A Love to Die For (Nathaly) novel Chapter 6

Chapter 6

All of Nathaly’s electronic devices were confiscated.

Twenty-four hours a day, bodyguards shadowed her every move, reporting Elijah and Nicole’s whereabouts to her in real time.

As if to provoke her, Elijah and Nicole spent the entire week flaunting their romance, doing everything a couple would do.

O

Nicole loved roses, so Elijah ordered 99,000 roses from around the world to build her a castle made entirely of blooms.

The Tuckett family’s rules forbade tattoos, but when Nicole merely liked a tattoo design on social media, Elijah had that exact pattern inked over his heart.

They kissed on a windswept shore at the edge of the world.

Deep in the rainforest, Elijah bought the naming rights to a newborn elephant and christened it “Nikki.”

As the bodyguards reported all this, Nathaly was busy tearing apart the villa.

On the first day, she dragged out all of Elijah’s custom suits-worth millions-and burned them.

On the second, she ordered the peach tree in the courtyard-the one hung with their love knot-chopped down, and had the lily field Elijah had planted himself dug up.

On the third day, she threw every gift they’d exchanged over the years into the shredder.

That night, Elijah returned to the villa.

He swept in, tall and imposing in his trench coat, a chill clinging to him. His eyes were icy as he tossed a diamond necklace onto the dining table.

With a mocking tone, Elijah said, “Nathaly, Nicole, and I are just having fun. When I’m done, I’ll come back to the family. Why do you have to throw a tantrum and force me home now?”

Nathaly finished the last ravioli Brenda had made before she died, her voice calm and distant. “This is the necklace Nicole didn’t like, isn’t it?”

–

Nicole had added her on a burner account, so Nathaly knew more about their relationship than even the bodyguards did.

She had just posted on Instagram, complaining that the necklace was old-fashioned and only suited for middle-aged women. Right after that, Elijah brought it home and gave it to Nathaly.

“So what?”

0.0 %

06:58

Elijah scoffed, his dark eyes cold and bottomless.

“Have you forgotten you’re just a burger-joint girl who never even finished high school? You only got to live this life as a society wife because of me. What are you still being so dramatic about?”

Her heart, already lifeless, was pierced once more, the pain draining all color from Nathaly’s face.

Her lips trembled, but her throat tightened so much she couldn’t get a word out.

Back then, when the rich kids mocked her background, Elijah had sworn it never mattered to him.

But now, this was how he really felt, wasn’t it? He’d never respected her-she was just a caged songbird to him.

The phone rang, shattering the suffocating silence between them.

The moment Elijah saw the caller ID, his expression softened.

“Nikki?”

Nicole’s syrupy, babyish voice came through the phone loud and clear.

“Eli, my knee still hurts so much. I just checked and it’s all scraped up… It’s your fault for wanting to get wild, insist- ing we do it in front of Nathaly’s mom’s grave-”

The last thread in Nathaly’s sanity snapped.

Shaking with fury, she grabbed the vase from the table and hurled it to the floor.

“You filthy bastards! Get out!!”

The thought that even after death, Brenda was being humiliated by the son-in-law she once loved filled Nathaly with utter despair.

“If only I’d known…” Nathaly thought to herself.

“I should have let you die in that alley that night…”

Her eyes were bloodshot, her thin body too weak to stay upright.

In the next instant, as Elijah stared at her in shock, Nathaly collapsed and lost consciousness.