Married To My Billionaire Stepbrother

Chapter 249: You Were Always Right

There was a silence on Natalie’s end, but she wasn’t as shocked as she might have expected.

Since Justin had entered her life, and said those bitter and hurting words about her gratitude toward Ivan, she had already started to doubt her assumptions.

But she needed to hear it from Ivan himself.

"Why didn’t you correct me back then?" Natalie asked.

"Back then, I didn’t give it much thought and left it. I assumed it meant you were probably in love with me and held on to the thought of coming back to me one day, which must be the reason for what you claim as your strength," Ivan answered.

"As you weren’t the one who messaged me and became my strength, then there’s no reason for me to feel any gratitude toward you or indebted to you," Natalie said coldly, her tone and eyes devoid of emotion, as though she were speaking to a stranger. "If you had said it was you, I might have considered listening to your request. But now, there’s no need."

Just as she was about to hang up, she heard him say, "Don’t you want to know why I agreed to marry you?"

"Because I was a slaving cow meant to turn your company profitable," Natalie said, her voice icy.

"No. There’s something you still don’t know, but you should," Ivan said. "The people you trusted aren’t what you think they are. You don’t know how they’ve been deceiving you."

are you talking about?" she asked, her tone laced with

tell you everything, trust me," Ivan pleaded. "But please agree to what I’ve asked about my mother. She needs to

as cold as her earlier tone, as though his

I didn’t say it before, but today I will," Ivan said again. "Whatever it was between us, it’s true that we agreed to marry and planned our future together. But you betrayed me by marrying another man and humiliated me and my family. For that, you owe me, but I never asked you for anything in return. Today, I’m asking you—what you owe me, you have to repay by granting my mother’s freedom. I give you my word, just this once. If something like this happens again from anyone in my family, I won’t ask you to forgive them. Just this

but she kept her calm. "Remember your words, Ivan Brown. After this matter, what we owed each other is settled, and we are even. From here on, there won’t be any mercy shown from my

mean you agree?" he

an out-of-court settlement," Natalie replied. "My lawyer will contact you." With that, she hung up the call and immediately sent a

quietly in bed, her

aside and walked over to her. He gently took the phone from her

him, her eyes carrying a tinge of sadness. "You were always right. I invested my gratitude and time in the wrong person. How could you see it, even without

that you know the truth, you’re free

something was

getting emotional, Justin pulled her into a hug. "You were not a loser, Natalie. You were incredibly strong. Despite having nothing, you still tried to repay the gratitude you thought you owed. It’s unfortunate that the person wasn’t deserving, but that doesn’t make you a

me with such heavy praise," Natalie said, her

always speak the truth," he replied, holding her tightly. "I will always treasure you. All I ask is

only hum in response before asking softly, "But then, who was the person who messaged

firm yet