Bye-bye Trash! Hello Queen! novel Chapter 5

From inside the car, Natalie watched Sebastian’s frantic concern for Joanna with a clinical detachment. It was just like him. No matter how vicious Joanna was, he would always protect her as if she were a precious treasure.

“Ahem.” A deep, weathered voice beside her broke the silence.

A chill ran down Natalie’s spine. She turned her head slowly to face the old man next to her, and tears immediately welled in her eyes.

“Grandpa,” she choked out, overwhelmed with emotion. She hadn’t expected him to come for her too.

This was Noah Sanders, the man who had raised her, the grandfather who loved her more than anyone. His weathered face was stern, his eyes burning with a quiet rage. Sebastian and the Scotts had hurt his precious girl, and they would pay for it.

“Don’t you cry,” he growled. “I’m not dead yet.”

But Natalie smiled through her tears. In her past life, her death had broken him. He had followed her a year later. She had been such an ungrateful granddaughter.

“Waaaah!” The thought sent a fresh wave of grief through her, and she broke down into loud, heaving sobs.

The handsome young man driving gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white. He wanted to tear that bastard Sebastian limb from limb.

“Still crying?” Mr. Sanders Sr. demanded, his expression a mixture of anger and heartache as he glared at her.

Natalie’s words came out between ragged sobs. “Grandpa… Wayne… I was so stupid!”

Wayne Sanders had also been raised by their grandfather, along with two other boys who were like brothers to her. They had all grown up together.

Mr. Sanders Sr. swallowed the harsh words on the tip of his tongue.

Wayne let out a short, humorless laugh. “So, little girl, you’ve finally woken up.”

Natalie’s crying subsided. She pulled a tissue from her purse and blew her nose loudly.

Mr. Sanders Sr. winced and shut his eyes in disgust. “Have you no shame? What in God’s name was in there that you had to blow it that loud?”

Embarrassed, Natalie threw the tissue in the trash bin. “Grandpa,” she hiccupped, “I’m… hic… hurting… don’t be… hic… mean to me.”

“Quiet!” he snapped, the sound grating on his nerves.

“Okay, I’m quiet,” she mumbled, and for once, she was.

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