Chapter 168

At that moment, Natalie stepped out of Maurice’s place. Spotting the paparazzi not far off, her irritation flared. She absolutely hated having her life scrutinized by strangers. But these people had nothing better to do.

Vance must be the one defending Jennifer again. He doted on her so much that it was like he wanted to lay everything good in the world at her feet.

In her past life, Natalie would’ve been jealous, but this time around? She was just waiting for Vance to bite the dust.

He thought he was so clever, but he ended up drowned in the ocean–a place he loved more than anything. The woman he’d been chasing all this time was basically his death sentence.

If he came back, that meant he’d gone after that woman, all thanks to Jennifer’s scheming.

Thinking of the kind-hearted Tiana, Natalie felt a twinge of frustration. “Why do the good people always have to fall victim?” she sighed inwardly.

She told herself to let it be. Sure, the timeline had shifted a bit, but what was meant to happen would still happen. The course of Jennifer’s plot hadn’t changed a bit.

She decided to take the long way back.

Maurice offered to drive her, but she turned him down. She couldn’t drag him into this mess.

The paparazzi were blocked by Maurice’s bodyguards from following her, left to watch as Natalie walked away.

After a few steps, she received a call from an unknown number. She didn’t want to answer, fully expecting it to be some annoying person she’d blocked, but the phone kept buzzing insistently. “Hello?”

“Natalie, where are you?” To her surprise, it was Easton. He rarely called her, and over the years, she’d been the one reaching out to him.

“What does my location matter to you? Didn’t we agree? Don’t contact me unless you want to talk about the divorce,” she replied sharply.

There was silence on Easton’s end for a moment before he said, “Don’t be with Maurice.” His tone carried an emotion she couldn’t quite identify, and she didn’t bother to speculate.

“Since when did you care! Easton, how shameless are you? You’ve got a woman you love out there, and now you’re spying on me? How long could it take to finalize a divorce?”

Natalie couldn’t understand why Easton was so unwilling to get it done at the Courthouse. Maybe she should ask her grandpa to send some bodyguards to drag him there.

“Natalie, you’re still my wife,” Easton said, his voice heavy with something she didn’t grasp.

After giving up on him, Natalie stopped trying to read his mind. Before, if he frowned, she’d question herself, wondering if she’d done something to upset him. Living like that had been so exhausting.

She let out a small laugh. “Ha… Mr. Garcia, I truly don’t know if you’ve lost your mind. You were the one who publicly slammed the divorce papers in my face, and now you want to keep this up?

“Let’s end it here, okay? Anything beyond this is just rude. I stepped aside for you and Jennifer–I’ve already been nice enough.

“And one more thing: Any work-related stuff goes through my assistant. Don’t ever call me unless it’s about the divorce.” With that, she blocked his number again.

As Easton dialed her number again, he realized his number had been blocked yet again. In the dim hallway, his expression grew unreadable.

He walked into the private room and turned to Xavier. “Find out who’s behind the trending topic.”

Xavier had already seen it on social media and didn’t need much digging. “It’s Vance. He owns an entertainment company that’s been making waves lately. Looks like he got back to the country a couple of days ago.”

Easton frowned, “What’s Vance thinking? Did he seriously hire paparazzi to discredit his own sister?”

“Ha…” Xavier couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Come on, Mr. Garcia, you were doing the same thing not too long ago. Don’t forget you helped the Simpson family smear Ms. Shawn multiple times,” he reminded.

“Xavier,” Easton said through gritted teeth. Back then, it was hard not to see how Natalie had been acting up.

Xavier suddenly fell silent, realizing too late what he’d said. With a grin, he remarked, “Mr. Garcia, I gotta say, Mr. Chambers and Ms. Shawn really make a cute couple.”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the room went deathly quiet.

Wesley shot Xavier a look, thinking he really knew how to stir the pot.

Even though they were good buddies, Wesley found Easton’s behavior pretty shameless. If a man was not in love, he should move on. But years down the line, Wesley would become a worse scumbag than Easton ever was.

The guys in the room had solid friendships with Easton and were aware of his long-time crush, Jennifer. They also knew about his neglected wife, Natalie.

Xavier sensed the shift in the atmosphere, finally realizing the gravity of his comment. He felt like he was walking to the execution ground, and the knife was already at his throat.

He suddenly stood up. “Mr. Garcia, let me investigate this further so I can give you a solid answer.”

As he reached the door, Easton’s voice suddenly called out, “Where are you running off to? Drive me back.”

Xavier breathed a sigh of relief. At least Easton wasn’t mad. “Thank goodness, my legs feel like jelly,” he thought. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his cool, almost convinced he’d end up screwed.

Once Easton left, Xavier leaned against the door frame to step outside. Wesley chuckled, barely able to keep a straight face.

One of the guys next to Wesley said, “Xavier’s scared?”

Wesley replied lazily. “When Easton gets angry, there aren’t many who can handle it.”

The others in the room all chuckled. They shared a solid fear of Easton’s temper.

Meanwhile, at the Simpson residence, Vance lounged on the sofa, legs crossed and a gentle smile on his face, cradling a charming woman in his arms.

Jennifer sat across from them, glancing at the trending news with a grin. She thought, ‘One mess after another. Let’s see how long Natalie can keep up with this. Too bad Easton isn’t around; I could’ve shown him how awful she is.’

“Jennifer, are you happy? Everyone’s tearing into Natalie,” Vance casually remarked. He and his twin brother Jason looked quite different, but Vance closely resembled Natalie. He was handsome, while his heart was anything but pure.

Jennifer feigned innocence. “Vance, while Jason’s situation is tied to Natalie, she clearly knows how to get out of trouble.

“Now he’s off abroad to recuperate, and I’d rather not stir things up for him. It’s just sad; he’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

Vance scoffed, “She has her tricks, huh? Well, I have my ways too, I won’t let her get off easy. If the law can’t catch her, I’ll make her life a living hell.”

Jennifer smiled, clearly pleased.

Just then, Wendy walked in, catching their conversation. She strolled in nonchalantly, but the moment she glanced at Jennifer, her eyes glinted with malice.

Khloe Halford, the girl in Vance’s arms, blushed as she slid off his lap.

“Mom, you’re back,” Vance said in delight, helping his mother take a seat.

Wendy, exhausted and busy lately, didn’t even glance at Vance. Instead, she turned to Khloe with a calm, scrutinizing gaze. “Do your parents know about you and my son?”