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
“Why?” Dante asked while closing his eyes. He sniffed Natalie’s sweet, soft, and distinctive body scent. Her body often smelled of vanilla, which was sometimes mixed with honey or milk.Dante always thought it was the scent of Natalie’s perfume. However, after knowing her for some time and even touching her bare skin and sweating together, he became convinced it wasn’t perfume. It was the natural scent of her body, which was very delicate and could only be smelled from an intimate distance.Just inhaling the scent of her body alone, one could get drunk. Natalie was indeed intoxicating. It would not be surprising if she could attract many men to like and admire her.“You didn't forget what happened before you disappeared, did you?” Natalie looked down while continuing to hold Dante’s muscular chest.“What do you mean?”Natalie looked up and gave Dante a tired look. A mocking, resigned smile finally appeared on her face. “Of course you forgot. You were drunk that day.”Dante frowned. H
Natalie slept without dreaming. When she woke up, it was already light. She got up and leaned against the headboard while trying to remember what happened last night.To be honest, she wasn’t someone who got panic attacks often. Maybe back when she was modeling, she had experienced it a few times because of the pressure of work. However, that was so long ago that she had even forgotten.What happened last night certainly surprised her. She didn’t have a panic attack when Dante touched her forcibly. She also didn’t get a panic attack when she was completely hurt and destroyed. Then what had triggered it?Natalie roughly rubbed her face. Then she took a sip of the water on the nightstand. Someone suddenly knocked on her bedroom door. She quickly opened it and saw Cora standing with a tray of breakfast. “Miss, how are you feeling now?” Cora asked.“I’m fine,” Natalie replied. “Actually, you don’t need to bring breakfast to my room. I can come down to the dining table.”“Sorry, I thought
“Stay here. I’m going to meet an investor,” Dante said after taking Natalie into his private office. He tried to forget what had just happened. “Do you just trust me?” Natalie glanced around with a flat expression. “I can steal your data here.” “Do it if you want.” Dante looked at her expressionlessly. He wasn’t worried because his greatest wealth was from his illicit business. After that, he walked out of the room. Natalie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She also tried to forget Dante’s strange behavior. Instead of speculating and guessing randomly, it was better to ignore it. Dante’s private office was a special office for the CEO. It wasn’t Natalie’s first time entering a CEO’s office, but still, the atmosphere inside the room impressed her. The room was spacious, with a wide glass wall that looked out over the business district of Manhattan. One could see the bustling streets and modern-looking high-rises from there. The ceiling was high. The marble and all the furnit
‘Dante is really sick.’That was all Natalie could think about. She closed her eyes in the car and tried to calm down. She had always thought Dante was a cruel and cold-hearted man, but it turned out to be more than that.A sane man wouldn’t do those things. A sane man wouldn’t claim a woman as his own when they didn’t even love her. Nor would a sane man detain and imprison a woman like a criminal.Natalie thought she herself was crazy enough with the destruction of her life. It turned out that there were people who were crazier than her.Just then, Dante’s right hand suddenly touched Natalie’s thigh, instantly breaking into her reverie. She turned her head and said coldly, “Take your hand away!”“Are you still mad at me, Cavey?” Dante asked, but Natalie didn’t want to answer. She just swatted away Dante’s hand.“I won’t bring up your past again,” the man said. He stared at Natalie as he drove.“You think I’m mad just because of that?”Dante shrugged his shoulders. “Is there another r
Hesitantly, Natalie picked up the incoming call. Dante’s voice immediately rang in her ears. “Get ready. I’ll pick you up soon,” the man said.Natalie’s expression immediately turned flat. So Dante said she didn’t need to add his contact because he had already done it himself?“You’re so great, Dante!” Natalie sarcastically said. She’d never thought that Dante could be so narcissistic. The guy even named his own contacts ‘fiancé’.“I am,” he said.Natalie snorted. She asked, “What are you picking me up for?”“Dinner.” Dante’s answer irritated Natalie.“You shouldn’t say things on the spur of the moment, Mr. Vittorio! Women can’t get dressed up in 10 minutes, let alone to go to a formal event. You’d better go alone!”Dante, who was sitting at his desk, smiled. “Not a formal event.”“What do you mean?”“I’m in a good mood, so, well, what’s wrong with me asking you to dinner?”Natalie was a little surprised. However, she knew Dante’s moods were volatile and unpredictable. She’d rather ha
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