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-"

then let it adorn your face forever.

Hamilton hung

her face twisting from hurt to

Hamilton playing

condemning her to live

because she inflicted it

was it because of

It must be Natalia.

self-inflicted, then surely, he

let her live with this

Eveleen hurled her phone

scene. She had overheard the entire

we had the chance! 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. "What's the rush? It's just a plastic surgeon. If Hamilton can find one, can't

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

recoiled as if warned off by a

with anger,

to drive you to your grave?" Lucinda

all that wretch Natalia's doing.

at Scarlett's

pause, she answered

I heard from Ronin that you won't

be able to take the

voice deepened with seriousness. "Ms. Jenkins, if you don't mind, perhaps we

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

branch, where Mason was overseeing the setup. Upon seeing

"Thank you, Mr. Joyner."

time. "Ms. Jenkins, I still hope

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

a contemporary of his son, yet markedly more

that you're aiming for a spot at

gave a nod

into the State Department at such

what they were and returned a few

Mason's tone

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

Natalia's brow furrowed slightly.