During Cheryl's stay in the hospital, everyone was well aware of how much Damian doted on her and spoiled her to bits.

Yet, not a single person came to visit Natalie as she stayed alone by herself.

An intern thought that Natalie was single and brazenly asked her for her contact number one day. By sheer coincidence, Damian happened to witness it when he asked.

He glared at the two of them and didn't say another word. However, the look in his eyes was frighteningly frigid.

That night, Natalie saw the fireworks show that Damian set up for Cheryl.

The bright fireworks display lit up the entire night sky, and everyone in the hospital couldn't help but come out to admire the show.

Natalie stood under the fireworks, admiring the display of beauty that bloomed, though it wasn't for her.

The fireworks were fleeting, just like her happiness.

After that, she realized that the intern who had been attending to her previously had disappeared. She never saw him again, even until the day she was discharged from the hospital.

On the day Natalie was discharged, Cheryl insisted on bringing her back with them.

"Let's just bring Natalie back with us, Dam. It's going to be very inconvenient for her to get a cab on her own."

Damian just glared at her and said in a hostile manner, "Don't be too kind to her, Cheryl. People are only going to step all over you if you keep doing that.

"Also, she's an expert at seducing other men into doing her bidding, too. There are plenty of men queueing up to bring her home."

Natalie didn't say a word but still got into their car anyway.

Halfway home, Damian suddenly got a work call. He said that he had to attend an important networking lunch that he'd been putting off for far too long.

When Cheryl heard that, she immediately begged him to bring her and Natalie along as well because she wanted to see what these networking events were like. Also, she claimed that she was bored to death after staying at the hospital for days.

Damian didn't reject her suggestion, so the three of them ended up attending the networking lunch together. When everyone saw him entering the venue holding Cheryl's hand, they naturally assumed that she was his wife instead of Natalie.

The businessmen's eyes immediately shifted to her.

"And who may this be, Mr. Abbott?"

Damian barely glanced at Natalie before answering coldly, "Her? She's our nanny, here to take care of Cheryl."

Natalie felt her heart shudder, but she didn't fight back.

Some of the businessmen tried talking to her and offering her drinks, and Damian just coldly beckoned Natalie toward them.

"Go ahead and keep them entertained. You're not here for leisure. But don't worry. You'll get paid for this as well."

Natalie smiled and immediately accepted the drinks from the businessmen, finishing glass after glass of alcohol.

When the crowd realized that Damian didn't seem the least bit interested in her, they began coming over to her and pouring out more and more drinks for her, urging her to finish every drop. Meanwhile, Natalie didn't refuse any of their requests either.

Somewhere along the way, one of the middle-aged businessmen began groping Natalie in secret. She pushed him off a few times, but he got even more brazen and draped an arm right around her waist in public.

Damian watched everything from a dark corner. His gaze was dark and thunderous.

After her umpteenth glass of alcohol, Natalie felt dizzy and nauseated and could barely even walk in a straight line.

She excused herself to the washroom to freshen up. When she came back out, she saw the middle-aged businessman from earlier taking slow, sure steps toward her.

At once, her guard went up as she had a bad feeling about this. She hurriedly backed away from him, but he was quicker as he grabbed her and covered her nose and mouth with a towel soaked in a solution.

Natalie felt her body becoming heavier and heavier. Her blood seemed to begin boiling at that instant as well, and she struggled hard as she was dragged away into a secluded corner.

Just before she was forcefully dragged into a room, she used the last of her strength to kick the man in the balls. Then, she took advantage of the moment he loosened his grip in pain and shoved the man off her body before staggering out toward the door.

She found a random room to hide in, feeling her body heat up quickly as the drug began taking effect. She knew then that the drug from earlier must have been an aphrodisiac, and she was now suffering from it.

In her haze, she saw the room door being pushed open as a tall man walked into her field of vision.

She couldn't see his face clearly because of the backlight and assumed that he was just a waiter. So, she hurriedly rushed toward him and grabbed him by the arm, crying, "Quick, get me a man!"

The "waiter's" voice was cold and indifferent.

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

Natalie bit down on her lip, forcing herself to stay sober.

"I… I can't die… Please, you have to help me…"

The man laughed coldly again and said, "Why are you asking me to look for a man for you when I'm already standing right here?"

The voice was very familiar to her, and Natalie suddenly sobered up a lot more after recognizing him. She forced her eyes wide open and saw that it was Damian. Then, she pushed him off with whatever strength she had left in her body.

"You… You won't do… I can't…"

Damian's face turned dark and thunderous again. He rushed up to her in fury and grabbed her by the neck, choking her hard.

"Why won't I do? Weren't you the one who said that you'd never leave me as long as I was rich? I'm rich now! So, why won't I do?"

Natalie was stunned for a while. Tears began falling from her eyes a short while later. Her voice shook as she said, "Because… Because you're Damian… Because you're my Damian…"

Her words were like a tidal wave, making Damian completely lose his control as he forced her back against the wall and kissed her deeply.

Natalie and Damian ended up rolling in the sheets for the entire night. When she woke up again, it was already the next day.

Natalie looked at the hickeys and bite marks all over her body and felt her face heat up.

Damian, who was lying next to her, had also woken up. His gaze was unreadable, and he looked like he had a ton of things he wanted to say to her. However, he ultimately only said in a cold voice, "Watch your mouth and don't you dare gossip about this to Cheryl."

Natalie forced a bitter smile on her face. She was his rightful, legal wife, and they were supposedly just doing what regular spouses did. And yet, she was not allowed to let Cheryl know about this.

Was there anything even more absurd than this in the world?

Natalie laughed out loud and said, "Sure, but you're going to have to pay me. I won't say a word about it if you pay me enough."

Damian turned purple in the face as he grabbed a wad of cash from the side and flung it at Natalie in great disgust. Then, he got up, got dressed, and walked out the door without even looking back.

After going back to the mansion, Natalie learned that Cheryl would be moving in with them on that day itself.

Cheryl's things and suitcases took up almost all of the space in the living room, and the maids were all helping her sort them out.

When Cheryl saw Natalie, she greeted her like she was the lady of the house instead of Natalie.

"You're back. I've already told the maids to move all of the stuff in your room into the guest room. You don't mind that, do you?"

It didn't matter whether Natalie minded it or not. Nobody would ever care about her feelings anyway, and it wasn't like she was also going to be staying in this home for long.

…

Ever since Cheryl moved in, she and Damian began acting even more like a lovey-dovey newlywed couple who couldn't bear to be apart from each other for even a minute.

At meals, Damian would keep looking out for Cheryl, cut up her steak for her, and even blow on hot foods to cool them down before spoon-feeding her himself.

When Natalie walked by the living room, she would almost always catch sight of the duo hugging each other or engaged in intense make-out sessions with each other.

Even though her room was now the guest room, she would still hear lewd, sticky, slapping noises coming from their room every time she walked down the hallway at night.

They had basically set up an intricate web and trapped her within it, slowly cornering her until Natalie was completely bruised and battered.

Damian even tormented Natalie on purpose by making her "stand guard" at the door while he was sleeping with Cheryl inside.

"You love money, don't you? Then, stand guard at the door for us the whole night. I'll pay you ten grand per night. What do you say?"

Damian looked handsome and alluring when he spoke to Natalie. His thin lips were slightly upturned in a cold, aloof smirk.

Natalie stared at him for a long time in silence. Finally, she replied, "Make it 20 grand."

Damian's face twitched slightly. The bulging veins on his forehead looked particularly frightening as he glared at her.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed another stack of hundred-dollar bills from the side and flung them in her direction.

"Get out."

Natalie then picked up all of the fallen bills before leaving the room, not forgetting to carefully close the door behind her.

Damian's endless torment and humiliation didn't just stop there. He forced Natalie to decorate the bedroom at night with petals, buy seductive lingerie for Cheryl, wash up Cheryl's spent body in the bath, and even clean up the aftermath of their intense lovemaking in the bedroom.

Every time Natalie was done doing everything he told her to, he would then fling a stack of cash in her face.

Natalie never refused to do anything he told her to do. She also remained exceptionally calm every time she was told to do something.

She didn't look indignant, dissatisfied, unhappy—nothing at all.

Instead, she would just calmly pick up all of the money on the floor before doing everything she was told, just like a robot. It felt as though she had absolutely nothing to do with Damian after all.

She didn't care about him. She didn't care that he slept with someone else. She also didn't care that he might have fallen in love with someone else.

Damian, however, was driven mad by her indifference. In the dead of the night, when nobody else was around, he grabbed her by the waist and pinned her against the wall, demanding an explanation from her.

"Why are you acting so cold and indifferent toward me? Why don't you care? Why aren't you the least bit jealous at all?

"Did you ever love me at all, Natalie Underwood? Who the hell am I to you?"

Natalie maintained her composure, and her gaze was devoid of any affection for him at all.

"I only care about money. If you want me to show the emotions you just mentioned, I will gladly do that, but you're going to have to pay me more."

This time, however, Damian didn't go berserk. He just watched Natalie laugh coldly as his eyes gradually reddened.

Then, he shook her off and left without a backward glance.

A few days later, Damian went to Snowpeak Hills for business. Natalie hadn't known about it at first, since he never usually told her where he was going. She only learned about it after hearing the maids whispering to each other.

"I heard that Mr. Abbott went to Snowpeak Hills for business and got caught in an avalanche on his way back. We haven't heard back from him since!"

"Is that for real? Then, what are we supposed to do? I heard that it was snowing very badly at Snowpeak Hills this year. Wouldn't an avalanche mean that his chance of survival is very slim?"

"It's for real! I overheard Ms. Garcia talking to Mr. Abbott's secretary, Terrence Dudley, about it on the phone. They've already sent rescuers to find him, but it's still snowing very heavily on the mountains, and the rescue team doesn't dare to head in. We don't even know if they'll even be able to find Mr. Abbott!"

Natalie felt herself stiffen at that. She felt as though someone had just poured a bucket of icy-cold water over her head. She shakily unlocked her phone and went online to check the news.

Just like the maids said, the first news report she read was that a massive avalanche had happened at Snowpeak Hills, and the CEO of Abbott Group was still missing.

Natalie had never felt this afraid in her life. She was so frightened that she couldn't even hold her phone steady, and it dropped to the floor with a thud.

A million images flashed before her eyes, and her face instantly turned pale.

It couldn't be. She couldn't let anything happen to Damian.

Natalie hurriedly got up, found her coat and scarf, and put them on before rushing out of the mansion.

When she arrived at the foot of Snowpeak Hills, she saw that the rescue team was trapped by the blizzard there and didn't dare to proceed up the mountain.

She rushed to the front of the crowd of people resolutely, grabbed a snowmobile, and was just about to start the engine when someone stopped her.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? The blizzard is too heavy, and the visibility is far too low! You won't be able to save anyone, and you might not even make it back down alive!

"The only thing we can do now is to wait for the blizzard to stop before going in to rescue anyone."

Natalie gritted her teeth and shoved the person aside. She said, "Leave me alone. I will make sure I bring him back safe and sound."

Just as she was done saying that, she revved the engine and shot forward into the white abyss.

The blizzard was even worse uphill than it was at the foot of the mountain. Despite wearing thick winter clothing, Natalie still couldn't help shivering hard from the cold.

The entire mountain was covered in white, and finding Damian seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Still, she wouldn't stop calling out his name in the snow.

"Damian! Damian Abbott! Where are you?"

The blizzard drowned out her voice. Her throat was hoarse from all the shouting, but she didn't give up and called out his name relentlessly.

An hour later, she finally spotted Damian under a tree.

She immediately rushed up to him like a madwoman and took off her hat and scarf before putting them on him. At that point, Damian had already passed out from the cold, and his face was as cold as ice.

Natalie couldn't stop crying as she dragged him back onto her snowmobile.

"You'll be fine, Damian. You'll be alright. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

On the way back, Natalie's leg was stabbed by a branch hidden in the snow, but she didn't even seem to register the pain. There was only one thing on her mind, and it was to safely bring Damian back to the foot of the mountain.

She drove the snowmobile for three hours before finally reaching the foot where the rescue team was.

The rescuers were all shocked to see both Natalie and Damian returning in the snow and hurriedly rushed up to them.

They never thought that a woman like Natalie would have enough strength and courage to brave the harsh weather conditions on the mountain to bring Damian back to safety.

When she saw the crowd rushing toward them, Natalie glanced back at Damian one last time before finally passing out in relief.

She didn't know how long she stayed unconscious before waking up again.

Damian was long gone from the hospital by then. Natalie then quickly tidied herself up and got herself discharged from the hospital.

It wasn't until she finally got home that she realized Cheryl had long brought Damian back home. Meanwhile, Cheryl had also claimed credit for braving the snow and saving him from the blizzard.

When Natalie saw that Damian was safe and sound, she said nothing and simply turned around to go upstairs.

Behind her, Damian saw that Natalie didn't seem the least bit concerned about him, so he called out to her coldly.

"Are you seriously going to be that cold-blooded, Natalie Underwood?"

Natalie shivered slightly. However, she didn't reply and continued up the stairs.

There was no need for her to explain anything anymore anyway. She would just let him continue hating her like this.