That got me to tilt my head down, and that was when I saw him kneeling on one knee. He was holding a pair of slippers and was testing the waters by pushing my leg a little. “The floor is cold, so put these on.”
“No, thank you,” I replied stubbornly and held my head up high to show zero respect.
I felt myself levitating at the very next second. Nathaniel had lifted my foot and slipped one slipper onto it before he did the same for my other foot.
After doing all that, he stood up slowly and stared calmly at me. He sounded like he was teasing me when he pointed out, “You’ve been giving me the silent treatment for over two hours. Aren’t you tired?”
Stubbornly, I refused to look at him anyway, but then I thought about the laptop in the room, and inspiration hit me. I immediately changed my mind, turned to him, and said, “I am tired, but that’s not enough to get me to stop being angry. That might change if I have some pasta with me, though.”
Nathaniel grinned before he put on a straight face and replied, “Go wait on the second floor.”
I smiled in return before running up the stairs.
When I was at the door, I felt anxious, so I turned back and snuck a peek at the stairs. I waited until I saw Nathaniel walking into the kitchen. After that, I hurried to the room and closed the door before rushing to the laptop.
I was lucky because Nathaniel didn’t turn his laptop off properly, so it had simply been idle the entire time. All I had to do was move the mouse, and the screen lit up to show the WhatsApp messages.
Swallowing hard, I then turned my head to check and make sure that Nathaniel hadn’t come to the room. After that, I used the mouse to check his chat history.
As suspected, the illegal business deal was done behind Anthony’s back. Or rather, the owner of that new number was the one who was making the decisions.
My first instinct was to log into my own account and make a copy of that chat history. Unfortunately, that would leave a record, and I wouldn’t be able to delete everything in time if Nathaniel suddenly came in.
While panicking, I saw the screenshot button on the desktop, and a lightbulb instantly went off in my head.
I made a screenshot of the most important bit of the WhatsApp chat history before I attached it to a new e-mail I created using Nathaniel’s e-mail account.
For the title, I wrote: It’s me, Sienna. I hope this will help. Don’t reply.
I looked for Anthony’s name before I clicked on it to send the e-mail.
Then, I deleted the e-mail from the folders and turned off all software.
Everything was done in one go, and it was perfect.
I didn’t relax or heave a breath of relief until I got everything back to its original position.
“What are you doing?” Nathaniel’s nonchalant tone broke the silence.
A chill ran down my spine, and I stiffened as if someone had just pointed a gun at my head.
I bit my lip a little and tried to force myself to calm down. After that, I moved the mouse to the web browser and complained, “What do you think I was doing? The day has been so boring, so I’m going online to watch some news. What? Do you actually think I’m a criminal?”
Nathaniel sat down with a plate of pasta and put the dish aside before he got his laptop from me to examine it. He found nothing out of the ordinary.
In a hostile tone, I retaliated by challenging, “Do you see me as a spy? You are the one who brought me over, and you are the one who placed your laptop here. You should’ve told me earlier if you don’t want me to use it, so stop looking at me like that. I am not your slave, and I get to do certain things like using the computer.”
Nonetheless, Nathaniel ignored me entirely. His expression remained aloof as he put the laptop, which he had since turned off, aside and pushed the pasta over to me. After that, he said, “Eat up.”
His response made me feel as though I was talking to a wall. It’d feel weird if I kept complaining about it, and I was hungry anyway, so I picked up the fork and ate away.
That night, Nathaniel insisted on sleeping while hugging me like a pillow. He only left after the sun had risen, and he took the laptop away as he left.
I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about the e-mail and wondered if Anthony had received it.
It was ten o’clock at night, but I was too nervous. Besides, the bed felt uncomfortable no matter how much I tossed and turned. I then gave up and decided to go out for some fresh air.
When I walked down the stairs, I bumped into Anthony, who happened to be entering at the time.
I thought I was dreaming, so I pinched myself hard.
Ouch, that hurts! Huh? So this is not a dream, then. Anthony really is here.
Anthony, however, had no idea what I was doing. He seemed taken aback when he asked, “What are you up to this time?”
“Huh?” Once again, I wondered if I was dreaming.
It had been a while since he last spoke to me in that tone.
Anthony took a deep breath and straightened his back before shifting his gaze away. His tone was so icy that it was borderline inhumane when he said, “I’m talking about the e-mail from last night.”
After a sharp breath, I stared at him strangely and started questioning myself once more.
He should be aware of the risks I took to get my hands on that information. Why is he interrogating me in that tone? It’s as if I had just pulled the worst prank on him. Did I misunderstand the situation? Was I wrong to assume that he trusts me?
“What e-mail?” A familiar voice rang out all of a sudden. The owner of that voice, Nathaniel, was walking over from the living room with a glass of whiskey in his hand. It seemed like he had already downed half a glass. The man draped one of his arms around my shoulder and nonchalantly asked, “You guys don’t mind if I join in on the conversation, right?”
I knew that I was at fault, so my heart started thumping fast. At that moment, I couldn’t respond to that at all.
Anthony, on the other hand, couldn’t contain his anger. His tone was as sharp as daggers when he spat, “I don’t know what game the two of you are playing, but I will have none of it. This is the first and last time you’ll test me with fake news, get it?”
How could that be fake?
Surprised, I turned to Nathaniel. The confident grin on his lips and the blatant arrogance shining in his eyes showed that he had anticipated everything that was happening at that moment.
It also meant that the information I risked for and stole on the night before was nothing but fake content. That sly fox likely planted everything there to test the waters as he tried to figure out how often Anthony and I still communicate with one another.
That was a good move.
Pretending to let his words slip, acting all nervous when he took the laptop away from me… I had been putting on a show, but in the end, he was the one who fooled me.
It seems I have underestimated my opponent.
But this doesn’t explain why Anthony is acting like this. If he knows that the information is fake, shouldn’t he try to get in touch with me and warn me to be more careful around Nathaniel? Why is he acting this way?
It is as if he is convinced that Nathaniel and I are on the same side.
I was reminded countless times, but I would never believe that Nathaniel could tempt Anthony to do anything immoral.
At that thought, I clamped my mouth shut and tried my best to keep myself calm before saying, “I didn’t know that the information was faked and was unaware of the situation.”
“Do I look like an idiot?” growled Anthony almost immediately after I finished speaking. His tone was icy and almost cruel.
After he said that, he turned his attention to Nathaniel and added, “The two of you are living together, huh? No wonder Sienna changed her stance so quickly and is working against me now.”
Meanwhile, Nathaniel tightened his hold on me and shrugged a little. He had an infuriating expression on. At that point, it seemed like his silence worked better than spoken words.
I was quick to break free from Nathaniel and put some distance between us. Rolling my eyes at him in distaste, I then turned to Anthony to say, “Anthony, you trust me, don’t you?”
Nathaniel had already seen through my tricks and knew that I was spying on him, so there was no point in keeping the charade up anymore. Under those circumstances, it was better to just be sincere. At least I’d be able to give Anthony a firm response then.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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