“W-who?” Natalie’s grandmother’s voice trembled. She couldn’t believe her own ears.“It’s Natalie,” Natalie said as she closed her eyes. She wanted to go home and hug her grandmother. But that was impossible. Maybe she would never even see her grandmother again. Thinking about it made her even sadder.“Oh, dear Natalie, is this really you?” Minerva, Natalie’s grandmother, sounded surprised and excited. Natalie nodded while trying to hold back her sobs. She asked, “Grandma, how are you? I heard you were sick.”Minerva chuckled. “Are you crying? Honey, I heard a lot of people there. You must remember that elegant women should not cry in crowded places. You must be calm.”“Grandma, we’re not talking about that now,” Natalie said, feeling a little frustrated. She wanted to talk about something more serious, but her grandmother was teaching her how to be an elegant lady.“My dear, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m sick of missing you. But now I’m talking to you, so my condition will d
Natalie hugged Dante as if seeking protection from him, and it made Dante feel complicated. Slowly, his hand came up to rub her back.“I’ll look for her if you’re worried,” Dante said, which instantly made Natalie swallow.“And then?” she asked.“Then what do you want? If you want to eliminate her, I can kill her.”Dante just said it casually, but it managed to give Natalie goosebumps. Killing someone seemed so easy to Dante, like it was just a trivial matter. Whether the man would actually follow her will or not, it was still terrifying.“No. Dante, you don’t have to,” Natalie said softly. She looked up and stared into the man’s face.“As long as you’re by my side, I’ll be safe, right?” she asked.Natalie’s puffy eyes looked so weak. She looked like a fragile woman who could break at any moment. However, Dante found it strange that Natalie never looked like that. Was she acting?Dante had been with Natalie for several months. And during that time, she had always been a tough woman wh
At 3 am, Natalie suddenly woke up because of a nightmare. Her throat was thirsty, so she intended to go to the kitchen to get some cold water. However, just as she left the bedroom, she vaguely heard Dante talking to someone downstairs.Her brow furrowed instantly. Who had come to visit at 3 in the morning? Could it be Alex?Carefully, she took off her slippers and stepped down the stairs. Many of the lights had been turned off, so the atmosphere in the penthouse was indeed darker and more dimly lit.Dante was in the living room. The closer Natalie got, the clearer their voices became. She heard a woman whining spoiledly. “Dante, you have to help me. If you don’t-”“What? Are you going to snitch to your father or grandfather?” Dante’s voice was flat and cold. He didn’t seem interested in the conversation.The woman snorted with a frown. “I know you don’t like me, but could you have a little compassion for me?”“Why should I have mercy on you?” asked Dante.“Because our grandfather wan
“Come here.” Dante invited Natalie over. She hesitantly complied.Natalie stood in front of Dante with her head down. She felt a little awkward. “I didn’t mean to kick you out. I was just pretending in front of that woman.”“Why aren’t you in your room?” asked Dante. It was 3 a.m., so it was only natural that he would ask that.“I was going to get some cold water, and then I overheard your voices,” Natalie answered honestly. Dante pulled Natalie down to sit beside him. His hand caressed her cheek where Camilla had slapped her. “Does it still hurt?”Natalie shook her head. Slaps like that were actually common for her when she was still in prison. It was just that she was quite surprised because she did not expect Camilla to do it.“Who is Camilla? Why did she come here?” she asked.Dante snorted. “She’s the granddaughter of my grandfather’s best friend. She and I have known each other for a long time.”Natalie finally understood. Camilla was brave enough to Dante because her grandfath
Natalie fell to the floor like a dazed person. Her whole body felt uncomfortable, as if it were throbbing and burning. She wanted to be touched. She craved a man’s touch.Her face turned bright red. “You’re really cruel,” she hissed as she stared at Dante. The look in her eyes was faint and weak.Dante smirked. “Think carefully, Cavey.”Natalie couldn’t focus. Her eyes traveled up Dante’s well-built body and down to his veiny hands. She wanted his touch again. She wanted his fingers inside her again.She unconsciously bit her lip. Dante’s muscular chest and firm hips teased her. Memories of how his hips repeatedly pounded against hers hard popped into her head. Her breath was getting hotter and hotter thinking about those dirty and wild things.Natalie tried to stand up and then felt the warm liquid melting on her thighs. She was horny, but didn’t dare to approach Dante. The man deliberately wanted to torture her by making her burn with passion and lust. He wanted her to beg to be tou
“I won’t betray you.” Natalie wrapped her arms around Dante’s neck and pulled him down. Afterward, she kissed him on the lips.Dante didn’t kiss her back. Instead, he gripped Natalie’s jaw until the kiss broke. The woman groaned while closing her eyes.“Don’t you trust me?” Natalie asked.“You want my touch so badly?” Dante asked as he watched Natalie’s sweaty face. Her sexy lips were parted. Her skin was flushed red, as if passion was burning her.Natalie’s closed eyes then opened. She tried to put away her pride and let lust take over her. Let the animalism take over her body. Let her lose control so she could look like she needed Dante.She nodded with a smoldering look in her eyes. Her expression looked so pained. “I want your fingers inside me,” she whispered in a heated breath.“Just my fingers?” Dante smiled seductively.Suddenly, Natalie’s hand reached into Dante’s pants and squeezed his cock. “And this.”Dante growled under his breath. “Fuck!”He pulled Natalie’s hand away an
Dante took Natalie to the bathroom and helped clean her up. She just stood there and let him do it.Natalie watched as Dante focused on bathing her. His naked upper body caught her attention. She noticed several scars on Dante’s chest and stomach. She slowly touched them.“Is your life so dangerous?” she asked softly.“Enough to keep me on my toes,” Dante replied indifferently. He bent down to rub Natalie’s leg with bath gel.His treatment was so gentle that Natalie felt comfortable. She held on to his shoulder and looked at the tattoo on his left shoulder. It was a small tattoo of a vine wrapped around a winged sword. Looking at it made her feel like she was being pulled into a fantasy world.Natalie touched the tattoo. It was her first time seeing Dante’s naked body and her first time seeing his tattoo. The man had always been very private about his body. Even during sex, Dante didn’t take off all his clothes.“So beautiful,” Natalie murmured. Dante caught her hand and stood up. Hi
It had been a long time since Natalie last went to a nightclub. She closed her eyes for a few moments to enjoy the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and loud music.Natalie looked around. Many attractive young girls were dancing on the floor or just drinking with their male friends. She smiled subconsciously. “Youth is fun,” she murmured.She walked leisurely to the bar. Many pairs of eyes turned and watched her. Her beautiful face, ideal body proportions, and expensive and classy aura could always attract attention.The all-black outfit could not hide Natalie’s presence. Her mysteriousness impressed people. Before she even reached the bar, someone had already approached her.“Hi, sweetie! How about I treat you tonight?” asked a young man wearing a black shirt. The top two buttons were open. His hair looked messy. He obviously wanted to look sexy.Natalie smiled casually. “How many glasses can you afford?”The man pushed his hair back, acting cool. “Any amount! I have a black card,” he sa
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