Chapter 10

Inside the car, Julian had just unbuckled his seatbelt. When he saw someone step in to break up the situation, he finally let out a sigh of relief. "You were right about this, Mr. Foster. But it seems like Ms. Bradley is never short of people to protect her." He couldn't help but click his tongue, completely missing the dark look on Zachary's face. Natasha wasn't the type to back down easily. After entering the complex, she turned back and shot Matthew a rude hand gesture before striding off with flair. "Let go of me, Owen! This is between me and Natasha. What's it got to do with you?" Matthew shoved Owen aside. Two grown men clutching each other like that was gross. "Mr. Mathew, you're about to get married. Do you really want to make headlines for clinging to your ex? Take my advice. Leave now." Owen glanced around at the nearby hidden corners. Even someone as dense as Matthew could tell he was hinting at something. Just as the two were about to leave, Nicole pulled an exquisite invitation from her bag. "This is the invitation for our wedding. Please pass it on to Nat for me." With a pivot of her hips, she turned and climbed back into the car. Owen stared at the invitation, shaking his head. He couldn't help feeling bad for Natasha. Her life had been tough. How could the heiress of the Bradley family be bullied like this? "What brings you here out of the blue?" Natasha asked as she handed him a glass of water. If it weren't for Owen today, she'd probably still be stuck dealing with those two much longer. "Classes are starting soon. I came to Cendale early to get settled." Owen was a year behind her in school. Family troubles had forced him to take a leave of absence, delaying his graduation. By the time Natasha graduated, he still had two years left. On top of that, his research project hit a snag, so he had to extend the graduation again. "I admire your persistence for sticking with grad school. With your academic track record, I'd say school and you just don't get along." It was the first time Natasha had seen someone go through such a rocky road to graduation but still keep studying. "It's not so bad. If I hadn't come to Cendale, I wouldn't have met Liana." At the mention of Liana, Owen's eyes practically sparkled. "But I came here for something else too. I found a new lead about what happened when you fell into the lake seven years ago." Back then, Natasha had just received her university acceptance letter. She'd been excited but also focused on finding a way to get out of the Bradley family. While walking near the lake, someone shoved her in. There were fences all around. She'd flipped over one and gone straight into the water. Her acceptance letter had fallen in with her. It was summer, but the lake was still far colder than the air. She didn't even have time to think about who pushed her. All she wanted was to grab that letter. Natasha couldn't swim. She thrashed wildly as the water dragged her deeper. The sky darkened, and heavy raindrops slammed down like a final blow. Her limbs grew heavier, her vision blurred, and she could barely move her arms. "A-Acceptance letter…" The rain hit the lake hard, and the water splashing up stung her eyes. She couldn't see the red of the envelope anymore. All she remembered was a blurry profile and a pair of hands lifting her out with all their might. "Nat?" Owen waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of it. "What did you find?" she asked. He spread a dozen photos out on the table. "The park was still under development back then, so there wasn't much surveillance. But they did catch a blurry side profile and a figure from behind." Natasha remembered the original footage being deliberately corrupted during the investigation. "With a genius like me, restoring it was only a matter of time," Owen said smugly, clearly fishing for praise. A full minute passed in silence. Instead, she asked, "What about the part where I was rescued?" "Still working on it. The footage was split into several clips, and it's been a long time. I have to restore it bit by bit." Without her praise, Owen looked a bit disappointed, but it lasted only for a moment. "Thanks. I know who this is." Natasha's tone was calm. The girl in the footage with the braided hair was the daughter of one of the Bradley family's housekeepers. She had been secretly living in the housekeepers' quarters until Nicole found out and threatened to tell Henry. The girl was resilient. She got down on her knees and begged, and the whole thing was swept under the rug. She'd even managed to sweet-talk Nicole to the point they were practically best friends. Natasha remembered that girl even got into the same university as her. "She might've done it out of jealousy, or maybe Nicole put her up to it," Owen said. She'd already considered both possibilities. "Whatever the truth is, I'll wait for her to tell me herself." Owen wasn't good at tracking people down, so Natasha hired a private agency. She gave them what little information she had. After all, it had been seven years. The odds of finding her were slim. Natasha had always had a suspect in mind, but she never had proof. Besides, she cared more about the person who saved her than the one who tried to harm her. "Please keep working on the footage," she said, steel in her tone. Owen could tell how serious she was. "We're friends. Something like this is nothing to me." Meanwhile, Matthew had just dropped Nicole off at the Bradley residence. "Nicole, tomorrow we can finally be together openly." He'd been waiting for this day for so long. However, now that it was here, the excitement he imagined just wasn't there. If Natasha were here, she'd probably say a man like him only valued what he couldn't have. "Matt, you don't need to be upset over Nat. Mr. Zachary has good judgment. He'd never let someone with bad intentions get too close." Her words gave him an idea. Once she was inside, he turned around and rushed back home. He thought Zachary would be at the office as usual. But the moment he stepped into the main hall, he spotted Zachary . "Uncle Zachary, I didn't expect you to be home. Perfect timing. There's something I wanted to talk to you about." Julian, standing nearby, was surprised that Mathew still had something to say. He had only seen Matthew pestering Natasha earlier, but the conversation had been too far for him to hear. Zachary raised an eyebrow, set the newspaper down, and crossed one leg over the other. "What is it?" They didn't interact much, but everyone knew Zachary was decisive and never let personal feelings interfere with business. Still, Matthew thought that they were family. It certainly made him more trustworthy than an outsider.