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-"

let it adorn your

that, Hamilton hung

at the disconnected call, her face twisting from

was Hamilton

to

inflicted it

it because of

It must be Natalia.

surely, he must suspect her involvement in

let her

her

scene.

Instead, 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.

dialed out, confident in his connections within the medical community. Eveleen was the Schafer family's prized jewel; he wouldn't let her future be marred by a

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 cosmetic surgery world. Patrick returned with

with anger, and Eveleen sobbed

to drive you to your grave?" Lucinda

doing. I hope she rots

her apartment to drop things off at Scarlett's before

a brief pause, she answered the

got straight to the point. "Ms. Jenkins, I heard from Ronin that you won't

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

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

her word,

arranged to meet at a coffee shop beneath the Ron Group's Silkwood City branch, where Mason was overseeing the setup. Upon seeing Natalia, Mason nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Mr. Joyner."

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

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

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

Ronin that you're aiming for a spot at the State

a nod

State Department at such a young age, Ms.

pleasantries for what they were and returned a

tone

who says joining the State Department precludes you from joining the Ron Group? Ms. Jenkins, 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 bit, and delegate the rest

Natalia's brow furrowed slightly.