Shattered Then Healed By His Love (by Haley Blanton) novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163 An Uneasy Alliance

“The treatment is finished. I believe she is in one of the rooms on the second floor.”

Marcus’s gaze shifted to the second floor, and he started up the stairs. As he neared the top, he heard the sound of a heated argument coming from Jackson’s room. He quickly detoured into his own room and stepped out onto the balcony.

Inside the adjacent bedroom, Jackson’s face was a mask of cold fury. “Are you involved with my uncle?”

Natalie, exhausted, sank onto the sofa. “You have a wild imagination, Mr. Jackson. What kind of relationship could I possibly have with your uncle?”

“I saw the pictures!” he snarled. “You were all over each other. Are you going to stand there and tell me it was nothing? Do you think I’m a fool?”

He shoved his phone in her face. Natalie’s breath caught. The pictures were from the night before, taken right outside her apartment, just as she had suspected.

She looked up, her expression sharp. “Why have you had people watching my apartment?”

“Why do you think?” he shot back, pocketing his phone. “I was worried you might decide to make a fool of me before the divorce was final.”

“If we’re talking about making fools of people, aren’t you the expert?” A thin, cold smile touched her lips. “You and Victoria have been carrying on for ages. Did you really think I was that stupid?”

“That’s different,” he said, his voice dangerously low.

“Different how? Because I’m an ex–convict and your precious Victoria is a saint? Is that it?”

Her words hit their mark. Jackson was speechless.

“I’m the one who asked for the divorce,” she pressed on, her eyes blazing with a cold fire. “You’re the one who’s been dragging his feet. This isn’t about me not wanting to leave; it’s about you refusing to let me go.”

“I can’t do anything until Grandfather’s health improves. If you’re so capable, why don’t you go tell him yourself?” he countered, his voice low and menacing.

A deep voice pulled her from her reverie. She looked up and saw Marcus standing on her balcony. He strode into the room, his face dark with a thunderous expression.

Natalie was stunned. For him to have come from there, there was only one possibility. Had he climbed over the railing?

“What are you doing here?” she asked, sidestepping his question. “Did you climb over the railing?”

He stepped closer, cupping her face in his hands. “Does it matter how I got here?”

“Well, with those long legs of yours, you probably didn’t have to climb,” she said, a weak attempt at a smile.

But he wasn’t smiling. His expression was grim. “Did he touch you?”

She swallowed. She had never seen him look so genuinely worried. “No, he didn’t touch me,” she said, her hand coming up to rest on his arm, trying to gently pull it away. “You don’t have to worry about me.”