Natalie looked at him, amused. "It seems like the word sha doesn’t exist in your dictionary."
He glanced back at her, his expression calm. "Anything useless that could stop from getting what I want has no place in my life."
She looked away, her gaze shifting to the elevator door. "Your mind is definitely built differently. God knows what goes on inside it."
He stared ahead, completely indifferent. "You’d better not know."
"You’re making curious now."
"Curiosity kills the cat—you must have heard that saying." His voice was low and deep, his gaze eting hers through the reflection in the elevator door. "And this particular cat won’t be able to handle the ways I’d plan to kill her... over and over again."
Natalie’s heart skipped a beat. There was sothing unnervingly dangerous in the way he said it. She wasn’t afraid of death, having faced nurous threats and dangers in Xyros, but hearing it from him felt entirely different.
Did he truly ant to kill or was implying sothing else? Her womanly instincts told her it was the later one.
Ding! Dong!
The elevator arrived at their floor, pulling Natalie back to reality. Stepping out, they both stood in front of the door as Natalie began entering the password into the lock. She deliberately spoke the digits aloud so Justin could hear. Once the door clicked open, she glanced at him. "Now you know the password."
"It’s the sa one," he replied casually.
Her eyes widened slightly. "You... knew the password?"
He simply raised an eyebrow, his expression nonchalant.
Natalie sighed, shaking her head. "My mistake for underestimating you," she muttered as she stepped inside. "Since when did you know it? And why would you bother ringing the bell if you already had it?"
He would never admit that it was out of jealousy—jealousy that even Mia and others knew the password. He’d hacked into the system and learned it himself, just to know what everyone else did.
"I like it when you open the door for ," he replied smoothly, following her inside.
"You’ve really started taking your role as Aiden quite seriously, Mr. Harper," Natalie comnted as she removed her sandals and changed into a pair of house slippers.
Justin began to take off his shoes as well. "I haven’t even started yet. But you should be truly worried if I did."
I’m just trying to make small talk and lighten the atmosphere while being alone with him at ho, but he always finds a way to make it sound so intimidating.
She sighing inwardly and walked to the sink to wash her hands, as she spoke. "You said in the ssage you wanted to talk about sothing important?"
Justin slipped into a pair of house slippers and followed her to the sink. Natalie started washing her hands when she felt him step close behind her. His hands on her either side, as of trapping her between them, leaning forward a little to have his hands over the washbasin as well.
She glanced at him through the mirror, raising an eyebrow.
He looked back at her and said, "Washing our hands together saves water and ti. That way, we can get to what I want to talk about more quickly."
Clenching her jaw to keep herself from snapping at him, she sighed and turned on the faucet, wetting his hands before squeezing so liquid soap onto them. "You can do the rest yourself."
He reached for hers, gently intertwining their fingers, and began rubbing the soap onto both of their hands together.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice a mix of confusion and irritation.
"Washing our hands," he replied calmly, unfazed by her tone. "You provided the water and soap, so I’m just finishing up."
She tried to pull her hands, but he held them firm and made her give up. He washed both of their hands, while having a light smile on his lips. He held her wet hands and checked the back of her palm. "What are these tiny scars on your hand?"
Natalie pulled her hands back, and grabbed the drying cloth to dry her hands and walked away.
Justin observed her reaction closely. It was clear she was trying to avoid talking about it, so he decided not to press the issue.
"Coffee?" he heard her ask as she headed to the kitchen.
"Yes," he replied and followed her, pausing to get himself a glass of water. He offered her one as well, which she accepted with a nod.
He watched her prepare the coffee, her expression serious and focused. He wanted to ask her about the scars—scars that he was certain ca from her ti in Xyros.
I’ll wait until the day she’s ready to tell everything on her own. I have things I’m hiding too... things I’ll have to tell her one day.
Natalie finished making the coffee, and they moved to the living room. "So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she settled onto the sofa.
"I’ve been investigating your whereabouts on the day one and a half years ago—the date ntioned on your marriage certificate," Justin began. "But all traces of you from that day seem to have been erased. There’s no video footage from any security caras, and it’s like you vanished. I have records of you entering the office of Brown Industries in the morning, but after that, everything’s gone until evening. Can you rember what you did that day?"
Natalie looked surprised. "Everything’s erased?"
Justin nodded. "Try to rember. What did you do that day?"
Natalie set her coffee mug on the table and thought for a mont. "I used to record my daily schedule in a diary while working at Brown Industries because my days were so hectic. Let grab it."
She stood up and went to the bedroom, returning a few monts later with a black diary in hand. Sitting back down on the sofa, she began flipping through it, searching for that specific date.
Finding the right page, she started reading aloud, "9:30 a.m., ergency eting with the R&D departnt—lasted for an hour. Then..." Her voice trailed off as she frowned at the page. "Huh...?"
Justin glanced into her diary and heard her murmur, "Ivan’s private place until 5 p.m. in the evening?"
"What’s this private place?" Justin’s cold voice sounded so close, his icy gaze fixed on her diary.
"The top floor of the building... It’s his private space, like a luxury lounge where no one is allowed to enter. Only he..."
"And you were allowed? For an entire day?" His cold voice made her heart skip a beat, as if she’d been caught doing sothing wrong.
She looked up at him, only to find him staring back, his icy gaze locking onto hers. "What did you do there for so long... in his private place..." His last words were so chilling that she swallowed hard.
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