If she couldn''t tell the person in the photos wasn''t him, then so be it.


    Natalie let out a humorlessugh. "Sebastian, is it that hard to admit you''re with her? I can tell you, those photos are definitely not photoshopped. The people in them are real."


    Hearing this, Sebastian felt a wave of helplessness. He understood now.


    She had already decided he would sleep with Joanna.


    It was just like how he had refused to believe her in the past.


    The more Sebastian thought about it, the angrier he got, clenching his jaw slightly.


    Natalie was hurt. Sebastian was a real jerk, unable to admit to his own actions.


    "Sebastian, there was a time I would have rather tortured myself than give up on you, but you never once understood how much I humbled myself for you."


    "There''s a world of difference between loving someone and having loved them. For us, it''s all in the past."


    Sebastian shot to his feet. Seeing the wounded look on her face, he said in a low voice, "Natalie, it won''t be in the past. You''ll understand one day."


    He strode away. At the door, he paused and said, "I''ll be eating at home tonight. I''ll be in the study, and I''lle down when dinner is ready."


    "And from now on, I will believe you. You should try to believe me, just once."


    Without looking back at Natalie, Sebastian left.


    Natalie felt that Sebastian had changed. Had he started to care about her?


    She shook her head. Impossible. It was only because of their agreement. She would never let her heart fall for Sebastian again in this lifetime.


    Her lovely brows furrowed slightly as a sense of frustration grew within her.


    She took a deep breath, trying to


    return to her design sketches. Amet


    she looked down, she saw her


    phone vibrating again. It was an unknownumber.  fo


    "Hello?"


    "Natalie, it''s Mom. Are you okay? I had no idea Joanna and her mother would drag you through the mud like this."


    Recognizing Wendy''s voice, Natalie was surprised she would call.


    She gave a dismissiveugh. "Isn''t she the fine daughter you raised? Why are you calling me? Whether live or die has nothing to do with you. As for your precious daughter, she''s now tied up with a fam actor and pregnant. Shouldn''t you beforting her instead of calling me? I told you, I will have nothing more to do with the Scott family, and that includes you, my birth mother. I''ve paid back every debt. Don''t call me again."


    "Joanna is your precious daughter. You once said it yourself—you only acknowledge


    Joanna, not me. Please, don''t pretend you never said it."


    Natalie hung up.


    Those hurtful words hade directly from Wendy''s mouth. There was no mother- daughter bond between them.


    That was why Wendy''s sudden concern filled her with rage.


    That was her own mother. She had once yearned for her love.


    Wendy had four children, yet she suffered from migraines. To cure them without her mother suspecting, Natalie had secretly, reced her vitamins with medicine. She had cured her.


    Across two lifetimes, she couldn''t bear the fact that her own mother didn''t love her.


    But as her daughter, knowing her fate, she still wanted her to live well, even at the very end.


    Even if Wendy cared nothing for her life, Natalie wanted her to be okay-just as long as she stayed out of her life.


    What she hated most was that both Wendy and Nathan had sought her out with ulterior motives.


    She understood it all, yet she had still wanted to believe that her birth mother loved


    her.


    Natalie''s lips curved into a bitter smile. You can only bepletely numb after you''ve lost all hope.