When She Rose From the Ashes

Chapter 12 Do You Even Hear Yourself?

Chapter 12 Do You Even Hear Yourself?

Natalie touched her cheek. Crimson blood stained her pale fingers.

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There was a time when even the slightest cough from her would send Jensen into a panic, rushing to call every doctor he could find. But now–now she was bleeding, and he didn’t even blink. And those words he’d just spoken… they stabbed straight into her already shattered heart.

She stared at him and let out a cold laugh. “Do you even hear yourself right now?”

“You knew I wanted to marry you, but you never brought it up once in the past five years. And now, suddenly, you’re offering marriage to get me to retract the evidence against Sharon?”

“You said this hundred–million–dollar villa is enough to make up for what Sharon did to me. So tell me- can I do the exact same things to her that she did to me, then hand her a hundred million and call it even? I’ve made far more than that for Luke Corp in the last five years.”

“And you said if she hadn’t nearly beaten me to death, you and I never would’ve met? Well, let me tell you something–I’d rather we never met at all.”

With each sentence, Jensen’s expression darkened.

By the time she finished, he looked shaken.

“Natalie… what are you saying? You regret meeting me? You regret falling in love with me?”

He stepped forward in a rush and grabbed her wrist, pinning her against the display shelf by the door.

“Say it!”

He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

But the love that used to shine in hers was gone, replaced with a calm and icy clarity.

Jensen’s eyes turned bloodshot.

With a hoarse voice, he said, “Natalie, from the moment I saved you five years ago, you’ve been mine. After everything we’ve been through, everything you’ve done for me–we stopped being two separate people a long time ago. Don’t say that kind of thing again. I don’t like it. Do you hear me?”

In that moment, the intensity in his eyes almost made her believe he still loved her.

But how could that be?

Before she could respond, Jensen’s phone rang.

That familiar ringtone snapped her back to reality.

Jensen immediately let her go and answered the call.

Quincy’s voice came through the speaker, panicked and crying.

remembered the press conference. She said if those videos

1/4

7:30 pm P

You Even

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humiliation. Please, Mr. Luke, you

Jensen’s eyes narrowed sharply.

just needs to stay alive.

up, then turned to Natalie with a colder,

coming with me to the station to delete the

“No.”

Natalie didn’t hesitate.

think Jensen

she

She’d gone

video archives. There was no way

ensen didn’t look surprised.

over his phone, his

When I want something,

heart skipped

are you trying

some videos and photos from your birthday last year–when you got runk and started stripping.

Jensen!”

imagined he’d

then, she’d done something crazy out of love, pouring all her courage into it. And now that love had ecome a weapon to destroy

he was willing to tear

her hand and slapped

head snapped to the side. His

ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek and looked at her–at the way she

Then he spoke again.

to the station. Delete the video and the backup. Do that, and

7:30 pm

You

too. Natalie, don’t

Natalie suddenly laughed–loud, bitter.

time, the

you? Jensen, you

She stormed off

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didn’t want to erase the archive she’d sacrificed so much

Jensen smothering her identity and nude photos hanging over her, she’d have nowhere left

She knew it.