But Sebastian just hung up.


    Natalie froze, her eyes wide with disbelief. She had been the primary witness to how much Sebastian cherished Joanna.


    Even a small scratch on Joanna would cause him immense distress.


    "See if there''s anything missing in the room," Sebastian said. "I''ll have someone get it for you."


    Just as Natalie was about to say she didn''t need anything since she wasn''t staying, Sebastian''s phone rang again.


    He pulled it out, annoyed, and switched it off.


    Natalie watched him turn off his phone, her mind reeling.


    What was happening?


    Did Sebastian just hang up on Joanna?


    "Seriously? How could you hang up on her? She has a stomachache today. She''ll probably be crying for you if you''re not at the hospital with her."


    With that, Natalie turned to leave.


    Sebastian''s voice, casual yet menacing, stopped her from behind. "Natalie, if you dare leave, Wayne''s overseas project will disappear. I''m involved in it, you see. And Wayne... I have to say, he''s more impressive than I thought."


    When he''d first discovered Wayne''s identity, he had been genuinely shocked. Wayne had graduated from a prestigious school of architecture and excelled in many other areas.


    He was handsome, gentle, and charming. The memory of seeing them eat together, of Wayne feeding Natalie as she smiled, her eyes sparkling radiantly—a smile he''d never seen directed at him-ignited a fierce jealousy within him.


    His gaze on Natalie deepened, his jawline hardened, and his presence became overwhelmingly intense.


    Natalie couldn''t decipher his emotions, only that this version of Sebastian was furious. She red back at him. "Sebastian, are you threatening me?"


    His dark eyes were unreadable as he stepped closer. His tall frame cast a shadow over her, and the intense pressure made her deeply ufortable.


    Sebastian


    lowered his head to meet


    her gaze, his voice raspy. "I''m just asking you to live here for a while. After this period is over, you can do whatever you want, and won! you. As for Wayne, I didn''t want


    stop to


    use him to threaten you. It''s just that you''re being so disobedient."


    Natalie was speechless.


    Her... disobedient? That, she couldn''t ept.


    She didn''t believe Sebastian could control Wayne.


    She should have remembered Sebastian''s dark, maniptive methods. After he overheard her conversation with Matthew that one time, what had he been doing during the half-month she was caring for Zenobia?


    Now he had leverage over Wayne.


    "Sebastian, how dare you call me disobedient? You were the one who


    told me to get lost, the one who wanted a divorce! I left, I agreed


    the divorce so why are you putting on this act now? Sebastian, what do you take me for?"


    Her face flushed with anger, her voice choked with frustration. She was so tired of this, so incredibly tired.


    Sebastian saw her pain and knew he was the cause of it all.


    His preconceived notions had blinded him to his own heart. "Natalie, I just need you


    to stay here until next year. Once the two years are up, I''ll go with you to finalize the divorce."


    Natalie let out a bitterugh. "What does where I live have to do with it? After a two- year separation, I can file for divorce on my own."


    "But if I don''t agree, you won''t get a divorce," he stated calmly, the threat clear in his tone.


    Tears welled up in Natalie''s eyes.


    If Sebastian refused, she couldn''t get a divorce.


    In her past life, Sebastian had agreed to the divorce, but then she had discovered she was pregnant.


    So he had changed his mind. During that time, he had been kind to her, but distant, always leaving early anding homete.


    He had kept her a prisoner in the vi, preventing her from leaving and taking away everything that could connect her to the outside world.