Chapter 63: Agreement Jenna’s POV “Give it back to me, you asshole!” | yell at James, who has taken my phone away from me. “Fuck! You texted her? What did you say?” his thumb scrolls down my phone screen as quickly as possible.
“The truth!” | bark “The truth she should have known a long tago!! Now give it back you filthy, disgusting liar!”. 1 rush toward him trying to snatch my phone back, but he quickly dodgesagain. Before | can reach him, he has found my text message to Natalia. “Oh, thank god you haven't told her anything specific,” he heaves a long sigh, apparently relieved.
| can’t believe how shameless he is.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves! Both of you! Eason is a pure devil to plot against her like this and you are no less! How can you help her to hurt an innocent girl’s heart?! Are your hearts made of stones??” | roar, i An hour ago, when James was in the shower, | took his phone and checked his messages with Eason. I've always sensed that something is wrong with that dude. And their messages provedright.
Turns out that Eason was going to make Nat fall in love with him first and then before dumping her, and then humiliated her on her mom’s anniversary party in front of everyone. My stomach swirls thinking about those messages. Those scums deserve to burn in hell! “OK, | know you are angry. But hearout first please?” James gesturesto calm down. “I won't deny that Eason and | did sshitty things in the past. But he has changed. He loves Natalia and they are happy together now. Do you really want to tell her the truth and ruin their happiness?” “Their so-called happiness is entirely based on lies and manipulation!” My mind is clouded by anger. “I won't argue with you because a scumbag like you clearly can’t understand. Now givemy phone back!!” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, “No. “What do you mean ‘no’?! You can’t stopfrom giving her the full story—" Suddenly, he raises his hand and tosses my phone into a glass of water. Shocked, | scream and lunge at it, but it's already too late. My phone is ruined already. “Are you crazy?!! Are you out of your fucking mind!” Igrab him by the collar and roar to his face. “You think this is going to stop me? | will go down there and tell her face to face!” His jaw tenses.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“You can’t leave this apartment now,” he says in a low voice. “I've told Eason already and he is coming down here. His bodyguards will track you down if you leave and it'll be ugly.” I'm shocked beyond words.
And besides shock, | am also a little afraid.
Bodyguard? Are they really willing to go this far to keep poor Natalia in the dark? | take a deep breath, then suddenly turn to run. My fingers barely touch the door handle when James catchesfrom behind. He tacklesto the floor and wrapsin his arms.
“Let go of me!” | scream, kicking my legs violently. “No!!” He pants roughly and his arms tightens, “Jenna, just play along for this one time, OK?! If Eason gets here-if he sees you like this -God knows how he will react?” What can he do? Havekilled? | take a hard bite on James's arin. He cries out in pain but still doesn’t let go. This piece of shit must be a real supporter of Eason.
While we are still wrestling, the door to the apartment suddenly flies open and a group of people pour in.
Someone dragsup and tossesinto the sofa. | climb up breathing fast and find that it’s Eason and his bodyguards.
That evil monster pulls over a chair and sits down in front of me. His face is calm, but somehow, | can sense the storm coming my way if | don’t cooperate. | swallow and ask him nervously, “...what do you want?” Eason givesa faint smile, which is dazzlingly hands| must admit. | can see why Natalia fell for this guy.
But I also notice that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remains cold and calculating.
His eyes send shiver down my spine.
And then he speaks up slowly, “The question is not what | want, but what you want Jenna. You are Natalia’'s closest friend, and | take you as my friend as well. But do you want to take away our happiness? After so many things we've been through?” “Liar!” | say with a trembling voice. “Forget it. I'm telling her the moment | step out of this room.” He stares atand then his face grows dark. He slowly rises up from his seat and sighs,” Then you will not be leaving this room, | guess.” My heart almost stops. | take a quick glance at those sturdy bodyguards and then back at him,” w-what do you mean I'm not leaving this room? You can’t stopif | want to leave...you can’t holdagainst my will!” “But that's exactly what I’m going to do,” he announces nonchalantly. “You are Nat's friend, so | won't hurt you.
But you will have to stay here for a while | presume, no cell phone, no food and water, till you agree to board the next flight back to Miami and never speak of the matter to Nat ever again.” | clench my fist so tight that my nails are digging into my flesh. Deep down, | know he is telling the truth. And he is also fully capable of doing those shitty things to me. “But...but even if | agree to leave Boston, | can also text Nat about the truth.” .
He turns to one of his bodyguards and gestures him to cforward. The man takes out a piece of paper from his suit and places it in front of me.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“This is a nondisclosure agreement,” Eason says. “Sign it and you are free to go. Of course, if you say another word about it to Natalia in the future, there will be legal consequences. You major in journalist as I've heard. You don’t want to get yourself into any legal and PR troubles before the starting of your career, right?” I'm beyond shock and furious at this point. | feel...absurd, mostly. “... This is how you rich shit buy people off?” | burst out.
Eason doesn’t even blink. He simply shrugs and replies, “yeah pretty much. And it works perfectly well under most circumstances.” He is so cold, heartless and manipulative.
And most importantly, he is filthy rich. The wealth he possesses basically gives him the right to do whatever he wants. There is no way | can fight against him. Nor Nat.
We are like puppets to this rich brat.
James breaks the silence hesitantly, “Eason there’s no need to be this tough. Surely she can eat “If she makes the decision now, of course she can eat. You can even take her out for a fancy dinner afterwards and that’s none of my business, ” Eason shrugs.
James sighs and lapses into silence again. | shot him a furious glare. That's it? He is so unbelievably weak. | can’t believe | slept with this dude. | feel tarnished.
“OK I have to go. Nat is still expectingat home,” Eason takes a look at his phone and says.” Jenna. Please think about it, OK?” He walks toward the door. | stare at his back as rage starts burning in my heart. Before he exits the room, | shout out to him, “You know you can’t keep her in the dark forever, right?” He pauses for a short moment.
“Oh I can,” he says slowly. “And | will.” ork Natalia’s POV My curiosity is totally aroused by Jenna’s message. She textedan all-caps message and then simply vanished. | tried texting back, calling her, “nothing. Where did she go? And she said that she wanted to tellsomething about Eason. Did she find out anything about him? | suddenly becvery nervous. It’s hard to describe how | feel right now. | don’t want to hear anything bad about him since we have been so happy lately; but this happiness also feels like a dream. | also don’t want to be kept in the dark I sit on the sofa, waiting for her reply for a long, long time. A few hours later, Eason is back ..
and | still haven't heard back from Jenna yet. “What are you doing there?” he places the take-out on the table and comes to kiss me. “I ordered Thai food.” I'm a bit distracted, “I can’t get in touch with Jenna. Is she with James?” “I don’t know. Probably,” he asks casually. “Why do you want to get in touch with Jenna suddenly?” | can’t let him know that Jenna was going to tellsomething important about him. So | push my thoughts to the back of my mind and sit beside the table with him. He handsthe fork and suddenly his phone buzzes. He takes a quick look at the phone, then a mysterious smile appears on his lip. “What's that?” | ask while gobbling down the Red Curry Chicken. I'm starving. “Oh nothing. It’s just an agreement that needs to be signed. | didn’t think that person would sign it but | just heard that she caved in anyway,” he smiles. “It’s a relief for me.” “Agreement? Something to do with the company?” “Yeah something like that. Nothing to bother you with,” he reaches over across the table and holds my hand. “This is our first night in this apartment. And there will be so many nights like this to come. Do you know how happy | am?” “I don’t. But | can imagine,” | look into his eyes smiling. “I love you Eason.” “And | love you more, babe.” He lands a gentle kiss on the back of my hand.