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-"

that much, then let it adorn your face forever. Don't waste

that, Hamilton

call, her face twisting from hurt to a seething

was Hamilton playing

her to live with this

she inflicted it

was it

It must be Natalia.

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

let her live with this disfigurement for

her phone across the

expression darkened on witnessing the scene. She had overheard

you insisted on letting her change her name. Look where that's gotten us-stuck with a ticking time bomb!" Patrick's face matched Lucinda's 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

he dialed out, confident in his connections within the medical community. Eveleen was

name, they recoiled as if warned off by a higher power. In mere hours, Eveleen had become persona non grata in the cosmetic

turned pale with anger, and Eveleen sobbed

drive you to

Natalia's doing. I

had left her apartment to drop things off at Scarlett's before heading to the hospital. Her phone rang unexpectedly-it

a brief pause, she answered the

the point. "Ms. Jenkins, I heard from Ronin that

I won't be able

seriousness. "Ms. Jenkins, if you don't mind, perhaps we could

silence, Natalia agreed. She had given Mason her word, and it was only right to explain the

the Ron Group's Silkwood City branch, where Mason

"Thank you, Mr. Joyner."

Mason didn't waste time. "Ms. Jenkins, I still hope

it seems

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

heard from Ronin that you're aiming for a spot at the State Department?" Natalia nodded affirmatively, "It's a rare opportunity,

a nod of

State Department at such a young age, Ms. Jenkins. You're

for what they were and returned a few of her

Mason's tone

I'll say it 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

Natalia's brow furrowed slightly.