheumatism when she is older.Eric had Crystal’s feet rubbed by himself with the best essential oil.Crystal fell asleep in a daze. Her tears never stopped, as though she had dreamt of something sad.Her dry lips moved, calling someone’s name.Eric got close enough to hear her.
Crystal seemed to see Nathan staring at her with an angry face in her bewilderment.Her heart was beating wildly across her chest. She broke down and wanted to reach out and let him take her away.Suddenly, she didn’t want to take care of anything. She was not as strong as she thought.She just wanted a man who loved her, and she loved. She wanted to be cared for, have a child, and live a simple life. But the next second, the figure turned into Eric.He held down the handrail of the wooden bridge and jumped into the lake.Splash! Splash!Several bodyguards also jumped down one after another.Eric quickly walked over to her, took
Vic came in from the outside and was quite surprised to see this scene.He had expected Nathan’s return to make up with Crystal.Crystal was thrown into the bathroom, and her body crashed against the cold porcelain wall.Nathan hadn’t given up yet, even though she had made it so clearly.He picked up a birdbath and jabbed it into her hand. “Pee.”Crystal held the basin. “Do you want to check, and then you give up and let me go?”“Now!”He tugged at her trousers.Crystal went out today wearing suspenders, and Nathan took off her coat and stripp
Crystal pulled away from his hand hard and turned to leave.He instantly retrieved her body, and she hit him hard on the chest.Nathan held her tightly, his last icy line collapsed.“Don’t go. Don’t leave me.” He said.This man, who had just been proud and arrogant, was momentarily weak again.Crystal was not feeling any better, and her heart was trembling.“I miss you so much. I’ve been thinking about you, Crystal, every minute of the day. My life was dull and sad. I function every day, but I’m dying inside,” His voice, with the hot air, blew in her ear.Crystal felt as
A man was sitting with his legs crossing on the dark blue leather sofa, silent and noble in the living room.Crystal stood at the door, only by seeing him at a glance did she want to run away. However, her feet were like a tree with deep roots, so steady and heavy that she could not move it a little.Every night, the man she saw in her dream was now sitting in front of her. The man put out the cigarette and said casually, “Miss Smith, here you are.”The voice was like thunder, which immediately woke Crystal up.She jerked around to leave…“Miss Smith, don’t you want your watch back?” Nathan’s cold voice sounded again.It’s him!
“More than 20 years?” Nancy didn’t understand. “That is to say, I’ve been waiting to meet you since I was born,” he gave Nancy a charming smile, “You’re in a cold sweat, am I so horrible?” Nancy shook her head, “No...” “I don’t want to be someone you’re afraid of,” he kissed on the back of Nancy’s hand, “I just want to be a big tree, to provide shade and shelter for you.” Nancy lowered her head in a panic, dared not look at him. That’s so unreal, and such dreamlike happiness would catch everyone unprepared, especially someone a boy crazy like Nancy. Marcos was like a noble prince; no woman could resist his charm and tenderness.