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 face forever.

that, Hamilton

stared at the disconnected call, her face twisting

Hamilton playing

to live

she inflicted it upon

it

It must be Natalia.

surely, he

he'd let her

her phone across

darkened on witnessing the scene.

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 we find

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

warned off by a higher power. In mere hours, Eveleen had become persona non grata in the

turned pale with anger,

you to

doing. I hope she rots

Natalia had left her apartment to drop things off at Scarlett's before heading to the hospital.

a brief pause, she answered

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

won't be able to take

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

given Mason her word,

the Ron Group's Silkwood City branch, where Mason was

"Thank you, Mr. Joyner."

I still

Joyner, but it seems I'm not meant to be

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

flickered before he inquired, "I heard from Ronin that you're aiming for a spot at the State Department?" Natalia nodded affirmatively, "It's a

a nod of

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

pleasantries for what they were and returned

tone shifted

to you. Even if you're with the State Department,

Natalia's brow furrowed slightly.