Echoes Of a Forsaken Heart

Chapter 165

Hamilton picked up the call with unusual haste.

He sat on the couch, his face clouded with brooding shadows.

The housekeeper approached with a cotton swab soaked in antiseptic.

"Mr. Fowler, perhaps you should tend to that bite before it gets worse."

Blood still stained Hamilton's arm from where Natalia had sunk her teeth into him.

He glanced at the wound with detached indifference and muttered, "Leave it."

It was a mark from Natalia, a debt he intended to repay in kind.

Eveleen, on the other end of the line, overheard the housekeeper and felt a surge of hope.

Was Hamilton's injury the reason he hadn't shown up?

"Hamilton, are you hurt? Is that why you didn't come? I'll wait for you, we can postpone the surgery until you're better."

Hamilton took a drag from a freshly lit cigarette before replying, "No need to wait. The surgery's off."

Eveleen's heart skipped a beat, panic rising in her voice.

"Hamilton, you promised you wouldn't abandon me! You can't go back on your word!"

A scoff escaped Hamilton's lips.

"Eveleen, I did promise to help you with the surgery, and I said I wouldn't leave a scar. But if you're the artist behind your own scars, then it's a different story altogether." Eveleen choked up, her anxiety intensifying.

"What do you mean, Hamilton? How could I have done this to myself? I'm not crazy."

Silence was his only response, and in those moments of quiet, Eveleen's panic soared.

"Hamilton, I-"

Before she could finish, Hamilton cut in, "How many times have I warned you, Eveleen? Do you take my words for wind?"

"I didn't, Hamilton, I really didn't-"

much, then let it

Hamilton

call, her face twisting from

Hamilton

he condemning her to live with

inflicted it upon

it because of

It must be Natalia.

scar was self-inflicted, then surely, he must suspect her involvement

let her live with this disfigurement for

hurled her phone across the

witnessing the scene.

in its grimness. Never had he imagined Hamilton would actually fall for Natalia, the daughter he'd cast aside, now climbing to heights his own pampered daughter could not reach. It left him feeling as though he'd swallowed bile. "What's the rush? It's just a plastic surgeon. If Hamilton can find

his connections within the medical community. Eveleen was the Schafer family's prized jewel; he wouldn't let her future be

as he made call after call, Patrick realized he had been naïve. Once doctors heard Eveleen's name, they recoiled as if warned off by a higher power. In mere hours, Eveleen had become persona non grata in the

turned pale with anger, and Eveleen

to drive you

wretch Natalia's doing. I hope she rots for

off at Scarlett's before heading to the hospital. Her phone rang unexpectedly-it

pause,

I heard from Ronin that you won't

confirmed it. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to take the

you don't mind, perhaps we could meet to discuss

Mason her word, and it was only right

a coffee shop beneath the Ron Group's Silkwood City branch, where Mason was overseeing the setup. Upon seeing Natalia, Mason

"Thank you, Mr. Joyner."

settled, Mason didn't waste time. "Ms. Jenkins, I still hope you'll consider joining the Ron

smile, Natalia replied, "I appreciate the opportunity, Mr. Joyner, but it seems I'm not meant to be part

woman before him, a contemporary of his son, yet markedly more composed than his

a spot at the

gave a nod of

bad, to get into the State Department at such a young age, Ms. Jenkins. You're going

they were and returned a few of

tone

again, I still hope to entrust the Silkwood City branch to you. Even if you're with the State Department, you just need to strategize for me a bit, and delegate the rest to Ronin. A little consulting on the side

Natalia's brow furrowed slightly.