She Was Never Just the Billionaire’s Wife (Natasha and Chase) novel Chapter 138

(Chase)

I stared at the ceiling until the digital clock flipped to five.

Sleep never happened.

The anger I went to bed with didn't dissipate. It just calcified into something hard and sharp behind my ribs.

I roll out of bed, pull on jeans and a dark sweater, and call for a car.

The drive to the Waldorf Astoria takes twelve minutes at this hour.

The streets are empty and the sky is the color of old lead.

I spend the entire ride staring out the window, Sonia's email burning a hole in my pocket.

I take the elevator up to the penthouse level and stop in front of suite 604.

I don’t knock. I hammer my fist against the heavy mahogany door.

I wait ten seconds, then I hammer on it again.

Nathanial opens the door wearing gray pajama pants and a wrinkled t-shirt, his hair sticking up on one side.

He squints against the bright hallway lighting, his brain clearly operating on a before sunrise delay.

I don’t say a word. I just swing.

It isn’t a cinematic punch.

I’ve never hit anyone in my life, and my form is absolute garbage.

Nathanial manages to jerk his head back just enough that I miss his nose, but not enough to clear the hit.

My fist connects squarely with his cheekbone.

Bone hits bone. A sharp, terrible shock travels all the way up my forearm to my elbow.

"Jesus Christ!"

Nathanial stumbles back against the entryway console, knocking over a glass of water.

He clutches his face.

I look down at my hand.

My knuckles are already throbbing with a dull, heavy ache.

That hurt significantly more than movies suggested it would.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Nathanial snaps, peering at me through his fingers.

The skin under his eye is already turning a faint, ugly pink.

"Are you sleeping with Natasha?"

Nathanial freezes.

He slowly lowers his hand and stares at me blankly for three seconds.

Then he laughs.

It isn't a normal laugh.

It's a short, disturbing sound that scrapes out of his throat, bordering on unhinged.

He rubs his forehead with his hand like I just gave him a migraine to match the bruised cheek.

"Get inside before security comes up here and arrests the CEO of Warren Global for assault," he says.

He hits the wall switch to bathe the room in light before sinking down on one of the armchairs.

I take the other one.

"Where did you get a completely insane idea like that?" he asks.

I pull my phone out, bring up the message from Sonia, and shove it at his chest.

Nathanial takes the phone.

I watch his jaw tighten as he reads it, the muscles working as he scans his sister's parting shot.

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