“Wait a minute. I’m going to the restroom,” Natalie told Dante after finishing her chocolate fondant, which was so sweet. The man suddenly lifted her chin. His thumb rubbed the corner of her sexy lips where the chocolate had melted.“Don’t make trouble, baby,” Dante whispered, after licking his thumb with a seductive look in his eyes.Natalie swallowed and shook her head. She remembered the lesson from the last time when she failed to escape. Dante would only get meaner to her.“I won’t,” she assured. The man just shut up and let her go.Finally, Natalie went to the restroom, which was not too far from the venue. She quickly did her business, which was to pee. The combination of the champagne and the cold room made it unbearable.After coming out of the cubicle, someone suddenly appeared from another cubicle. It was Violet. Natalie cursed her luck. Why did she have to meet that woman again?Violet looked at her with an unfriendly face. As she stepped over to the sink, she quipped, “Is
Dante took Natalie out of the venue without saying goodbye to his colleagues. His actions attracted quite a lot of attention, especially from the ladies, who were curious about what happened. However, he didn’t think anything of it.In his arms, Natalie was clutching Dante’s suit tightly with her head buried in his chest. Her feelings were mixed and chaotic.She was angry at Dante for always treating her like a toy. Her heart was also saddened that Dante didn’t trust her that much. He had even brought her together with Brent just to see how she would react.Dante really went too far. Even so, Natalie realized only he could save her from Brent. So she had put away her pride to beg like a helpless woman.Natalie’s tears stained Dante’s thick black suit. The man didn’t protest or say anything. Only after they got into the elevator did she look up.“Put me down,” Natalie whispered.“Your leg hurts,” Dante replied, without looking at her.“Put me down, Dante! What do you care about me for
Dante must be crazy! Natalie cursed silently. She gripped the car seat with her heart beating fast. Her beautiful face was pale and tense.“Isn’t there another way?!” she shouted frantically.“We’ve used another way, darling. Does it work?” Dante replied as he watched the rearview mirror.The car sped down the road at high speed. Alex was an excellent driver. He could drive crazy as if he didn’t care about his own life.The sound of police sirens could be heard far behind. Of course, the police were after them after all the unrest on the street. However, Dante and Alex didn’t care about that at all.“Oh, my god...” Natalie took a deep breath.After the tension-filled ride, their car finally entered a tunnel that was deserted of vehicles. The tunnel highway was wide and very free.Dante rolled down the window at the same time Alex lowered the car’s speed. The enemy behind them took the opportunity to overtake them. However, when their cars were almost parallel, Dante quickly pointed hi
Natalie bit her lip as Dante sucked on her neck like a vampire. His tongue swirled around the surface of her neck, teasing her so reliably. “Are you going to insist on rejecting me again this time?” the man whispered. After all, it sounded mocking to Natalie. “Even if I refuse, won’t you not care about it?” Natalie replied softly. Dante slipped his fingers between Natalie’s. He grasped her hand tightly. “I won’t leave you if that’s what you’re afraid of.” “No, it’s not.” Natalie shook her head. The look in her eyes was cold, as if her heart were so far away and untouchable. “I’m afraid of trusting men.” “Only men, right?” Dante kissed her lips. His knee rose to caress Natalie’s thigh upward. “But I’m not an ordinary man.” Natalie didn’t know what to say. Even though Dante had claimed to be sober earlier, she was sure he was drunk. She didn’t know how much his words could be trusted. Maybe he was just joking to play a trick on her, or it was just his imagination amid his drunkenne
Natalie gripped the blanket covering her naked body. She stood still and stared blankly at Dante lying on the bed. The man had fallen asleep after fucking her for quite some time.Wasn’t that a good opportunity for her?It was a good chance to kill him. If Dante died, she would no longer have to satisfy his lust. If Dante died, she no longer needed to be toyed with and made fun of; she no longer needed to have her pride destroyed. If Dante died...The hatred in Natalie’s heart mixed with anger to give rise to a dangerous evil intent. Slowly, she stepped closer to Dante while staring at his handsome face filled with satisfaction.Natalie clenched her fists. As their distance grew closer, she stretched her hands forward. She wanted to strangle Dante. She wanted to sever his arteries and stop his breathing.However, Dante’s eyes suddenly opened. The gray irises stared intently at Natalie. With a single jerk, he pulled the woman’s hand so that her body fell onto the bed.Dante moved to pi
Dante arrived in New York in the morning. He had planned to go straight back to the mansion, but when the car picking him up had just left the airport, another car suddenly blocked his way.“Who is it?” Dante’s brow furrowed slightly.A well-built man got out of the strange car. He walked over to Dante’s car and bowed politely. “Alfonso’s underling,” Alex, who was sitting in the front seat, muttered happily. He quickly rolled down the car window on his side.The man who was Alfonso Verga’s underling smiled politely. “Mr. Gregory, Mr. Vittorio should be in the back seat, right? Mr. Verga would like to speak with him.”Alex smiled at that. “Then... let him come here.”“Sorry, his health is not so good. The older he gets, the sicker he gets. Would it please Mr. Vittorio to come with me?”Dante, who was sitting in the back seat, chuckled. “I’m not feeling well either. I think I’d like to go home.”Alex tried to hold back his laughter. “Did you hear that, sir?”The subordinate frowned. Hi
Dante’s mansion had a small bar. Many brands of alcoholic beverages were on display, from low-alcohol red wines to high-alcohol whiskies. Natalie scanned them all before finally deciding on a bottle of Scottish whisky. Jayde, who was always watching her, sighed. “Miss, you might earn Mr. Vittorio’s wrath if he finds out you took his drink.” “Him getting mad at me is not unusual,” Natalie replied expressionlessly. She filled her glass with the deep amber-colored liquid. The sweet scent of honey wafted through the air. One corner of her lips lifted. “Would you like to try it too, Jayde?” Natalie asked with a seductive look in her eyes. Jayde smiled. “It’s a whisky from the Highland region of Scotland. It’s sweet with a strong honey aroma. I don’t think I’m worthy to try it.” “Why not?” Natalie filled another glass and held it out to Jayde. However, the man was silent as he stared at her face. “Do you want to take advantage of me?” Jayde asked bluntly. He remembered how the last ti
“Miss, maybe you can chase him,” Alex suggested to Natalie.“Chasing him into the bedroom is too dangerous,” Natalie muttered, shaking her head. She had learned her lesson while knowing Dante. Avoiding the bed was the best way for her.So what should she do if Dante didn’t want to take her back to the apartment? Would she never get out again and just spend her days in the mansion?Alex sighed. “You guys better not get too close. We don’t know what Dante is really thinking,” he said. He picked up Natalie’s whiskey bottle on the bar counter and carried it away.Natalie just stared flatly at Alex’s retreating figure. Somehow, she felt like a girlfriend who had just discovered cheating. That wasn’t right. That was weird. Why did they treat her like Dante’s real fiancée and restrict her from interacting with other men?“Jayde, come on!” Alex called out to Jayde from above.Finally, Jayde left. Natalie, who was left alone, could only sit on the barstool lazily.Meanwhile, Alex took Jayde to
The next day, Dante drove Natalie and her grandmother home. Alex came with him, too.When they arrived, there were already several bodyguards standing guard at Minerva’s house. Natalie was surprised and asked Dante as soon as they got out of the car. “You arranged this?”“Your grandmother asked for it,” Dante replied casually.Minerva, who heard that, immediately coughed. How could that man take advantage of an old woman like her?“Grandma?” Natalie looked at Minerva in surprise. She never thought her grandmother would ask something like that of Dante.“You don’t mind, do you?” asked Minerva, supporting Dante’s lie. After all, the man was pretending not to know about the attack that night.Natalie shook her head slowly. The placement of bodyguards was a good thing. It wouldn’t be easy for Leon or George’s gang to get to her if there were bodyguards. It was better that she didn’t make a big deal out of it.“Thank you,” she said to Dante. She was just worried that he already knew someth
When Dante arrived at the hospital, it was midnight and past visiting hours. However, he could sneak in with Alex’s help.In front of a closed door, he stood uncertainly. Moments later, he knocked softly on the door. It didn’t take long for Minerva to open the door.“Dante?” The old lady looked surprised, not expecting to see Dante there. Hadn’t Natalie hidden their whereabouts at the hospital?Dante pressed an index finger to his lips, asking Minerva to keep quiet. He glanced into the room and saw Natalie already sleeping. “Sorry, my arrival was too sudden and intrusive,” he whispered.Minerva immediately shook her head. “Not at all. Natalie must be happy to have you here. Please come in,” she said gently.Dante did not enter immediately. Instead, he walked to a waiting chair outside the room. Minerva sensed he had something to say, so she closed the door and followed him.“What is it? Do you have something to say?” Minerva asked.The man sighed. “Natalie hid everything from me. She
Dante wasn’t very busy that day and didn’t want to overthink about Natalie, so he came to visit his grandfather’s winery in Napa Valley. It was only about an hour and a half away from where he was staying.Roberto’s winery and vineyard in Napa Valley was much bigger than the branch in New York. However, the old man was more comfortable living in New York, where he could oversee his family’s illegal business.The manager and person in charge of the winery was Javer, one of Dante’s uncles, with whom he had almost no dealings. Javer only focused on taking care of the winery and never wanted to deal with the Vittorio family’s illegal business. So Dante also rarely interacted with him.When Dante came to visit, Javer was naturally surprised. The tall man met him immediately. “Dante, what’s so magical about you coming here?” His tone was sarcastic.“Uncle, I see your vineyard is getting busy,” Dante said as he watched the planters tending to the vines.Javer snorted. “Does the sunrise from
At night, Dante sat on a bar stool, massaging his forehead. His eyes were closed. The whiskey glass before him was empty, but his mood still hadn’t improved.Alex walked over and patted him on the back. “What are you going to do after this?”“I don’t know,” Dante muttered. He looked lethargic and lackluster. His cell phone rang for the umpteenth time, but he ignored it.“Do you hate her?” Alex asked, after seeing how Dante repeatedly ignored Natalie’s phone calls. It made him wonder how he felt about her.“I don’t know.”Dante asked the bartender for another whiskey. He seemed reluctant and lazy to talk about Natalie. However, the more unwilling he was to talk about her, the more obvious his fear of facing his emotions and feelings became.Alex, who had worked with Dante for years, could certainly recognize his abnormality. Although the man didn’t say or express it, Alex knew Dante must be disappointed with Natalie.“You wouldn’t just leave her, would you?” Alex sat down next to Dante
Natalie had received many stitches on her arm. The palm of her left hand was also stitched up. She was hospitalized and didn’t regain consciousness until the morning.When she opened her eyes, the first person she saw was her grandmother. The old lady was sitting on the sofa beside the hospital bed with her eyes closed. Her face and skin looked tired.Unconsciously, Natalie’s tears fell. She cried and sobbed not because of the pain in her body, but because she remembered the horrific incident of last night. She still felt scared and shocked.Minerva, who couldn’t sleep well, heard Natalie’s sobs. Both of her eyes opened. “Oh, my dear...”She got up and approached her granddaughter. Her hand gently rubbed Natalie’s head. “Are you feeling sick? I’ll call the doctor,” she said.Natalie shook her head. She wanted to grasp her grandmother’s hand, but she couldn’t move her hand. It was excruciating. Her left palm was also bandaged, and she couldn’t hold on to anything.“Don’t move too much.
Again, it was about Dante. Natalie took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Why do you think I know about that? He’s an acute paranoid. Do you think he’d tell me every time he traveled?”The man shoved the muzzle of his gun harder into the back of Natalie’s head. “If he were wary of you, he wouldn’t treat you like a lover,” he said coldly.Natalie clenched her hands into fists. “You must not know him. He’s good at acting.”“Where did he go?!” the man snapped slightly while pushing the gun hard out of impatience. Natalie’s head hurt from the weapon. She stifled her groan.“I don’t know,” Natalie hissed. She secretly held the scissors under her pants. If the situation was urgent, she might use it to stab the man.“You don’t seem to be taking my threats seriously.” Suddenly, the man kicked Natalie’s leg so hard that she fell to her knees. Both knees hit the floor, and it hurt a lot.Natalie’s eyes watered slightly. She gritted her teeth against the pain and anger. “Are you George and
That night, Natalie spent time with her grandmother in bed. She lay down and hugged the old woman warmly. “Grandma, what’s been going on for the past two years?”Minerva gently stroked Natalie’s head. “Nothing special. I went to London a few times when I was bored.”Before Natalie was imprisoned, she often took her grandmother out to shopping, to social gatherings, or simply to travel abroad on vacation. However, since her arrest and imprisonment, Minerva rarely went out.“Darling, can you tell me what really happened back then? I know you couldn’t have committed a crime, so who framed you so cruelly?”Natalie closed her eyes. “It wasn’t Brent,” she whispered.“Are you sure it wasn’t your ex?” Minerva asked to make sure.Natalie nodded. She had been imprisoned for premeditated murder. She was accused of hiring a hitman to kill Beverley by running her over with a car. However, Chris, Brent’s twin brother, saved Beverley, which made him hit by the car and killed.Brent Oliver investigat
An old lady wearing a cardigan and a long skirt came out of the house. Her graying hair was neatly put in a bun. She looked so elegant despite her age.The old lady walked to the fence of the house. Even her steps looked calm and graceful. Natalie, who saw the lady, immediately smiled with emotion. “My grandma hasn’t changed,” she murmured.“So gorgeous,” Dante praised. He was amazed by how graceful and gentle Natalie’s grandmother was, like a noble lady.“Grandma!” Natalie called out to her grandmother. The old lady, who initially felt a little confused, immediately smiled.Minerva Wentworth immediately asked her housemaid to open the gate. “Please, open the gate!”The housemaid opened the gate. Natalie immediately ran inside and hugged her grandmother. Her long-held longing turned into tears.“Grandma...”“Oh, my dear, you’re finally home,” Minerva whispered as she rubbed Natalie’s back. Then, gently and lovingly, she kissed her granddaughter’s head.“Grandma, I’ve missed you,” Nata
Natalie slept in Dante’s arms. The fever made her dream of something unwanted.In her dream, she saw a group of assassins chase Dante and injure him badly. However, the dream suddenly changed, showing a scene where the man slashed her body with a knife and whipped the incision until it tore.“Why did you betray me, Cavendish?!” shouted Dante angrily. He whipped and tortured her body until it bled.She screamed and cried, but Dante cried, too. He tortured her while shedding tears. His eyes were filled with pain and disappointment.“I’m sorry...” she whispered.On the bed of the private jet, Dante frowned. He looked down at Natalie’s tear-streaked face. Her expression looked so painful. It confused him.“Cavey?” He tried to wake her up. However, Natalie seemed to be lost in her dream. She kept mumbling apologies while crying.“Cavey, wake up!” Dante shook Natalie’s body until she gasped. Her eyes opened, and she immediately got up to sit. Her face was pale, and her breathing rose and fe