Author: BTMBeta

Several of her die-hard fans immediately rushed over and jumped into the lake without a second’s hesitation.

They managed to grab hold of her by her arms and swim back to shore with her safely in tow.

The crowd surged forward and surrounded them.

One of the fans shouted with anxious urgency, “Call an ambulance! Stop! Stop shooting!”

Meanwhile, Laney sneered from the spot where she had remained seated.

These people were really making a disproportionate deal of this.

For crying out loud, it was a man-made lake.

It was actually very shallow and people really couldn’t drown in it.

Further, Emani was over 5.5 ft tall.

If she stood up, the water may not have been able to submerge her.

However, had been bitterly cold for the last few days.It had snowed a few days ago and the temperature was still around zero degrees Celsius.

Because of this, it had really been a traumatic ordeal for Emani.

When Emani’s fans took her to the shore, she was soaked to the bone.

She was shivering with cold, and her face was pale.Her long, usually voluptuous and curly hair was plastered flat against her face.Her makeup was ruined, and she looked utterly haggard and miserable.

“What happened?”

Hearing the noise, Emani’s assistant and the other crew members rushed over.

The assistant quickly wrapped her with a blanket and asked anxiously, “Miss Gomez, what happened? How did you fall into the lake all of a sudden?”

Emani drew the blanket tightly around herself and trembled, as if she was still in a state of shock.

She kept shaking her head, and then looked through the crowd at Natalie, who was standing beside the lake.

Emani looked hesitant, as if she wanted to say something but decided it best to keep mum.

Someone in the crowd pointed at Natalie and said, “That woman pushed Emani on purpose!”

Emani’s assistant also turned to look at Natalie.

Emani’s fans and the reporters also looked at her.

After a few seconds, Emani said with an unnatural, slightly wry smile, “I am fine now.Don’t gather here.I should get back to work now. There’s still a lot of work to be covered later.Don’t let me slow you down.”

Her assistant rolled her eyes at Natalie and pulled Emani to her feet carefully.

Emani’s fans glowered at Natalie with deep-seated contempt.

“You are so raw! You didn’t even offer an apology.”

“Everyone saw it clearly.She pushed Emani.”

“Well, Emani is too kind-hearted.She decided to let it slide. We don’t want to get Emani in trouble.”

“She did it just because she knew Emani wouldn’t fight back!”

The crowd all whispered under their breath and left the lake area behind Emani.

Watching them leave, Natalie felt a little unsettled.

“Let’s go back too,” Laney said, holding her arm and walking with her when she noticed how awkward she looked.

“Don’t think too much of it.I Know you didn’t push her.”

“But they all think I did it.” Natalie felt wronged.

She had the feeling that it hadn’t been an accident at all and that Emani purposely threw herself into the water of her own volition.

Emani didn’t get along with Natalie.

In all likelihood, Emani did this to set her up and cast her in a bad light.

Having heard Laney’s remark, Natalie forced herself not to dwell on it too much.

Considering the fact that there were a lot of people here, she figured that at least half of them should’ve seen that she didn’t push Emani.

Sadly, she completely underestimated the power of Emani’s fans to incite public opinion.

Not only did they have bad eyesight, but they were also selectively blind.

The next day, Natalie went to a hairdresser to get a haircut.She felt that her bangs were getting too long, so she took Laney with her to a salon.

The hairdresser was a handsome man in his early twenties.He had short spiky hair, and he was quite adept at flattery.

“This hairstyle suits you perfectly. Hold on a second. You’re an actress, aren’t you? I think I’ve seen you somewhere before!”

“Has that pickup line ever worked for you?” Natalie bantered.

It was indeed an old pickup line

The next second, the hairdresser took out his phone, opened a video, and handed it to Natalie.

“I’m serious.Have a look at this! You look exactly the same.ls she your sister or something?”

When Natalie saw what was on the screen, she was taken aback.

Someone had secretly taken a video of her and Emani by the lake yesterday, and it had been posted online.

Natalie lagged onto Twitter to read more about the news.

After a few minutes, she had fully grasped the entire story.

There was an entertainment news report regarding Emani falling into the water while she was taking a break on the set.

And now, she had caught a cold and had to stop filming.

Many fans were concerned about her health and left many comments regarding this matter.

Most of them guessed that someone must’ve pushed Emani into the water.

The video showed that Natalie and Emani were just sitting by the water at first.

Without the intervention of outside force, one wouldn’t easily fall into the water.

When they took a closer look, they noticed that Natalie moved her arm slightly.

It was as if she was trying to break free of Emani’s grip.

Moreover, Emani’s reaction during the situation was quite odd.

If she didn’t fall into the water by accident, the only reasonable explanation was that the person sitting beside her had pushed her into the water.

And that person happened to be Natalie.

Natalie scowled while reading through the comments.She then checked Emani’s page again.

There, many fans had already left numerous impassioned comments.

“Emani, everyone is waiting for you to recover! Tell us what happened.Shed light on the situation.”

“We’ll always support you!”

“Did that woman shove you?”

“Who even was that woman? We should dox her!”

“Right.We should do that bitch. want to know what’s going on between her and Emani.How dare she do something like that? I’m gonna rip her head off!”

However, Emani didn’t provide any explanations.

It was as if she had acquiesced to her fans ‘sentiments, At this point, Natalie really wanted to speak up.

Just then, she got a call from Gerda.

“Girl, have you seen the trending video on Twitter? The woman in the video looks like you,” Gerda said anxiously

“Itis me,” replied Natalie.

Surprised by the response, Gerda said, “Seriously? I don’t believe you’d do something like that!”

She was one of Emani’s fans.

There was a time when she was so enamored by her looks.

She had even joined her fan club, so she could hear first hand news on Emani.

Gerda took a deep breath and said to Natalie, “You should be careful.I saw some of Emani’s fans discussing something in the fan club’s group chat. They said that they intend to dox you!”

Clenching her teeth tightly, Natalie said, “There’s more to the story than what’s on the video.”

“I believe you.But Emani just so happened to be a popular actress who had starred in several hot trending TV shows.Now she has a huge following.Also, most of her fans are young and radical. This means the cards are stacked against you. There are very few people who would believe your story.”

After this incident, her impression of Garrett had become slightly marred.

“He is definitely a playboy. He dumped that woman so readily, which must mean he hasn’t taken their relationship seriously. No wonder he changes girlfriends so fast, like how some people change clothes,” she thought to herself.

After saying goodbye to Natalie, she made her way to Garrett’s office to work. In order not to look suspicious, she had begun to learn about her job as a secretary. She thought that at least she should look the part of a secretary. As soon as he entered the office, he saw Laney sorting through the documents and arranging his meeting schedules.

“You don’t have to do all these things. Just leave them to my assistant to attend to,” he said.

Garrett walked to Laney and tried to take the documents from her grasp, but she quickly dodged him with a blank expression on her face.

Laney left with the documents in her hands and said in an icy tone, “Mr. Harding, this forms part of my job as your secretary.

Besides, please keep a distance from me from now on. Thank you.”

She didn’t want to stay in his presence a moment longer, so she turned on her heel and was about to leave.For no reason,

Garrett felt annoyed. Laney’s attitude towards him was now obviously colder and more removed than before.

“Don’t mind what happened yesterday.” Garrett’s voice came from behind Laney.

Laney looked sideways and frowned, “Mr. Harding, you don’t need to explain this to me. Your behavior now will only make others misunderstand the relationship between us.”

She then closed the office door, leaving him standing alone in the room. He didn’t know how to explain the true situation to her, nor did he know why he actually wanted to explain it to her. She was just there to be Natalie’s bodyguard. Garrett took a seat in his chair in an irritable mood.

He didn’t even understand why he handled what had happened yesterday the way he did.

Indeed, he liked to date young, energetic and beautiful women. Although he had never fallen in love with any of them, he was good at buttering women up and charming them.

It was simply a misunderstanding and all he needed to do was to spend some time charming the pants off Tracey, which would be an easy task for him. With just a few new luxury bags, Tracey would forgive him. Moreover, he and Tracey had only been together for two months and there hadn’t been many problems.

Even if there were, they would be easy to solve. However, after they had got home and he tried to explain the situation to Tracey, she still wouldn’t let it go. Somehow, he felt exhausted and soon lost his patience. That was when he really wanted to end things with her.

Laney had been in a bad mood the entire week after the incident. Natalie knew that she was still blaming herself for the problem between Garrett and his girlfriend.

Therefore, she planned to go shopping with Laney on Saturday to cheer her up. She bought some chicken nuggets from a shop on the street. It was a cold wintry day; the perfect season to enjoy hot, fried chicken. Natalie put a chicken nugget into Laney’s mouth.

“Stop sulking! It has been one whole week. Perhaps the misunderstanding between Garrett and his girlfriend is cleared by now.

They might have gotten back together already.” After eating the nugget, Laney let out a weary sigh.

‘I don’t think so. They have really broken up, you know.”

Natalie was taken aback.

“Even so, it’s no big deal,” she comforted Laney.

“It was just a misunderstanding. None of it is your fault. Anyway, Garrett changes girlfriends faster than he changes his clothes.

Perhaps he was just tired of his girlfriend again.”

Laney smiled but didn’t say anything. She understood that Natalie was trying to make her feel better. However, her words didn’t seem to help. She had to figure this out herself.

After shopping, they went to a scenic spot that had recently opened in Seasisco. Natalie pointed at the lofty mountain and said, “I heard on the news that the snow would rime the mountain, making it look like a huge ice cream cone.”

She wanted to somehow make Laney feel better, and nothing better could uplift one’s mood than the beauty of nature.

Unexpectedly, a crew was filming there. As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw that people had gathered around to watch the shoot.

Natalie wasn’t interested in celebrities. But if Laney liked them, she didn’t mind joining her.

“Do you like stars?”

‘I only like action movie stars.” Laney smiled.

It seemed like they were shooting a soap opera. A huge crowd had gathered, and they couldn’t squeeze their way inside.

At last, the two of them found a quiet place by the lake and sat down. Just as Natalie wondered what to say to make Laney feel better, she heard someone call her name.

“Natalie!” The voice sounded familiar. She turned around and saw a female star greeting her from a distance.

As the woman walked closer, Natalie recognized her. Emani’s contract with the Larson Group had just expired. She was no longer the spokesperson of the Larson Group’s clothing brand, which meant Emani didn’t have to try being friends with Natalie anymore.

“You just saw me. Why didn’t you come and talk to me? Luckily, I have good eyesight, so I recognized you from afar.” Emani was wearing bright lip gloss. She smiled, revealing her pearly teeth that made her look kind and innocent.

However, Natalie was on guard. Emani was acting weird, and weird meant dangerous. The woman had never liked Natalie. Why would she be so nice to her all of a sudden? Something seemed fishy.

Natalie had no intention of talking to Emani. However, a group of reporters and fans had already gathered around Emani, taking pictures.

If Natalie were rude or impolite, Emani’s fans would wreck her life.

“There were too many people, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Natalie smiled and turned to leave. However, Emani immediately grabbed Natalie’s hand and sat beside her as if they were great friends.

“We haven’t seen each other for a long time. How have you been? Have you gotten over what happened?” A frown lined Natalie’s forehead.

“What’s wrong with her? Why is she asking such stupid questions? We don’t even really know each other.”

With a resounding slosh, the lake water splashed in all directions from the impact.

“Emani!”

Natalie was wholly taken aback by the unexpected incident.

The fans and reporters around were all flabbergasted by what they had just witnessed.

“What happened?!”

“Everything was fine a moment ago! What happened?”

Emani screamed and thrashed about in the water as she bellowed for help.

“Help! Somebody help! Please! Help me!”

Garrett didn’t know what to say at this point.

He couldn’t tell Tracey who Laney really was, so he figured he should turn to Sebastian for help. But when he glanced around the table, he noticed that Sebastian and Natalie were nowhere to be found.

“Let’s not talk about this here. We should talk about this once we’re home, okay?” Garrett stood from his seat, grabbed Tracey’s hand, and was about to leave the restaurant

However, Tracey was riled up again. “Why can’t we talk here, huh? Are you afraid that your little mistress will find out the truth?”

She then glanced at Laney and growled, “You uneducated slut! Didn’t your parents teach you not to seduce someone else’s boyfriend?”

Even Garrett found Tracey’s words too harsh. He squeezed her hand and gently rebuked her.

“Tracey, play nice.”

Laney had always been an upstanding person, and she’d never been insulted like this. She stood up, wore a straight face, and said, “Miss, I am not seducing Mr. Harding here. We’re simply having a meal together. Besides, we weren’t on our own! Our other colleagues were with us earlier.”

Tracey glared at her and grunted, “Lie all you want; that’s not going to help!”

After saying that, she turned to Garrett and tugged on his sleeve.

“Garrett, since you say that there’s nothing going on between you two, fire her if you want me to believe you!”.

The latter shook his head, adjusted his glasses, and put on a stern face.

“I can’t just fire her! I don’t even have the authority to do that.”

This was something that he couldn’t decide by himself. He still had to discuss it with Sebastian first.

Now, Tracey was even angrier than before.

“You’re supposed to be in a high position in the Larson Group and you can’t even fire your own secretary? So, you really were lying just now, weren’t you?”

Right after she finished speaking, she overturned the table in anger.

Laney was quick to react. She darted backwards to avoid getting hit.

The tableware fell to the ground in an instant. The noise was so loud that it attracted the attention of the other guests dining here.

Now, everyone was staring at them.

Laney managed to duck away in time, however, Garrett wasn’t able to. He stood there in a complete daze as the food splattered all over his tailored suit.

He was usually very gentle and tolerant towards women, but when he saw Tracey throwing tantrums in public it was hard for him not to get angry.

Fortunately, he was a well-educated man and exhibited none of the anger he was feeling at the time.

“Tracey, people are dining here. Don’t embarrass yourself as well as ruin their night.”

After having said that, he went on to say in a calm voice, ‘I’ll never do anything that’s against moral codes. You can make a scene if you want but don’t do it in a public place. Let’s discuss some more about this after we get back, all right?”

Noticing that he appeared angry, Tracey became timid and didn’t say a word, Garrett grabbed hold of her hand and they proceeded to walk out of the restaurant together.

Before he left, Garrett turned to look back at Laney and apologized, “I need to head out now. Please let Sebastian and Natalie know that the restaurant damages and the meal will be on me.”

Afterward, he said after a moment of hesitation, “I’m sorry you had an unpleasant meal just now. I’ll make it up to you later.”

Watching his receding back, Laney didn’t say a word. It was not until Garrett was gone did she start to help the staff clean up the mess.

Laney kept her face devoid of expression, but she certainly felt stuffy in her chest. She didn’t do anything wrong, but today, she was treated like a mistress and a slut.

She played the role as Garrett’s secretary simply to stay close to Natalie and protect her. She never wanted to get involved in Garrett’s private life in the first place.

With that in mind, how could she sleep with him? But now, she was being called an ambitious slut who tried to sleep her way to the top, which was ridiculous.

Ten minutes later. Sebastian proceeded to walk out of the bathroom holding Natalie’s hand in his. Natalie walked slowly with her cheeks blushing and her lips swollen. After walking into the room and seeing that the waiters were cleaning up and that their table had been replaced by a new one, Sebastian furrowed his brows and asked, “Was there a fight just now?”

Looking at the oil stains all over the floor, Natalie quickly walked to Laney and asked her, “Were you hurt? You should have gone with me just now.”

Earlier, before Natalie could get a grasp on what was going on, she had been dragged into the bathroom by Sebastian… Laney forced out a smile and said, “It’s fine. I think the meal has already ended. Let’s head back.”

After coming back home, Laney mulled it over in her head for a while and sent a message to Sebastian. She didn’t want such misunderstandings to occur again in the future which was why she let Sebastian know in the message that she did not want to continue working as Garrett’s secretary anymore and asked him to find her another job with very little importance to do in the

Larson Group. Anyway, what she really was here for was to protect Natalie.

At night, after Natalie fell asleep, Sebastian got Laney’s message and decided to give Garrett a call.

“How are things right now?” This was the first time that Sebastian had ever gone out of his way to ask about Garrett’s private life.

This was only because Sebastian knew that he was the cause of the problem, so he thought he should bring it up.

“It’s fine. I have handled the maiter,” Garrett said in a calm and even tone.

“Since you’ve got it handled, I want to have a chat with you about Laney. She sent me a text, saying that she wanted me to find her another position. She was concerned that your girlfriend would make a scene about her being your secretary again and cause unnecessary trouble for you and the company. I thought I should discuss this matter with you first before I decide anything.”

Sebastian was silent for a few seconds before he said, “I agree with what Laney said. There shouldn’t be any more problems after we give her another job.”

Hearing this, Garrett appeared a bit excited.

“You can’t just go about things randomly. Tell her she has nothing to worry about. Tracey doesn’t have enough trust in me. I

have already broken up with her. Laney can continue working as my secretary. This job is the perfect undercover disguise for someone like her.”

When Sebastian had told Laney about Garrett’s words, it made her feel wholly uneasy and unsettled. Instead of feeling comforted, she was even more worried and restless than before.

On the next day, and as a consequence of their chat, she looked utterly listless when she went to work.

The instant Natalie laid eyes on her, she sensed that something was amiss.

“Are you still thinking about what happened between Garrett and his girlfriend yesterday?” Natalie asked tentatively, touching her arm gently. Laney didn’t feel like there was any need to hide anything.

“I feel so overcome by guilt. I was the reason for their breakup.”

For her entire employment as a bodyguard, she had never become entangled in any of her employers’ private affairs, let alone accused of being a slut. But Sebastian was her boss, and she had no option but to follow his instructions.

Natalie didn’t want to see her take all the blame for what had transpired between the couple. She peered around before she whispered in Laney’s ear, “To be honest, I think Mr. Harding is partly to blame. There was nothing between you two, and we all know that. But he has a reputation of being a player, so even if it wasn’t you, he would have been having a meal with another woman yesterday, and the same thing would have happened to that woman.”

When Laney heard this rationale, she nodded. Even if she tried not to think about it now, she would inadvertently do so when she met Garrett later.

“You’re a very charming person.No matter where you are and who you meet, you’re bound to be fortunate.I won’t refuse your praise, though.If you say that I’m the one who brought you good luck, then who am I to argue? But if that’s the case, then shouldn’t you be thanking me for the blessing?”

At the back of Natalie’s mind, a voice was telling her that she had missed something.

She wanted to discover what it was, but her thoughts were currently in a jumble, and she had no idea where to even begin.

She then figured if she couldn’t determine what it was, then it must be nothing important.

There was no need to strain herself over something so trivial After dismissing the voice in her head, Natalie rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“I may have praised you, but I can’t believe you really ran away with it and took it to another level.For your information, Sebastian, you’re also lucky to have married me.Extremely so.”

He burst out laughing.

What she said did make a lot of sense.

If he were really the dirt-poor nobody that he was pretending to be, then it would indeed be a great fortune to have married Natalie.

Of course, he considered himself lucky either way.

Natalie was a priceless treasure in his eyes.

“You’re right; I am lucky.I’ve been married for half a year, and have been abstinent for just as long. am so very lucky.”

Sebastian flashed her a wicked grin, his eyes glinting with mischief.

Natalie almost fell into a daze before she caught herself.She ducked her head and focused on her food for the remainder of the meal.

A few days later, Laney was finally getting charged from the hospital-again.

Natalie had more insight this time.

She called Garrett in advance and asked if he could go and pick up Laney.

“Sure, I’ll do it.By the way, Quinn, would you like to have dinner together this evening? I booked a private room at a nice restaurant. You can bring your husband as well.”

Although he had promised Laney a reward in the future, he felt that he should at least treat her to dinner to celebrate her recover.

She had saved his life, after all.But he knew that they couldn’t dine alone, especially not in public.

He might not care about the rumor mill, but he couldn’t say the same for Laney.

“Then, I shall take you up on your offer, Mr.Harding,” Natalie said without a second thought.

The ambiance of the restaurant was quaint yet beautiful.

Bamboo trees lined up the path, interspersed with red flowering plums.

The plants swayed with the gentle breeze, and the refreshing fragrance of bamboo and plum blossoms filled the air.

It was a renowned Chinese restaurant that boasted a unique menu.

People often came to the restaurant just to try its braised pork. Laney had stayed in the hospital for nearly a month.

In the past month, she ate nothing but the bland hospital food provided for patients.

Now, looking at the tempting, meaty dishes made her mouth water.

Laney wasn’t really a fan of meat, but today, she ate twice as much as she usually would.

Garrett had never seen a woman gobble up food like that before.

He had usually been with women from wealthy, noble families.

And those ladies only ate a few bites to maintain their shape.

A faint smile emerged on his face as he watched Laney hog down the food without having a care in the world.

On the other hand, Natalie was eating gracefully as Sebastian placed one dish after the other on her plate.

“Would you like to have another bite?”

He would smile tenderly and ask her to taste the dishes.

Only after Natalie agreed would he fetch the food for her.

The four of them sat face to face.

From afar, they looked like two sweet couples.

Natalie was chewing her food.

As she looked up, her gaze met Garrett’s, and realized he was trying to start a conversation with Laney.

However, Laney gave perfunctory answers as if she had no interest in him.

“Mr.Harding is very articulate,” Natalie joked with a smile.

She was familiar with Garrett now, so she had no inhibitions around him.She found that Garrett was capable of noticing people’s emotions.

He seemed kind and considerate, which made women fond of him.

Garrett leaned back in his chair and looked at Laney from time to time.

“Miss Garcia saved my life.I am indebted to her.She is my savior.”

Natalie looked at him and smiled.

She could sense there was definitely chemistry between Garrett and Laney.

However, she continued to eat without voicing her thoughts.

Just then, the door of the restaurant flew open.

A young girl sashayed in.

She looked beautiful and energetic.Her angry gaze fell upon Natalie before she turned to look at Garrett.Her jaw tightened, and she was a picture of pure rage.

She strutted to their table and pointed at Garrett.

“Mr.Harding, you canceled your date with me saying you had something important to do.ls having dinner with another woman behind my back the important thing you were talking about?”

“Tracey, whe told you I’m here?”

Garrett put down his chopsticks and frowned at her.

Noticing that something was wrong, Natalie quickly swallowed the food and tugged at Sebastian’s shirt.

“I think we’d better leave. It’s most likely that Mr.Harding had a fling with this woman.It looks like he is in trouble.”

Garrett was her boss after all.

It didn’t seem right for her to sit there and watch another woman embarrass him.

Sebastian nodded and gave Garrett a quick glance before taking Natalie to the bathroom.

Laney also wanted to follow them, but she was sitting next to Garrett.

The moment she stood up, Tracey pinned her back to her chair.

“Where do you want to go? You are not going anywhere, bitch! We need to talk this out today!

“I don’t need anyone to tell me about that! I’ve already known that something was off about you since a long time ago!” Tracey crossed her arms, cast Laney a hostile glance, and scoffed. The way she looked at Laney was so judgmental.

Laney swallowed, turned her head, and continued eating without responding. Since she wasn’t allowed to leave, she figured it would be better to continue eating.

Besides, she wasn’t full yet. Garrett put down his chopsticks, and spoke in a patient manner

“I think you misunderstood. This is my secretary. She saved my life a few days ago, and for that, she got injured. She’s only just been discharged from the hospital today, so I figured I’d take her here and treat her to a meal.”

Tracey sneered while glancing at Laney. She then looked back at Garrett and asked, “Your secretary? Do you think I’m an idiot?

A few days ago, I conducted an investigation. She may appear to be your secretary, but she hasn’t done any real work that pertains to a secretary’s job description. I think it’s fairly obvious who she really is.” —

Having said that, Tracey looked exasperated. “I’ve never done anything wrong to you, Garrett! Why did you do this to me?”

Perhaps it was because Tyler often left without telling Hannah, she was no longer surprised to hear the news. However, disappointment was still evident in her voice.

“He must be gambling somewhere again.I honestly thought he had changed for real.”

On the other end of the line, Natalie was completely quiet.

Now that she had realized how terrible Tyler was as a person, there was no point in putting in a good word for him anymore.

Somewhere in the city, inside a dark interrogation room, Sebastian sat on a chair and looked down at Tyler whose blood was dripping all over his body.

“Sir, let me go.I, I have tald you everything I know. What else do you want?”

Sweat mixed with tears fell down Tyler’s face.

He wasn’t a tough man at all.

After being whipped several times, he immediately confessed.

“Pour some saline water on his wounds.” Sebastian’s eyes flared up with rage and hatred.

With eyes wide open, Tyler stared at the man standing in the darkness.

All he could see was the man’s tall silhouette.

Despite the fact that Sebastian rarely spoke, Tyler was intimidated by him.

“I’ve already told you everything, Please let me go! Please…”

Before Tyler could even finish his sentence, a bowl of saline water was poured over his wounds, causing him to scream in agony.

After screaming at the top of his lungs for a long time, he could hardly breathe.

“I’ve tald you everything I know! I won’t do it again, I promise.Please! Please, let me go!”

Sebastian didn’t believe a word that came out of Tyler’s mouth.

The way he stared at the latter was truly frightening.

“Human traffickers, the casino, and a mysterious acquaintance. It’s all too much of a ‘coincidence’. It might seem as simple as

Tyler just intended to abduct Natalie and sell her off to pay for his gambling debts.But there’s definitely more to the story”

Sebastian walked out of the room with a recorder pen in hand and said, “Take ‘good care of him, but I want him alive.”

Having said that, he went back to the room next to the interrogation room, pressed the recorder pen’s play button, and carefully analyzed Tyler’s confession.

“There’s an acquaintance I knew, someone from my village and I met him in Blakewood a while ago.

He told me that my mom had been supporting a girl named Natalie Quinn. She works at a big company, and they say she hooked up with the Larson Group’s CEO.So, I figured I’d come here and ask her for money and mooch off her.

Later on, I met two human traffickers at a tavern and decided to join hands with them to abduct Natalie.”

In the recording, Tyler sounded fired up.He kept on repeating the same sentences, and he didn’t seem to be lying.

However, there two things that Sebastian just couldn’t figure out.

Firstly, Tyler had been in Blakewood.

It was miles away from this place, so the chances of him hearing about Natalie when he was in badly need of money to pay off his gambling debts was astronomically low.

Aside from that, Sebastian had asked his men in Blakewood to conduct a thorough investigation.

The “acquaintance” that Tyler knew in Blakewood had been living there for years and never met Hannah, nor Natalie.

It couldn’t have been possible for that person to know what was happening in Seacisco.

Secondly, human traffickers were usually very vigilant.

It was highly unlikely for someone like them to cooperate with a random stranger who they met at a tavern.

‘Tyler’s offer to join them that night was a spur in the moment decision. Why would they agree to his request so readily?’ Sebastian turned off the recorder pen, interlocked his fingers, and continued contemplating.

“Maybe Tyler is telling the truth. Maybe he really isn’t aware that someone has been using him as a pawn.Someone else is probably behind all this; someone who’s using Tyler to hurt Natalie”

At first, Sebastian thought that someone from the Klein family must be the mastermind, but then he cast the idea aside.

“Even if the Klein family does want to hurt Natalie, they’re not going to use such underhanded tactics. They prefer to attack head on.And even if their plans get exposed, they could easily deal with it.

They don’t have any reason to do samething like this and make things difficult for themselves. Thereafter, Sebastian told his man to call the police over, and Tyler was put behind bars, However, he had no intention of letting this go.He just didn’t want to alert the enemy that he was onto them.

His intention was to continue to look into this matter further.

It was late winter now and snow was frequent.

Seacisco, the concrete jungle, was covered in a layer of snow and frost.

Catherine Turner was calmly making tea in her residence.

After decades of experiencing the world, she had assumed a noble, elegant demeanor, “My dear daughter, you’ve been looking sullen these days.What’s the matter?”

After pondering for a moment, she smiled at Charis sympathetically and asked, “Is it about a boy?”

Feeling agitated, Charis stared at the tea in her cup with her chin propped on one hand.

“Mom, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

Catherine could sense that something was wrong.

She eyed her daughter warily, wondering what had happened.

Although Sebastian had warned Charis several times, she couldn’t stop herself from hiring a private detective to investigate Natalie !

She had thought that she could use the Quinn family to hurt Natalie, but she found out that Natalie had cut all ties with the Quinn family.

The only family she had now was Hannah Stone, who used to serve the Quinn family.

But it was clear that Hannah loved Natalie and would never do anything to hurt her.

Charis couldn’t use her at all.

Fortunately, Charis also found out about Tyler, Hannah’s son who hadn’t been in contact with her for years.

Tyler was a scumbag and gambling addict.

He was deep in debt and was at the end of his rope, so Charis thought that he was the perfect guy to start with.

Charis spent some money and asked someone in Blakewood who knew Tyler to “casually” tell him that Natalie worked in the

Larson Group.

Two days later, as expected, Tyler came running back to Seacisco and went straight to Natalie.

Charis had thought that she had everything under control.

But what she hadn’t foreseen was that Natalie would ask Sebastian for help the second she found out about Tyler’s gambling debts.

And Sebastian had dealt with it easily.

Now, Tyler had no choice but to pay off his debts by himself.

Seeing that her plan was going to fail again, Charis felt frustrated and unwilling to let Tyler to start over again like that.

So that night, she used the Turner family’s connections to hire human traffickers to set a trap for Tyler to abduct Natalie for money.

But just before her plan could succeed, someone meddled and ruined things for her.

Little did she know that Sebastian had sent someone to replace Laney while she was out of commission.

The new bodyguard was good and she saved Natalie right after she was abducted.

Originally, Charis wasn’t that invested.

If her plan succeeded, then that would be good for her.

If it didn’t, then she wouldn’t lose anything.

After all, because Tyler was the one doing all the bad things, he would be the one to go to prison.

She could always back away.

But Sebastian didn’t seem to intend to let things go so easily even after Tyler was put in jail.

Now, Charis was distraught.

Sebastian had begun to investigate the matter thoroughly.

He’d find out that she was behind everything sooner or later.

“Mom, I need to go back to work.I’ll visit you another time.”

Lost in thought, Charis looked flustered.

She suddenly stood up from her seat, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the room.

“But you just arrived!”

Catherine sighed regretfully.

She hadn’t spent much time with her daughter ever since she lived separately with Luke.

On her way back to the office, Charis worried nonstop.She couldn’t give Sebastian a bad impression; she just couldn’t In a panic, she called the private detective she had hired.

“Get me information on all of Natalie’s enemies by the end of today.Got it?”

“Miss Turner, how detailed are we talking about?”

“I want to know every single enemy Natalie has made ever since she was a child!”

Without waiting for a response, Charis hung up the phone angrily.She didn’t expect that Sebastian would pursue this matter so thoroughly.

Given the connections the Larson Group had, it’d only be a matter of time before he found out that she was the one behind all this.

Of course, Charis didn’t want Sebastian to know about the horrible things she had done.She wanted to stay perfect in his heart.

Fortunately for her, the private detective she had hired was really good.He got Charis the information she wanted within the day.

There was a woman in particular who stood out to Charis.

Her name was Elaine Sellers.

Charis had seen this name in the personnel files before.

Elaine was fired because of Natalie.

Later, she was even sent to jail because of Natalie again.She must’ve hated Natalie to the core.

Upon reading through the file the private detective had sent her, Charis sneered and went to see Elaine.

Elaine had graduated from a famous university in Seacisco, but now, she worked as a receptionist in a motel.

Elaine looked up in surprise when she saw Charis in high heels and sunglasses here.

“Miss Turner, what brings you here?”

When Elaine was working in the Larson Group, she had seen photos of Charis and thought that she was a really intelligent and beautiful woman.

But before she ever got to meet Charis in person, she was fired because of Natalie.

Charis delicately removed her sunglasses and glanced around the shabby motel in disdain.

“Miss Sellers, allow me to be straightforward with you.I’m here to ask a favor of you.Should you agree to help me, you will be rewarded generously.”

Because Elaine now had a criminal record, she could no longer find a decent job.Her current job was just enough to keep her fed.

“What do you mean?”

Elaine clenched her fists secretly.

She had to admit that Charis gave out an intimidating aura.

Charis leaned closer to whisper in her ear, “I want a scapegoat.”

Elaine shook her head immediately.

“No, I’ve already been in jail once.I can’t go there a second time.”

Her days in prison were so horrible that she shuddered at the thought of it.

If she became Charis’s scapegoat, she would inevitably be sent to jail again.

“Hear me out first before you make your decision,” Charis said calmly.

“The charge won’t be serious.Even if you are put in jail, it’ll only be for a few years. You’ve already been there once, it’s no big deal if you go back.But the money I’ll give you in exchange for this will be more than enough for you to live the rest of your life in luxury. What will you choose? To live like this forever? Or to spend a few years in jail in return for a lifetime of luxury?”

She thanked the woman and asked incredulously, “Did you break their tires to save me?”

The woman carefully tucked the thumbtacks into her pocket and said with a kind smile, “It’s not a big deal.I just happened to be in the area, buying some groceries.When I saw that you were shoved into a car by two men, I knew I had to help.My family used to run a Boxing Gym, so I know some combat skills.I hurried to buy these thumbtacks from a hardware store and planted them here to burst their tires. There are many human traffickers in the area. You should be more careful.”

Natalie smiled at her bitterly.She didn’t expect Tyler to be so cruel and lawless.

The middle-aged woman shrugged and said, “Anyway, I’ve got to go now. You’d better leave here, too.Go somewhere safe. Those human traffickers might come back soon.Maybe they’ll bring reinforcements.”

“What should I do? Tyler’s a bad guy.I can’t let him get away with this!”

Natalie glared at the man who was lying unconscious on the ground.

She wanted to stay and make sure he got what he deserved, but she was also afraid.

“Don’t worry.I’ll call the police. You’d better leave now, young girl.l know some combat skills. They can’t hurt me.”

The woman in front of Natalie was tall, strong, and powerful.She was clearly not weak and looked like she could take care of herself.So Natalie made up her mind.

“Be careful.”

After saying goodbye, she ran down the side of the road.

The second Natalie turned around and left, the kind smile on the woman’s face disappeared in the blink of an eye.

She kicked Tyler’s face hard with her foot, and then she tapped the Bluetooth earbud in her ear to call Sebastian.

“Boss, Natalie’s safe now.Don’t worry.”

Laney was still in hospital, so Sebastian had hired an older but experienced female bodyguard from Shadow.She was to protect

Natalie in the interim.

“Good.I’ll send someone there now.Where are the two human traffickers?” Sebastian asked coldly.

“They’re running northwest.There’s nothing but orchards in that direction, and it’s snowing tonight. The temperature will drop below zero. They won’t make it very far.We can catch them before night falls.”

Hearing that, Sebastian immediately sent someone to take Tyler away, while simultaneously ordering his men to chase after the two remaining human traffickers.

After running for what seemed like forever, Natalie finally arrived at a shopping mall packed with people.

By then, she was panting heavily and sweating despite the cold weather.

The woman’s tone was very calm.

She pointed down the road and said, “There’s a shopping mall up ahead. There are many people there.No matter how bold these human traffickers are, they won’t dare to strike there.”

As soon as she made it safely inside the mall, she took out her phone and called Sebastian.

As soon as he got off the phone with the female bodyguard, Sebastian had immediately set off for Natalie.

That was when she called him.

As soon as he got off the phone with the female bodyguard, Sebastian had immediately set off for Natalie.

That was when he called him. You’re safe now.Find a cafe and sit down.I’ll be there soon

Natalie was rooted to the spot for a while before finding a cafe to sit down and wait for Sebastian.

The cup of coffee she was holding was hot, but her limbs tingled in coldness.She was now safe inside a cafe, but her mind still couldn’t get over what she had heard in the car a while ago.

It was hard to believe that Tyler would transact with human traffickers.

They said they were going to sell her to Southernton, an underdeveloped area where the people were poor and conservative.

It was also a place with frequent cases of abduction over the years.

Just thinking about it gave Natalie goose bumps.She rubbed her arms, scared for her life.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the bell at the entrance of the cafe.

When she looked up, Natalie saw Sebastian striding in.

Some snowflakes rested on his black hair.

And his expression was colder than the winter.

“Sebastian!”

Without thinking twice, Natalie ran to him and threw herself into his arms.

For a split second, Sebastian was stunned.

But then he hugged Natalie back before making her face him.

“You should have told me that you were going out.How are you? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m fine.But I… I didn’t know Tyler would be such a scum.”

Ashamed by her poor judgment, Natalie lowered her eyes.

Sebastian was enraged, but he didn’t show it to Natalie.God knew what would have happened to her if he was a little too late.

Fortunately, he had hired another bodyguard to secretly follow her.

“Let’s go to the police station first. We can’t let him get away from this.” As he spoke, he took a look at his wife, who lowered her head again.

Sebastian ran his fingers through Natalie’s hair, comforting her.

“I didn’t know you could be so bold.”

“I thought he had really changed.I have never imagined that he would try to sell me to human traffickers…” Anger and sadness laced in Natalie’s voice.

“How could Hannah have a son like him? She is so unfortunate.”

Sebastian clenched his jaw but continued to comfort her.

“We have to get rid of him once and for all so he won’t get the chance to hurt anyone again.”

After convincing Natalie, they both went to the police station. The police made a move as soon as Natalie gave her statement.

“What? You haven’t caught him?”

To say that Natalie was shocked was an understatement.

“Yes. Tyler was no longer there when we arrived at the scene. The witness had left too after calling us.Only his car was found there.We are still searching for him.”

The policewoman who took Natalie’s statement sighed.

“There have been six abductions in Seacisco in the past few months and we haven’t been able to catch the people behind them.”

What she said made Natalie feel sick.

She thought people like Tyler deserved to be in jail.

“Natalie, let’s go home for now.I’m sure they’ll update us once they get a lead.”

With his arm around Natalie’s shoulder, Sebastian said expressionlessly, “They will catch those bag guys, don’t worry.”

Thinking that he was just trying to comfort her, Natalie nodded and followed him.Soon, they arrived home.

Natalie received a call from Hannah.

“Natalie, how are you? Where’s Tyler? Did anything happen?”

Afraid that Hannah wouldn’t be able to handle the truth, Natalie decided to hide it from her.

“I don’t know.He told me he’d work somewhere else and left.”

“That brat is really a troublemaker! Well, forget it. This isn’t the first time he left without saying a word.Just let him be.”

Tyler’s heart sank with dejection.

He had been idling around all his life.

He was too lazy to work hard to pay off the debt with his meager salary.

“This gambling debt is too much.” Tyler sighed.

“It will take me several years to pay it off in small installments.Since you have the ability to persuade the casino people to allow me to pay off the debt in installments, why don’t you ask them to write off the entire debt?”

Tyler’s recklessness disgusted Natalie.

“That’s impossible!” she snapped coldly, “A casino never allows anyone to pay in installments.I tried everything I could to pull a few strings to help you and they finally agreed to make an exception.How could you expect them to write off the debts completely?”

Natalie wanted to hang up the phone right away.

Sensing Tyler was a notorious man, she warned, “Look, Tyler, I have done the best I can to help you. This is it.Don’t come to me for money again.Find a serious job and repay all the debts without bothering Hannah.”

With that, she hung up the phone.

Upon hearing the busy tone, Tyler muttered “bitch” under his breath.

He was referring to Natalie.

‘Just because she’s sleeping with some CEO, she now thinks that she can tell me what to do and what not? Fuck that!’ he thought.

As he held his phone, he put on his coat and slammed the door.

‘How am I supposed to pay such a big gambling debt on my own? I’ll never be able to pay that money back! Tyler kept mumbling swear words under his breath all the way to a bar.

He didn’t have enough money to go to regular bars, so the bar he went to was an illegal one.

People like him who lived in the bottom of society knew some illegal bars.

These types of bars usually sold cheap alcohol, and they employed teenaged girls to sell beers table-to-table.

The bar wasn’t well-ventilated, and smoking wasn’t prohibited.

Upon entering the bar, all kinds of smells wafted into his nose and there were people from all walks of life.

He spat on the ground, walked to a seat with a cigarette in his mouth, and asked a barmaid for two dozen beers.

The barmaid didn’t want to talk to him when she saw that he looked like a bum.

She just put the beers on the table and went to talk to the other guests.

Tyler gulped down the first bottle of beer, thinking of the embarrassment he faced when he tried to persuade Natalie to give him more money.

‘How could she ask me to find a job to pay off my debts?’ he complained inwardly.

The taverns at night were brighter and livelier than the streets outside.

While Tyler was drinking, he heard someone whisper to another man, “I heard that the cripple in the neighboring village got a wife.

Did you help him? How much did you sell her for?”

“How much do you think a guy from a poor village can afford? A few thousand dollars.But there are a lot of men in Barnes, hoping to buy young, beautiful women.They offer really high prices, mind you,” the man replied, raising his fingers.

“One hundred thousand dollars?”

“Nope.One million!”

Tyler was almost drooling when he heard the price.

He rolled his eyes, tempted at the thought that Natalie met the standards that those were talking about.

He approached the men with a smile.

“I know a beautiful girl, I can give her for you for half the earnings. What do you think, boys?”

Not only could he pay off his gambling debts through these possible earnings, but he could also make a fortune.

He could even continue gambling using the rest of the money!: One of the human traffickers had a freckled face, and the other had thick eyebrows and big eyes.

They both eyed Tyler up and down.

The freckled-face man spoke first.

“Which neighborhood do you live in? And why have I not seen you before?” he asked vigilantly Tyler pondered for a moment and said, “I’m just another guy who’s down on his luck.I used to hang out with people from the Gainrich Casino.Everybody there calls me Tiger.”

The freckled-face man knew Gainrich Casino.He was also aware that all sorts of rogues owed money to the casino there.He and his companion exchanged glances before looking back at Tyler.

“Do you have any photos of the girl? We need to see what she looks like first.Call it a pre-check.”

Tyler gulped down another bottle of beer and wiped his lips.

“Alright.She works for the Larson Group.I’ll show you tomorrow .The next morning, he took them to the road that Natalie always took to go to work. The human traffickers’ eyes widened when they saw her.She was indeed gorgeous, and she was maddeningly sexy. They could easily sell her for a hefty sum.

Natalie was indeed beautiful. The human traffickers had never cold someone so beautiful Natalie was a white collar worker in the city.

Clearly she had some social experience, so she wasn’t as gullible as those female college students they usually dealt with

“I don’t think we can do anything to her.Besides, we don’t know who she is.It’ll be suspicious if we just walk up to her to strike up a conversation.”

The human traffickers were caught in a dilemma.

Seeing that they were about to give up, Tyler replied, “Take it easy.She’s my niece.She’s not wary of me.If I’m around, it’ll be easier to deceive her.”

Thanks to his assurance, the human traffickers became hopeful.

They exchanged glances with each other, and then one of them said, “in that case, we should do this as soon as possible. When do you think we can take action?”

Tyler walked on ahead of them, wearing a wicked smile.He had already formulated a plan.

“Let’s talk about the money first, shall we? Since she’s my niece, I want seventy percent of the profits you sell her for.”

“Considering how you’re more than willing to sell her off, I don’t think you’re that close to your niece. You don’t even flinch when you say such horrible remarks.It will take us a lot of effort and time to sell her to a willing buyer. Why should we give you that much money?” the freckled man countered with a grin.

‘This man is fucking horrible! He’s even willing to sell out his relatives just to make money.That girl is so unlucky to have an uncle like him,’ the freckled man thought.

Once they were done negotiating, they decided to give Tyler sixty percent of the earnings they’d get for selling Natalie.

Afterwards, they discussed the plan of action, and worked on their part of the plan separately.

On Saturday morning, Tyler called Natalie.

“I’m sorry about the other day, Natalie.! shouldn’t have put you in that position.Now that I’ve had time to ponder on your words, I

realize that it makes a lot of sense.People shouldn’t rely on anyone but themselves.”

Glad that he figured it out himself, Natalie replied, “It’s nice to hear you say that.Find a stable job, so that you can pay off your debts one day.As long as you avoid gambling and correct your bad habits, all will be fine.”

As Tyler held the phone, he nodded repeatedly and continued, “A few days ago, I scored an interview to become a hotel security guard, but I’ve never taken part in an interview before. You work at a big company, right? Do you mind accompanying me to the interview? It’ll give me a sense of security and boost my confidence.”

“Sure.No problem. I’m free this weekend, anyway.”

As the days went by, the snow in Seacisco became stronger.

At sunset, Sebastian returned from his long journey.

Snow had piled up on his black wool coat.

“Are you okay? It’s too cold outside.Have dinner first so you could warm up.Let’s go to the shopping mall once I get my salary so we can buy some clothes for you.”

Sebastian always wore this black coat.

Natalie understood that he didn’t need a lot of winter clothes, but she didn’t want him to live so poorly.

After patting off the snow from his coat, Sebastian hung it on the coat rack.

The grey sweater he wore under the coat was revealed.

It wasn’t from a luxury brand; in fact, Natalie only bought it on sale.

But because Sebastian was in good shape, the sweater looked expensive when he wore it.

“The clothes in the shopping mall are very expensive. Didn’t you just lend someone fifty thousand dollars? Let’s postpone that for now.”

Standing in the doorway, Sebastian stared at Natalie.

The dim light accentuated his handsome face.

Guilt was evident on Natalie’s face.

She was silent for a while before finally saying, “I know I shouldn’t have indulged Tyler, but I have to help him for Hannah’s sake…”

Her soft vaice gradually trailed.

Noticing that Natalie was feeling down, Sebastian walked over and stared at her with eyes brimming with affection.

Then he raised her chin and kissed her passionately.He sucked on her bottom lip, biting into it.

Just as Sebastian was about to lose control, he let go of her lips and said in a gentle tone, “I’m not blaming you.Don’t worry.I have asked my friend for help.He has talked to someone who works at the casino. They have agreed for Tyler to pay them back in installments.”

Surprised by the news, Natalie raised her head and asked, “You really know a lot of people, don’t you? Did it cost you a lot to ask your friend for help?”

Sebastian gently pinched her chin and answered, “It’s not a big deal.He happened to owe me a lot of favors.Just tell Tyler to get a job.He has to have an income to afford to pay his debt every month.In that way, he could also support himself and start anew.”

“I’ll tell Tyler the good news later. Finally, there’ll be a solution to his problem.”

Now, Natalie’s face looked livelier.

She snaked her arms around Sebastian’s waist and praised him with a smile, “You’re so smart.”

What she did made Sebastian chuckle, but he arched his eyebrows.

“Is that all I’d get?”

The smile on Natalie’s lips grew wider as she understood what he meant.

She stood on tiptoe and kissed Sebastian on the cheek.

It wasn’t enough for the latter, so he held the back of her neck and pressed his lips on hers.

With one hand on her waist, he lifted Natalie up and pressed her against the sofa.

They sucked in their breaths as Sebastian pressed himself against Natalie, letting his hand wander on her body under her clothes.

It couldn’t be denied that Natalie was greatly affected by his touch.she felt wet between her legs, wanting him.

Her flushed face also gave her away.

However, she closed her legs and said, “Not now.I have to call Tyler to tell him the news first.”

Hearing this, Sebastian’s face darkened, “Are you kidding?”

“You’re the best!”

Natalie giggled like a spoiled child and gave him a peck on the lips.

While Sebastian was in a daze, she took the opportunity to flee.

She shouted as she ran away, “l will thank you next time!”

In the end, Sebastian could only heave a sigh.He watched Natalie run away and shook his head in amusement.

As soon as Natalie entered the bedroom, she took out her phone and called Tyler. he latter’s excited voice rang in her ear.

“Have you paid them already?”

No.But I have tried my best to help you. They have agreed to let you pay your debts in installments with low interest.You just need to pay them a part of the debts every month. There’s no need for you to hurry.Just find a job and slowly pay them back.Those men won’t bother you again.”

A bright smile was plastered on Natalie’s face as he spoke, thinking that Hannah wouldn’t have to worry about Tyler anymore.

There was a brief silence before Tyler spoke again.

This time, he didn’t sound excited anymore.

“Oh, I see.”

Judging from his tone, Natalie could tell that he wasn’t happy with the news.Instead, he sounded disappointed and Bissatisfied.

When Tyler received the call from Natalie, he was happy, thinking she had repaid all his debts.

In his early years, Tyler was lured into a casino and became a gambling addict when he worked with the hooligans in the village several years ago.

Later, he moved to another place to gamble, and his debts piled up over the years.

The debt collectors were after him like predators waiting to catch their prey.

Just as Tyler wondered what to do, he heard some people from his village tell him that his mother, whom he had abandoned years ago, had a promising granddaughter.

They told him that she was working in the famous Larson Group and was the mistress of the company’s CEO.

His mother seemed to live a comfortable life because of her.

Tyler grew jealous; he felt life was unfair.

How could his mother live a good life when he was suffering? No wonder his mother hadn’t bothered to look for him.

It turned out that she lived a spectacular life and didn’t need him anymore.

The more Tyler thought about it, the angrier he became.

He had been hiding to escape from the debts, sleeping under the bridge along with beggars.

His life was no better than that of a stray dog.

Therefore, he decided to go back to his mother.

Hannah was softhearted.

If he fell on his feet and pretended to turn over a new leaf, she would forgive him in a heartbeat.

Moreover, Natalie was wealthy now.

She was the CEO’s mistress and certainly wouldn’t be short of money.

His debt was just a drop in the bucket for Natalie.

As expected, Natalie had agreed to lend him fifty thousand dollars without much hesitation.

Fifty thousand dollars was just the tip of the iceberg among his gambling debts.

He only wanted to use it to test the water and see what Natalie would do.

Fifty thousand dollars was far from enough to pay off his gambling debts that had accumulated over the years.

However, as Tyler continued to borrow money, to his surprise, Natalie refused to lend him money and said she would find a way to help him.

In fact, Tyler was surprised to find Natalie could help him in the first place.

The casino consisted of all kinds of people, and only a few would have a say on things.

He couldn’t fathom how Natalie could be so capable.

Later, after a lot of thinking, Tyler concluded that she would probably ask the CEO of the Larson Group for help.

That was how she would manage to rescue him from such a serious problem.

The Larson Group was one of the most reputed companies in the entire country.

Tyler felt it would be better if Natalie could somehow make the casino write off his gambling debts.

Keeping all this in mind, Tyler decided to let Natalie step in.

However, to his utter dismay, Natalie had called and informed him that he had to repay the debts in installments.