Shattered Then Healed By His Love (by Haley Blanton) novel Chapter 171

Chapter 171 Probing Questions

Lucy, understanding the cue, quickly took the child’s hand. “Alright, I’ll take Lily upstairs for her bath. It’s getting late. You two take your time.”

“Okay,” Marcus replied, his voice a low murmur.

After they had gone, Natalie poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. He had been sitting across from her, but he shifted, moving to the scat right beside her.

“Why did you come back?”

“I came to ask you something.” He looked up, his gaze direct. “I wanted to know if you knew someone.”

The hand holding the teapot trembled slightly. A sense of foreboding washed over her, but she had been bracing herself for this. Her expression remained carefully neutral.

“Who did you want to ask me about?” she asked, a soft, practiced smile on her lips.

He held the teacup, turning it over in his hands without drinking. After a moment, he finally asked, his tone probing, “Ms. Foster, do you happen to know a person named ‘Harley‘?”

Natalie’s heart seemed to stop for a beat before it began to hammer against her ribs.

“I wouldn’t say I know her,” she said, her voice even. “But I’ve heard the name. James mentioned her to me once. I hear she’s a master smith, quite famous in her field.”

“So you don’t know her,” he said, nodding slowly, his eyes fixed on her face, searching for any sign of a lie. But he found nothing.

“I seem to recall you mentioning that you have other lines of work, Ms. Foster. Are any of them related to minerals?” he pressed, his questioning relentless.

Her fingers tightened around her cup, a subtle movement that did not escape his notice.

His grip on her jaw tightened. He gently brushed a stray strand of hair from her temple, his voice dropping to a low murmur. “We’ve crossed every line there is to cross, and you’re telling me there’s no relationship between us? You’re quick to deny things, aren’t you?”

She looked up and met his gaze. The coldness in his eyes was a physical blow, and her heart sank. She bit her lip, saying nothing.

He suddenly pulled her to her feet. The movement was so abrupt she remembered, in a flash of panic, that the hairpin was still in her pocket. A hug now would expose everything.

She quickly threw her hands up, bracing them against his chest. “Don’t.”

The resistance in her eyes seemed to take him by surprise, and his brow furrowed in confusion.