Chapter 229Natalie, Do You Love Me?
Natalie knew he was listening, so she continued, "Lucas didn't know me before, and he was also just informed about our marriage. So, he might have some misunderstandings about you and not like you, but he doesn't have ill intentions."
This explained Lucas "instigating" her to seek a divorce over the phone.
Oliver's fingers tightened on the tabletop as his gaze swept over. "And what about you?"
"Well..." Natalie pursed her lips. "Do you want to hear the truth?"
"Speak," Oliver said.
Normally, nothing good followed being asked like this.
Natalie interlocked her hands and placed them on her lap, looking out of the French windows. The dining area faced west, with a row of trees outside. In late autumn's yellow falling leaves, the view was desolate yet beautiful - different seasons reflecting different hearts.
Natalie seemed to suddenly understand what Oliver wanted to know. What a proud person cares about is nothing more than his wife's attitude toward him.
"Oliver, do you still remember when you asked me what I wanted in this marriage?" Natalie withdrew her gaze, no longer referring to him as "brother," but more seriously as "Oliver."
Oliver narrowed his eyes, having actually forgotten but was reminded by her.
"I wanted respect - for this marriage and for me as your wife. Lucas and I are mistress's children, so I understand the hardship enduring in society.
"Without a father's love, without a respectable and just identity, and even lacking sufficient financial conditions, they will be condemned by society and tormented internally. Some people may say love is innocent, but love that subverts marriage is guilty.
"Others may say a marriage without love is imprisonment. Hearts change, feelings change, falling in love, breaking up, getting married, divorcing, remarrying, all of these are normal. Oliver, if you don't abandon me, I will always be with you. But if one day you change, I will change too," Natalie said.
With each of Natalie's words, Oliver's pupils shrank as he spat out his restrain. His fist on the desk gradually clenched, gradually clenched into a fist, with veins popping on the back of it.
He was the legitimate prestigious son being persecuted by the mistress's children.
That night, Oliver made love to her with savage intensity, again and again, each time more cruelly than before.
Every word she spoke seared into his heart. He understood her meaning, yet he felt there was something more behind her words. This unsettling feeling made him uncomfortable.
He tried to find the root cause but couldn't.
Though he was five years older than her, he was well aware of his wife's precociousness. She was too clever, and her intelligence made him feel like he couldn't control her.
"Natalie, do you love me?" Late into the night, as the man's vigorous motions continued, he pressed her for an answer.
Natalie was hit by waves of stimulation, causing her mind to go blank. Her eyes gazed at him with confusion, unable to form a response.
His annoyance grew, and he asked again, "Do you love me? Say that you love me!"
Natalie furrowed her brows, gasping for breath with her small mouth, her fingers digging into his back muscles, her nails almost piercing through.
Still, she didn't answer.
Oliver was very clear- not answering meant not loving.
This understanding infuriated and frustrated him, and all his emotions were unleashed through his actions.
In the vast master bedroom, an ambiguous voice lingered in the air.
Natalie had been thoroughly tormented, finally, she cried out for mercy.
As Oliver looked at the various marks on her tender skin, he felt remorse and furrowed his brow.
He had gone too far.
Various moments of months together flashed through Oliver's mind - her small face, furrowed brows, coquettishness, shyness, anger, glaring eyes... Countless images flickered, at times evoking an eerie sense of familiarity. Her appearance and feelings sometimes surpassed his childhood familiarity with Susan.
But that girl was a member of the Hastings family, not Natalie.
"Natalie," Oliver kissed her cheek and then her lips. "You are not allowed to leave me! Unless I no longer want you. Do you understand? You are not allowed!" Oliver's deep and hoarse voice carried an imperceptible hint of obsession.
Natalie didn't know how Charles had handled the situation, but three days after the incident, the entire upper-class and fashion circles knew that Natalie and the Watson family were no longer associated. The fault did not lie with Natalie, but with the Watson family.
There was a momentary sigh Now, regardless of the circumstances, the Watson family should not sever ties with Oliver at this time unless it was because of Hailey.
Victoria was starting a family power struggle with Oliver.
However, he influential Harrington family announced the cancellation of the engagement. The social circle was in an uproar, unable to comprehend the self-destructive actions of the Watson family.
Shortly after, someone who couldn't stand Hailey posted the news of the canceled engagement online, with the caption: "Good things come to those who wait, and finally the wicked receive their retribution!"
Netizens commented:
"They broke up now?! I thought they cancelled the engagement a long time ago."
"Noah didn't say anything. Wasn't she always protective of Hailey?"
"Rumor has it that Hailey and Adrian called off the engagement because Adrian cheated and got his mistress pregnant."
"Adrian is a scumbag!"
Almost everyone was laughing at Hailey's misfortune.
A lot of people dug up evidence of Adrian's womanizing, showing that he was an absolute scoundrel.
Before long, someone leaked a photo of Adrian accompanying a woman in a maternity store. Adrian's image was greatly tarnished, and the already unstable Watson Group faced another crisis.
The Harrington family tried but failed to control the overwhelming online rumors.
At the hospital, Hailey woke up after surgery, staring blankly at the ceiling, her face devoid of life. Mrs. Watson had been by her daughter's side for three days, sleeping for less than ten hours in total.
She tried every method to comfort her daughter. She even cursed Oliver, Natalie, Adrian, his mistress, and the Harrington family. She told her precious daughter that she would meet a better man and reassured her that everything would be fine as long as she persisted.
But nothing worked.
"Mom, give me my phone." These were Hailey's first words after the operation.
"What do you need the phone for?" Mrs. Watson handed it to her, puzzled.
Hailey dialed a number and after a while, someone picked up. "Edwin... Hmm, okay."
Mrs. Watson was startled by the fact that her daughter used that name to address someone.
When Hailey hung up the phone, Mrs. Watson grabbed her daughter's hand and said, "Hailey, when did you... Please don't do anything foolish. Edwin is not a good person!"
"Mama, my life is already ruined. Only Edwin can help me seek revenge," Hailey said, desperate.
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