Chapter 50\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who was it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie opened her eyes and looked up, meeting a pair of dark eyes that were brimming with fury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Jeffrey. He actually came up to stop her. But why?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeffrey\u2019s voice was low and cold, \u201cYou\u2019re planning on smashing your own and running to Grandma to cry about it in the morning, right? Natalie, you really know how to play the victim.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His grip was so vicious that Natalie felt like her wrist bone was about to be crushed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cI won\u2019t go to Caroline. I just want to save my brother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeffrey scoffed. \u201cWhen you show up injured, and Grandma sees it, what will you tell her when she asks questions?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie answered calmly, \u201cI\u2019ll say I fell.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have plenty of ways to punish you. It\u2019s not your place to decide how you\u2019re punished!\u201d Jeffrey shouted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He flung her hand away, snatched up the ashtray, and smashed it onto the floor. \u201cTomorrow morning, go kneel at Foster\u00a0<\/p>\n
Garden!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He turned around and walked off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abigail glanced at Natalie before hurrying after him. \u201cJeff\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie stood there quietly, only letting her back slump down when the sounds of footsteps finally faded completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t know what awaited her the next morning, but at least Jeffrey had left a sliver of hope. For now, Stephen was safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, because Felix refused to settle the matter, Stephen remained detained at the police station and was temporarily deprived of his freedom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the early hours, the roar of a sports car tore through the empty streets. Jeffrey drove expressionlessly, flooring the accelerator. The veins on his knuckles were pale with tension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His mind was filled with Natalie\u2019s fragile yet stubborn figure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The instant she knelt, his first instinct had been to pull her up. Thankfully, he had restrained himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That woman was unbelievably stupid. Would she ever learn to relent? To beg? She was already on her knees, yet her face still carried that unwilling, aloof pride.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dawn had just broken when Natalie arrived at Foster Garden. She walked to the entrance, bent her knees, and was about to kneel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The butler, Jacob, was startled and rushed forward to pull her up. \u201cMrs. Foster, what are you doing? You can\u2019t do this.\u201d Natalie said, \u201cJeffrey told me to do this. You can just go about your work. I\u2019ll just kneel here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jacob asked, \u201cDid you and Mr. Foster have a disagreement?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie forced out a smile. \u201cIt has nothing to do with you. Just pretend I don\u2019t exist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She brushed Jacob\u2019s hand aside and knelt. Her knees struck the hard, rough ground, and pain shot through them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upstairs, in the master bedroom, Jeffrey stood behind the curtains in silk pajamas, lifting a corner slightly to look down at\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie. She had arrived pretty early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, they\u2019d see how long she would last.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Natalie had grown up pampered. Even though her parents died young, she was still part of the Bennett family. Beverly and Caroline had both doted on her, so she never suffered much. Plus, in her youth, Jeffrey was often by her side, protecting her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her skin was delicate, so every time she passed the woods near the school, she would end up covered in mosquito bites. Because of that, Jeffrey always carried insect repellent with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mosquitoes\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jeffrey raised a hand to his neck. A mosquito had bitten him before bed last night, leaving a red welt. It should have mostly\u00a0<\/p>\n
faded by now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a knock on the door, and Abigail\u2019s voice came through. \u201cJeff, are you awake? Can I come in?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Jeffrey replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He and Abigail actually slept in separate rooms. It was Jeffrey\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
Divorced While Pregnant The Ex-Husband\u2019s Collapse 50 Chapter 50\u00a0 Who was it?\u00a0 Natalie opened her eyes and looked up, meeting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorced-upgraded-and-married-rich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}