Meeting The One For Me

Chapter 3

Audrey regained her composure and looked at Nathan steadily. Her eyes grew as cold as her heart.

“The thing I regret most is getting you out of that small town the Yeomans family is from! The seed of a rapist… Truly the filthiest and most despicable in the world! No wonder the Lambert family wants nothing to do with you,” Nathan spat.

Before he could finish his sentence, he was caught off guard by a fierce blow to his head. He staggered back into a tree trunk.

Audrey, half her face covered in blood, stood where Nathan had been a second before. Her hand trembled as she clutched a broken half of a brick.

Nathan was dazed. He stared at Audrey in disbelief. His vision in his right eye was a blur of red as

blood seeped into it.

Hugo and Amelia stood in the shallow pool, stunned. They couldn’t believe that Audrey had struck

Nathan.

With a pale face, Audrey forced herself to appear calm. She tossed the broken brick into the pool, then said hoarsely, “Nathan, we’re even now.”

Nathan’s mind flooded with blurry images.

Behind the sunset–tinged school building, a girl in a clean uniform pinned the blushing younger version of him against the wall. She smiled at him.

“Nathan, we’re even now!”

His heart raced, his breath quickened, and his nose filled with the pleasant scent of gardenias emanating from the girl.

Climbing roses bloomed on the walls, but they paled in comparison to her alluring, smiling face.

Nathan clutched his chest and shook his head to clear the vision. The comforting image vanished

without a trace.

“Are you alright, Nathan?” Amelia asked.

Nathan came back to reality. He touched his head, and his hand came away bloody. He cursed and looked up at Audrey.

him, fearing he might retaliate.

Audrey, pulling her behind him

stumbled backward

shoulders, stabilizing her to prevent another fall. She turned

Chapter 3

in blood, hesitated. He reluctantly

had a stern expression. He wore gold–rimmed glasses and a black cont over a neatly tailored dark gray suit, which

than Nathan, yet his reserved and mature presence was strikingly different from Nathan’s youthful vigor. He

resemblance between him and Audrey was

wound with pursed lips, swiftly undid his tie and wrapped

over Nathan. As he held Audrey, he turned and sald coldly, “Let’s go to the hospital!”

hurriedly opened the car

Ryan pressed on Audrey’s wound and helped her into the car, Nathan took

car. His indifferent gaze behind his gold–rimmed glasses

to the emergency room and treated separately for their

soaked white scarf and coat stained with blood. She advised, “You

asked politely, “Will it interfere with

uncomfortable in wet clothes?” the nurse replied, pulling the treatment cart closer. “You

at her scarf to cover her mouth and nose. She mumbled through the fabric, If

hands in his pockets, frowning at Audrey. Deep and authoritative, his voice left no room for argument. He ordered, “Take off your scarf and coat.”

the curtain closed, Amelia and a bandaged

1. it.

of the shocking bruises on Audrey’s jaw and neck. He wondered if his push caused

met briefly before the light blue curtain obscured their view. Nathan, visibly shaken, turned his gaze to Ryan’s tall and straight silhouette. He felt an

Chapter 3

carried her to

was now the public face of the family’s power. Many of the Franklin family’s projects

softly,

lights cast sharp lines

at an imposing six feet one inch, every movement exuded the unfathomable depth of someone in a position of power. He was intimidating even in

His brow furrowed.

mean for her to hit the decorations.”