The front door clicked shut behind Mrs. Jules as she stepped in, arms heavy with grocery bags. Her face lit up when she spotted Zara descending the stairs.
"Madam," she grinned with excitent. "I brought lobsters today. You always love them. Since Sir can’t have seafood, you never make it, but I can prepare it—just for you."
Zara’s steps faltered, her lashes fluttering as she quickly swiped away the traces of tears with the back of her hand. She turned her face slightly, forcing composure, though the strain in her eyes betrayed her.
"I don’t know. Ask Nathaniel what he wants to eat."
Zara tugged the apron loose and pressed it into Mrs. Jules’s hands. Then she moved swiftly across the hallway and slipped into her studio room, shutting the door behind her.
Inside, silence cocooned her. She sank into her chair, her chest heaving once, twice, before her hands seized a pencil. Lines streaked across the paper in sharp strokes, her sketches coming alive with an urgency. Every movent was fierce, her pain and disappointnt bleeding into the art.
Upstairs, the study door creaked open. Nathaniel stepped out, his face shadowed with regret. He headed down, intent on finding Zara and apologizing to her.
But he paused when he saw Mrs. Jules at the base of the stairs, still clutching the grocery bags and staring ahead in a daze as if she had been struck by lightning.
"Mrs. Jules," he called, frowning as he descended. "Are you okay?"
She blinked, his voice breaking the spell. "Uh... I’m fine," she said quickly, shaking her hand with a dismissive wave. But the unease lingered in her eyes. "Madam seed disturbed. Ever since Miss Riya visited this afternoon, she hasn’t been herself. She has been irritable all day."
"What did you just say?" His voice sharpened. "Riya was here?"
"Yes," Mrs. Jules confird. "She ca to see the toy house. But..." She hesitated, glancing toward the closed studio door. "I don’t know what happened between them. All I know is Madam didn’t seem pleased with her."
Nathaniel’s mind spun. Could it be Riya?
"Did you – did you see Riya entering the study?" he asked with urgency in his voice.
Mrs. Jules paused to think. She rembered seeing Riya step out of the study and had even asked if she was looking for sothing.
’My phone’s battery is dying. I went to find the charger.’ That was what Riya had replied.
She nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. She was in the study. She said she was looking for a charger, though I don’t know if she found it."
Nathaniel froze, his breath coming shallow. A dark shadow passed over his face, the muscle twitching as he realized it had been Riya. She had touched his laptop and stolen the file. But why?
His thoughts churned. Nathaniel recalled Roberto ntioning spotting Riya with Zachary.
Could it be linked to Zachary? Was he forcing Riya to do all this?
Riya’s encounter with Zachary couldn’t have been a re coincidence. Maybe Riya had been coerced, forced into sothing.
He spun on his heel and strode back toward the study. He dropped into the chair before seizing the phone. His expression was bleak as he called his secretary.
"Hello. Did you talk to the client? Has he given us an appointnt for tomorrow?"
His secretary’s voice filtered through, tinged with apology. "I’m sorry, sir. I tried. I explained everything, but he refused to give us an appointnt. He said he has found a better partner with a better proposal. He is not signing the deal with us."
"What?" Nathaniel’s brows furrowed so tightly that it deepened the lines of stress on his face. "Who is he signing with?"
"I don’t know, sir," the secretary replied regretfully. "But the deal is gone. There is nothing we can do now."
Nathaniel’s chest rose and fell, his mind a storm. Soone had moved against him deliberately, and now, he was certain, Riya was a part of it.
He ground his teeth as frustration surged through him. He was so close to sealing the deal, only to have it slip away. His suspicion fell squarely on Zachary. No one else in this city would dare cross the Grants.
"Find out if Zachary was the one who took the deal," he ordered.
"I’ll check on it, sir."
The line went dead.
Nathaniel lowered the phone, fury burning behind his eyes. But beneath the rage, the growing tension and worry tightened his chest. The realization that Zachary had dragged Riya into this ss troubled him. That man was forcing her to act against her own family.
How had Zachary managed that? Threats? Blackmail? But if Riya had been cornered, why hadn’t she co to him? Why keep secrets?
"I need answers," he muttered, his thumb scrolling until he found her number. He dialed her number instantly.
Across town, Riya sprawled on her bed, lazily scrolling through her phone. When Nathaniel’s na suddenly flashed, her heart leapt. Her lips curled into an involuntary grin, eyes sparkling with surprise. She hadn’t expected him to call.
She answered in a rush, breathless. "Hello?"
But then she suddenly rembered Roberto had t with an accident that morning. She made a sad look and said cautiously, "I heard about what happened to Roberto. It was shocking. Is there any update? Did the cops find anything about the accident?"
Nathaniel’s expression turned colder as he heard her worrying about Roberto. It was as if she hadn’t done anything wrong.
"The cops are looking into it," he said curtly. "But I need to ask you sothing. Answer honestly."
His tone hardened to ice. "Have you been to my place?"
Riya’s heart sank, the flutter of excitent in her chest collapsing into a tight knot. ’Zara must have complained about ,’ she thought, bitter taste filling her mouth.
"Yes," she admitted quickly, sounding like she was wronged. "I was there. I thought I’d spend so ti with Zane and check the toy house. But..." She paused dramatically, making her voice shake a bit as she spoke again. "Zara didn’t seem to want around... so I left right away."
On the other end, Nathaniel’s jaw tensed. The annoyance in his chest swelled. Even now, she couldn’t resist slipping in complaints about Zara. And suddenly, it was clear as day to him why Zara bristled at her presence.
"I’m not interested in what happened between you and Zara," he cut in coldly. "I want to know if you’ve been in my study."
Riya froze, the blood draining from her face. A chill licked down her spine. She hadn’t seen that question coming.
Her throat constricted, nerves tightening in panic. ’Did he... find sothing? Is he suspecting ?’
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