Chapter 436 Schemes and Scapegoats
Tyson made his stance perfectly clear
-no mercy for anyone in his way,
He glanced at Julio. “Drive. I’ll handle the rest,”
“Yes, Mr. Hayes.”
Meanwhile, Nathaniel slammed his phone onto the table. “Take a look at this damn headline.”
Matteo glanced down. It was a blurry paparazzi photo showing two figures entering Westbrook Grand Hotel. Just silhouettes but unmistakable to anyone who knew him.
Nathaniel’s jaw was tense. “The news has been suppressed, but the photos are still floating around.”
Matteo replied coolly, “Didn’t you tell me to get closer to Ms. Suc?”
“I told you to interact with her, not sneak around behind my back! You should’ve told me about this.”
Nathaniel’s tone turned colder. Somewhere along the way, Matteo had started doing things on his own- and Nathaniel didn’t like surprises.
“It was nothing serious,” Matteo replied. “She needed help with a paper. Her home wasn’t suitable, so we met at a hotel. That’s all. I left right after.”
“Help with a paper?”
“You wanted me to engage with her. So I took a temporary post as a visiting professor at her university. I was the one who contacted her, finally got her to agree to meet and someone leaked the photos. Now she and I both have to lie low.”
He turned slightly toward Naomi.
–
“What are you looking at me for?” Naomi snapped. “I’ve been home all week.”
She didn’t want to get dragged into this. Not again.
“I didn’t say it was you,” Matteo replied smoothly. “But since Ms. Naomi never liked Eliza, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted to stir things up.”
“You-!”
She turned to Nathaniel immediately. “I swear, I’ve been home every day. I haven’t done anything! You believe me, don’t you? I’d never pull something like that again.”
Nathaniel didn’t even look up. “I know. You’ve been behaving yourself lately.”
Naomi felt a rush of relief. As long as she stayed obedient, she had value.
Matteo said, “Then maybe it was someone else with an agenda. I’ve said what I needed to say. You can decide for yourself.”
Nathaniel exhaled slowly. “Fine. Since you were acting under orders, I won’t pursue it. But stay away from Eliza now. She’s getting too close to Nolan. I don’t want any trouble with the Hayes family.”
The Hartwell family could hold its own against the Fosters but Nolan was a different level of danger
–
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Chapter 436 Schemes and Scapegoats
entirely.
“Understood, Father.”
“Good. Now go upstairs.”
Matteo nodded and headed to the second floor.
Naomi chimed in, “I’ll go too.”
Nathaniel didn’t respond.
As Naomi caught up to Matteo in the hallway, she hissed under her breath, “You really expect me to believe nothing’s going on between you and Eliza? Keep dragging me into this and I’ll blow everything up. You think I won’t?”
Matteo didn’t even flinch. “hE still needs me. You, on the other hand… your baby isn’t even his. Want to bet who’ll fall harder when everything comes out?”
“You-!”
“Focus on your pregnancy. Stay out of what doesn’t concern you.”
He turned and shut his bedroom door in her face.
Naomi stood there, seething.
She was trapped – in the Hartwell mansion, in her fake pregnancy, and now in this power game. Nathaniel wouldn’t let her leave. She was a bird in a gilded cage. And that witch still had the upper hand.
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