Chapter 8
Nathaniel’s nerves were frayed to the breaking point again…
“You said you’d only have me as your bodyguard!” His eyes burned with the fury of betrayal and abandonment—just like when his birth mother had left him behind all those years ago. No matter how desperately he had begged and cried, that woman who’d claimed to love him had walked away without a second glance…
While turmoil raged inside him, I remained utterly calm. “Nathaniel, didn’t you always want to leave? Consider this my gift to you. You’re free to go to Isabella now–I’m sure she’d be thrilled to take you in.”
His face darkened instantly. “The contract was for three years. There’s still one month left.”
Funny how this was exactly what he’d wanted, yet now that I was setting him free, he suddenly wasn’t so eager.
I couldn’t be bothered to argue. Even speaking to him felt exhausting.
“Fine. Stay if you want.”
Nathaniel was speechless.
His already icy expression turned even frostier.
Before long, Alexander arrived with his men.
Alexander was my lifelong rival but also the only person I trusted not to stab me in the back.
Leaning against the doorframe, he cast a mocking glance at me, then at Nathaniel. I could practically see the schadenfreude oozing out
of him.
“Go ahead. You’ve got three minutes to gloat.” I met his gaze evenly. We’d been at each other’s throats since kindergarten–there wasn’t a single thought in his head I couldn’t read.
But for once, Alexander resisted the urge to be a smartass. With a flick of his wrist, three bodyguards stepped into the room.
All three stood over 190 cm tall–taller than Nathaniel, broader than Nathaniel, and even their faces were unfairly handsome.
I picked one at random and had Alexander hire a female caregiver to assist me with bathing until my limbs healed.
After two weeks in the hospital, I was finally discharged.
My first order of business? Rearranging the house.
The caregiver and new bodyguard took the second floor. Nathaniel? He was relegated to a guest room on the first floor.
As he moved his belongings downstairs, his expression was unreadable–somewhere between resentment and something far more complicated. “You and Alexander are enemies. How can you trust the people he chose?”
I smiled. “At least they won’t stand by and watch while my enemies humiliate me. And they certainly won’t blackmail me into apologizing to those same enemies when I’m at my weakest.”
Nathaniel was at a loss for words.
Chapter 8
