Nina Thorne wanted to hear what he had to say, too.
She swiped to answer the call.
"Nina Thorne,"
Cole Kane’s excited voice ca from the other end. "Did you see Justin Kane’s post?"
’So it really is about that.’
Nina Thorne humd coolly. "I saw it."
"I told you he had soone he loved. Now you’ve seen it for yourself."
Cole Kane sighed. "Nina Thorne, Justin Kane is married now. Stop being mad at . Let’s just get back together, okay?"
"I promise I won’t see Serena Kane anymore. We can get our marriage certificate. We can get married."
"..."
’It seems she had overestimated him.’
’She thought he was calling to question her relationship with Justin, but instead, he was gloating that Justin had married ’soone else’.’
"Cole Kane,"
Nina Thorne’s voice was soft and calm. "Do you know what it ans that, even now, you still think I’m just throwing a tantrum?"
"What?"
"It ans you’ve never once taken my feelings seriously."
Nina Thorne’s voice remained level, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
"You don’t think what happened in the past hurt , and you haven’t truly realized your own mistakes."
"But Cole Kane, the truth is, I’m not throwing a tantrum. I genuinely want to break up with you, to call off the engagent, and to completely sever all ties with you."
Cole Kane’s heart lurched. He realized this ti was truly different from all the others.
In the past, Nina Thorne would cause a scene, angrily accusing him of his faults.
But now, he could feel her calmness even through the phone.
The calr she was, the more he could sense she had given up all hope, and the firr her resolve to leave was.
"Nina Thorne..."
Cole Kane grew flustered, clutching his phone helplessly. "It’s not what you think. This ti, I really know I was wrong."
"Really, believe . Just give one more chance."
His voice was slightly hoarse, tinged with a plea.
If this had been the past, Nina Thorne couldn’t imagine how happy she would have been to see Cole Kane with this attitude.
But...
"It’s too late."
Nina Thorne lowered her eyelids, her lips curling into a faint, calm smile. "Cole Kane, nobody in this world is indispensable to anyone else."
"I feel so free now that I’ve left you."
"I don’t believe you!"
Cole Kane’s voice grew agitated on the other end. "Nina Thorne, I don’t believe you could get over in just two short months."
"What exactly do you want to do? Just tell ! Isn’t it enough if I do whatever you say?"
He desperately restrained his emotions, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone, both cautious and afraid.
He was afraid that if he spoke too harshly, she would just run away faster.
Listening to his hoarse, suppressed voice, Nina Thorne felt not a single ripple in her heart.
"You don’t need to change. At the end of the day, we’re just not right for each other."
Nina Thorne prepared to hang up.
Cole Kane must have gotten desperate, because he shouted at her, "Justin Kane is already married to soone else! Are you still trying to use him to make angry?"
"Nina Thorne, stop lying to yourself! You’re obviously still in love with , or you wouldn’t be getting tangled up with my brother!"
Nina Thorne’s hand froze as she was about to hang up.
Thinking of everything Justin Kane had done, Nina felt a sudden surge of confidence. "And what makes you so sure that the person who married Justin Kane couldn’t be ?"
"What do you an?"
Cole Kane was stunned. "Nina Thorne, what are you talking about...?"
Nina Thorne had no intention of explaining further and decisively hung up the phone.
Listening to the cold dial tone, Cole Kane angrily threw his phone.
The phone slamd onto the floor and skidded toward the door of the hospital room.
Just then, the door opened.
Serena Kane walked in, and upon seeing the scene, she seed to guess what had happened.
Felicia Yates had just called her to say that Justin Kane had posted his marriage certificate on social dia, along with a photo of him holding a woman’s hand.
The girl’s hand in the photo was slender and fair, and although it was hard to identify it as Nina Thorne’s...
...she was almost certain that the one who married Justin Kane was Nina Thorne.
Serena Kane took a deep breath, bent down to pick up the phone, and walked to the bedside. "Second Brother."
The redness and swelling on her face had subsided, but because she had been hit so hard, it was still covered in bluish-purple bruises.
Cole Kane shot her a displeased look. "What are you doing here?"
"I ca to see you."
Serena Kane placed the phone on the nightstand and stood there demurely with her head lowered. "Mom said Eldest Brother posted his marriage certificate, and I was worried you’d be upset, so I ca to check on you."
She was staying in a won’s ward on the floor above.
But her face had been too hideously swollen the past few days for her to dare co down.
Now that such a golden opportunity had presented itself, she naturally had to co and kick him while he was down.
"So? What are you trying to say? That the one who married Justin Kane is Nina Thorne?!" Fury surged through Cole Kane, and his face flushed red with rage.
Serena Kane said aggrievedly, "Second Brother, I know I made mistakes before, and it’s fine if you don’t believe . But now that the truth is right in front of you, are you still unwilling to accept it?"
Cole Kane was agitated. Every ti he saw her, he was reminded of the images from those videos, making it difficult for him to face her.
He couldn’t help but grit his teeth. "I won’t believe a single word you say now! If it weren’t for you, Nina Thorne and I would never have separated, and she never would have broken off our engagent."
"Second Brother..."
Serena Kane looked at him pitifully, her eyes welling with tears.
In the past, whenever she acted like this, Cole Kane’s heart would ache for her, and he would patiently console her.
But this ti, Cole Kane suddenly flew into a rage, roaring uncontrollably, "Don’t call that! Get out!"
Her eyes blurred with tears. "Second Brother, don’t treat like this..."
"Get out!"
Seeing that she wasn’t leaving, Cole Kane started furiously smashing things.
In an instant, the items on the nightstand went CRASHING to the floor.
Serena Kane was terrified. She let out a sharp "AH!" and stood there, crying her eyes out as if she’d suffered the world’s greatest injustice.
But Cole Kane only felt the rage in his chest burn hotter and hotter. The more she cried, the angrier he beca.
"Get out! I’m not falling for your act."
"Get the hell out!"
The kettle on the nightstand was knocked over, and the hot water inside spilled out, splashing onto Serena Kane’s foot and scalding her so badly that she cried out in pain.
Cole Kane froze, a fleeting look of shock on his face.
But he quickly beca indifferent again, pointing to the door and saying sternly, "Don’t make say it a third ti. Get out!"
Her face streaked with tears, Serena Kane sobbed uncontrollably as she gave him one last heartbroken look, then turned and left, still crying.
Cole Kane’s expression was cold, the fire of rage burning in his chest.
Before, he had always seen Serena Kane as a weak, pitiful girl—the sister his family had raised—so he took extra care of her.
Every ti she cried because of Nina Thorne, he would bla Nina and force her to apologize.
’Looking back now, he was only just realizing how much Nina Thorne had been wronged.’
’He realized what an asshole he had been, never once caring about her feelings.’
Thinking of this, Cole Kane was filled with endless regret. He punched his bed several tis, but it wasn’t enough to quell his anger, and he gripped his hair in agony.
’No, he couldn’t accept this.’
’No matter what, he absolutely could not lose Nina Thorne like this!’
-
Cole Kane’s call had ruined Nina Thorne’s mood, so she didn’t continue unwrapping the gift boxes.
When Justin Kane arrived ho at six o’clock sharp, he saw that the gift boxes were all still untouched. Looking at her on the sofa, he couldn’t help but frown.
"Not interested in my gifts, Mrs. Kane?"
Justin Kane walked over to her and narrowed his eyes. "Or is it that you can’t answer the questions?"
’She hadn’t even looked at them yet.’
Seeing him back, she shot to her feet with a smile. "How are you back so early?"
Justin Kane dotingly tapped the tip of her nose. "I’ve been too busy with social engagents lately and haven’t been able to spend ti with you. I promised I’d co ho early to be with you once I was done, and I can’t go back on my word."
’He was getting better and better at sweet-talking.’
Nina Thorne truly suspected he had secretly signed up for a class on how to sweet-talk people. She pressed her lips into a smile. "Well, Mr. Kane is more than qualified."
She glanced at the gifts. "A ga this fun is obviously more fun to play together when you’re back."
Justin Kane’s eyes were deep and gentle. "Then I’ll unwrap them with you."
"Okay!"
Nina Thorne agreed cheerfully, pulling Justin Kane down to sit with her as she began to unwrap the gifts one by one.
"At the Thorne Family banquet, what did the little boy you taught a lesson do?"
"What was your birthday wish when you turned thirteen?"
"The first ti you ca to the Kane Family estate, what did you tell Grandpa you liked to do most?"
"..."
Nina Thorne answered them one by one, and her answers matched the ones written on the back of the cards.
The gifts were all very expensive: a car, a house, a diamond necklace, a diamond ring, and so on.
When she got to the last gift,
The question was: "Three years ago, in which room of the Kane family’s old mansion did we almost kiss?"
Nina Thorne’s face flushed, and she fell silent.
"What? You don’t rember even this?" Justin Kane raised an eyebrow, his gaze darkening.
’How could she possibly forget?’
Three years ago, on the night of Cole Kane’s birthday, Serena Kane had deliberately gotten her drunk and sent her away, trying to sleep with Cole to make their relationship a done deal.
But by a twist of fate, she had stumbled into his room by mistake, thinking he was Cole Kane, and had grabbed him and started kissing him wildly.
Nina Thorne was mortified. Her gaze darted away as she said softly, "The second floor. Your room."
After she said it, she couldn’t help but wonder, ’How does he rember so many things?’
’If Justin Kane’s attitude toward her hadn’t been so terrible back then, she would have really thought he had a secret crush on her.’
"Mrs. Kane has such a good mory."
Justin Kane’s thin lips curved into a smile, his gaze turning deep and suggestive.
Nina Thorne gave an awkward laugh. ’It didn’t seem like sothing worth praising her for.’
After all, the incident had been so mortifying that anyone would have been too embarrassed to forget it.
But looking at the dozen or so gifts and thinking about how all the questions were about her,
She couldn’t help but suspect that Justin Kane had been paying close attention to her for the past ten years, rembering her every move.
’As expected of the man who inherited the Kane Group at such a young age. His brain really was sothing else.’
’To actually have a photographic mory.’
Nina Thorne opened the last gift box, and what was inside instantly made her eyes light up.
It was a disc.
Nina Thorne picked it up in surprise. "What’s this?"
"Since it’s a gift, Mrs. Kane will have to see for herself, of course." Justin Kane had a mysterious look on his face.
Nina Thorne looked at him suspiciously. "Then I’ll go upstairs and take a look."
With that, Nina Thorne dashed upstairs.
Justin Kane watched her joyful figure, the curve of his lips never faltering, his eyes overflowing with tenderness.
Nina Thorne returned to the study and eagerly tried to play the disc.
But when the screen loaded, it showed that a password was required.
A mont later, she received a ssage from Justin Kane: "Mrs. Kane can’t cheat and crack it. You have to open it with the password."
"..."
’How was she supposed to crack it?’
Nina Thorne was completely baffled.
Justin Kane sent another ssage: "Friendly reminder: it’s a very special and aningful date."
After reading the ssage, Nina Thorne was even more clueless.
’A special and aningful date?’
She then tried her birthday, his birthday, the day they got their marriage certificate, and so on, but they were all wrong.
After three tries, the disc displayed a ssage about too many incorrect attempts and said she could only try again the next day.
Nina Thorne had no choice but to give up.
She picked up her phone from the desk and stood up, dejected.
Just as she was about to leave, her phone went DING.
She had received a photo in a text ssage.
Nina Thorne opened it and her eyes flew wide. Her mind instantly went BOOM, as if sothing had just exploded.
It was a photo of Justin Kane in bed with a woman.
A mont later, a call ca from an unknown number.
Nina Thorne answered with a trembling hand, trying her best to control her emotions, but her voice still shook when she spoke. "Who is this?"
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