A Man with Nerves of Steel (Joseph Hart) novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Joseph mused to himself, “Cora, that lover of yours, and Natalie’s biological father, is he connected to this place? Or maybe he’s here right now. You really hid this place from me well. But no matter how carefully you hide something, you’ll always leave traces behind.”

The more Joseph thought about it, the more convinced he was of his theory. He still lacked definitive proof, but at least lie had

narrowed it down.

He didn’t rush home. Along the way, he thought things through and realized that investigating alone probably wouldn’t get him far. So instead, he went straight to Natalie’s school. After speaking with the homeroom teacher, the teacher brought Natalie out to meet him.

“What are you doing here?” Natalie’s expression darkened the moment she saw him. She became completely cold and distant.

This girl really was an ungrateful brat. Joseph raised her all these years for nothing.

He felt a dull ache in his chest, but he stayed calm outwardly, pretending not to care. He handed her a slip of paper with two words written on it.

“Ashmore.”

“Meridian.”

Then, Joseph said, “Natalie, if my guess is right, your surname should be Ashmore. Natalie Ashmore sounds much better than Natalie Hart. Some Mr. Ashmore from Meridian Group is probably your biological father. It’s a pretty large company, too. So you might be a future heir. Isn’t that great?”

“So who exactly is this Mr. Ashmore?” Natalie’s eyes lit up. He hadn’t expected Joseph to make such a huge breakthrough after only a few days, especially since she herself had been obsessing over it without finding anything.

Joseph shrugged. “I don’t know yet. This is all I’ve found. Natalie, I know you want to get rid of me as your useless father, but you can’t just sit there doing nothing. Your mom and grandparents constantly have their guards up against me. My hands are tied. You need to do your part, too.”

Natalie said, “What exactly do you want me to do?”

Joseph shrugged. “How would I know what you’re capable of? But whenever you start investigating and hit a dead end, call me, and I’ll give you some advice. No matter what happens, though, in the end it’ll all come down to a DNA test.”

When dinner hadn’t started after a long time, he noticed Bernard and Helen constantly messaging someone.

He said, “Are you trying to contact Coral Don’t bother wasting your effort. This morning, I slaughtered the fish someone gave her. Right now, she’s probably off seeking comfort from whoever sent them.”

Bernard was visibly displeased. “What nonsense are you spouting now? You really just say whatever comes to your mind.”

Joseph sneered. “Do you really think DNA tests are fake science? Covering your ears won’t change reality. All it’ll do is make you look ridiculous.”

Then, he stood up and glanced at a turtle soaking in the aquarium nearby. Its entire shell was blood red.

Suddenly, he remembered that this turtle had originally been raised by Cora, too. Supposedly, it was even a blessed turtle.

He felt a chill in his heart. “You’re next.”