Sebastian''s lips thinned into a tight line. "You''re bing quite the sharp- tongued woman, Natalie," he said with a cold smile. "ying the perfectdy for me, while smiling like a sunflower for other men."


    Natalie was speechless. "You seem to have forgotten what you told me on our wedding night. You said you needed a docile wife, a Mrs. Griffith who wouldn''t bring shame to your family. So I suppressed all my passions and became exactly that."


    "Looking back, I was such a fool. Love isn''t about losing yourself; it''s about learning to love yourself more. Because of one thing you said, I twisted myself into someone I wasn''t."


    "I became miserable. I admit, for the past two years, I was possessed,pletely devoted to you. The only reason I ever fought with you was because Joanna would constantly send me pictures of you two together-intimate, kissing photos just to provoke me. I was just trying to get you to pay a little more attention to me."


    "But every time, you used me of starting drama, of being unreasonable, ofpeting with Joanna over everything."


    "Did any of you ever stop to think about my side of it? I was an innocent party in all this. Why did your love story have to be built on my pain?"


    "If it weren''t for that little drama Joanna staged the other day, and the p you gave me that finally knocked some sense into me, I''d still be trapped in that vortex."


    “So, Sebastian, I really, truly will not disturb your perfect love story any longer."


    Natalieid it all out, everything that needed to be said. She didn''t expect him to believe her; she just wanted him to sign the papers and get out of her life.


    Sebastian''s hands, resting on his knees, clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.


    "Natalie, who told you I kissed Joanna?" His voice was strained. He had never touched another woman in his life. He waspletely clean.


    Natalie found his denialughable. "Are you ying the innocent victim now, Sebastian? Can''t even own up to what you''ve done?"


    She opened her chat history with Joanna and shoved the phone in his face.


    "Look at this evidence. You are disgusting, Sebastian."


    "I was saving this to sue for divorce. Evidence of you two in bed, evidence of your taunts. I''m not afraid to show you. I have backups, anyway." She was reborn this time to tear away Joanna''s disgusting facade.


    Sebastian took the phone, skeptical. He looked at the chat log, at the messages Joanna had sent to Natalie.


    [Natalie, you are trash, you little bitch. You don''t deserve Sebastian. Get back here and sign the divorce papers.]


    Below it were a series of intimate photos. The people in them were him and Joanna. His pupils contracted in shock. In every photo, he was holding Joanna tightly, his expression one of deep affection.


    His face turned murderous as he scrolled up, the messages growing more and more vicious.


    [Natalie, you little bitch, you think being a Scott makes you safe? One day, I will make everyone you care about despise you. Even your four brothers will hate you for the rest of their lives and adore me instead.]


    [Everything you care about, I will take from you.]


    [Natalie, you will never be happy for stealing my man. How did it feel to be framed by me today? Did it hurt when Sebastian hit you? So what if it did? No one will ever believe a word you say.]


    Sebastian gripped the phone, his knuckles white. He had no idea she had been enduring this. He quickly forwarded the most


    suspicious fooking photos to


    himself via text message. It didn''t go through. He had to unblock himself first.


    He stared at the screen for a long, silent time, until he couldn''t bear to look anymore. Finally, he looked up at Natalie, his voice raw. "Natalie, what if I told you. none of this is real? Would you believe me?"