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 back then?" Natalie asked.
"Back then, I didn’t give it much thought and left it. I assud it ant you were probably in love with and held on to the thought of coming back to one day, which must be the reason for what you claim as your strength," Ivan answered.
"As you weren’t the one who ssaged and beca my strength, then there’s no reason for 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 ant to turn your company profitable," Natalie said, her voice icy.
"No. There’s sothing 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."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, her tone laced with suspicion.
"I’ll tell you everything, trust ," Ivan pleaded. "But please agree to what I’ve asked about my mother. She needs to be in a hospital, not in prison."
Natalie didn’t reply, her silence as cold as her earlier tone, as though his words couldn’t move her.
"Alright, 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 by marrying another man and humiliated and my family. For that, you owe , but I never asked you for anything in return. Today, I’m asking you—what you owe , you have to repay by granting my mother’s freedom. I give you my word, just this once. If sothing like this happens again from anyone in my family, I won’t ask you to forgive them. Just this once, I’m requesting for my mother’s sake."
Natalie’s gaze turned icy, but she kept her calm. "Rember 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 rcy shown from my side for anything."
"Does that an you agree?" he asked.
"With an out-of-court settlent," Natalie replied. "My lawyer will contact you." With that, she hung up the call and imdiately sent a ssage to Mia, instructing her to do the sa.
Natalie sat quietly in bed, her gaze blankly fixed on the cellphone.
Justin, who had an idea of what the conversation was about, set his laptop aside and walked over to her. He gently took the phone from her hand and placed it on the side table.
She looked up at him, her eyes carrying a tinge of sadness. "You were always right. I invested my gratitude and ti in the wrong person. How could you see it, even without knowing him or , but I couldn’t?"
"There’s no point in thinking about it. Now that you know the truth, you’re free from that burden of gratitude," Justin said.
Natalie replied, her voice tinged with emotion, "You were right. I was clinging to the only hope I saw in my lonely life. I ignored it even when I felt sothing was off—that this Ivan wasn’t the sa as the person who used to talk to . I consciously ignored that feeling." Her eyes turned moist with unshed tears. "I was such a loser."
Seeing her 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 loser. The more I get to know you, the more I realize you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever t."
"You don’t have to console with such heavy praise," Natalie said, her voice muffled against his chest.
"I always speak the truth," he replied, holding her tightly. "I will always treasure you. All I ask is that you trust , no matter the situation."
Natalie could only hum in response before asking softly, "But then, who was the person who ssaged ?"
"We’ll find that out too," Justin assured her. Then, in a firm yet gentle tone, he said, "Now rest, and leave the rest to your lawyers."
------
The charges against Alia Brown were dropped, and Ivan was able to take his mother back ho. The final settlent amount was decided and Ivan had already signed the docunts.
After an hour, Mia called her again. This ti, Natalie picked up the phone from the bedside table and answered while lying in bed. Justin was not in the room. Even if he was there, he wouldn’t stop her from talking to Mia.
"Everything’s done," Mia inford her. "Daniel prepared a hefty settlent amount that must have made Ivan Brown’s heart leap out of his chest while signing the docunt."
Natalie didn’t comnt, and Mia continued, "If not for wanting to know the truth from him, you wouldn’t have missed the chance to punish Alia Brown, who’s always humiliated you."
"I didn’t do it just to know the truth," Natalie replied. "I did it to settle the score between us, so I owe him nothing. After this, I can face him with no consideration for the past. As for Alia Brown... she’s just a pawn. The real players are soone else. Besides, there’s no point in keeping a dying woman in prison. Instead, why not take advantage of the settlent money? Both of our companies need investnts, and when such a huge amount of money cos for free, why reject it?"
"True. As always, you play smart," Mia chuckled. "I can’t tell you how happy I am to see such a big amount. I’m sure Ivan needs to sell so important assets to pay for it."
"That’s his issue," Natalie replied emotionlessly.
"What are you going to do about the real players behind the scenes?" Mia asked.
"They have their retribution coming soon," Natalie said. "Let them enjoy themselves for a little while longer."
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