Natalie and Damian ended up rolling in the sheets for the entire night. When she woke up again, it was already the next day.
Natalie looked at the hickeys and bite marks all over her body and felt her face heat up.
Damian, who was lying next to her, had also woken up. His gaze was unreadable, and he looked like he had a ton of things he wanted to say to her. However, he ultimately only said in a cold voice, "Watch your mouth and don't you dare gossip about this to Cheryl."
Natalie forced a bitter smile on her face. She was his rightful, legal wife, and they were supposedly just doing what regular spouses did. And yet, she was not allowed to let Cheryl know about this.
Was there anything even more absurd than this in the world?
Natalie laughed out loud and said, "Sure, but you're going to have to pay me. I won't say a word about it if you pay me enough."
Damian turned purple in the face as he grabbed a wad of cash from the side and flung it at Natalie in great disgust. Then, he got up, got dressed, and walked out the door without even looking back.
After going back to the mansion, Natalie learned that Cheryl would be moving in with them on that day itself.
Cheryl's things and suitcases took up almost all of the space in the living room, and the maids were all helping her sort them out.
When Cheryl saw Natalie, she greeted her like she was the lady of the house instead of Natalie.
"You're back. I've already told the maids to move all of the stuff in your room into the guest room. You don't mind that, do you?"
It didn't matter whether Natalie minded it or not. Nobody would ever care about her feelings anyway, and it wasn't like she was also going to be staying in this home for long.
…
Ever since Cheryl moved in, she and Damian began acting even more like a lovey-dovey newlywed couple who couldn't bear to be apart from each other for even a minute.
At meals, Damian would keep looking out for Cheryl, cut up her steak for her, and even blow on hot foods to cool them down before spoon-feeding her himself.
When Natalie walked by the living room, she would almost always catch sight of the duo hugging each other or engaged in intense make-out sessions with each other.
Even though her room was now the guest room, she would still hear lewd, sticky, slapping noises coming from their room every time she walked down the hallway at night.
They had basically set up an intricate web and trapped her within it, slowly cornering her until Natalie was completely bruised and battered.
Damian even tormented Natalie on purpose by making her "stand guard" at the door while he was sleeping with Cheryl inside.
"You love money, don't you? Then, stand guard at the door for us the whole night. I'll pay you ten grand per night. What do you say?"
Damian looked handsome and alluring when he spoke to Natalie. His thin lips were slightly upturned in a cold, aloof smirk.
Natalie stared at him for a long time in silence. Finally, she replied, "Make it 20 grand."
Damian's face twitched slightly. The bulging veins on his forehead looked particularly frightening as he glared at her.
He gritted his teeth and grabbed another stack of hundred-dollar bills from the side and flung them in her direction.
"Get out."
Natalie then picked up all of the fallen bills before leaving the room, not forgetting to carefully close the door behind her.
Damian's endless torment and humiliation didn't just stop there. He forced Natalie to decorate the bedroom at night with petals, buy seductive lingerie for Cheryl, wash up Cheryl's spent body in the bath, and even clean up the aftermath of their intense lovemaking in the bedroom.
Every time Natalie was done doing everything he told her to, he would then fling a stack of cash in her face.
Natalie never refused to do anything he told her to do. She also remained exceptionally calm every time she was told to do something.
She didn't look indignant, dissatisfied, unhappy—nothing at all.
Instead, she would just calmly pick up all of the money on the floor before doing everything she was told, just like a robot. It felt as though she had absolutely nothing to do with Damian after all.
She didn't care about him. She didn't care that he slept with someone else. She also didn't care that he might have fallen in love with someone else.
Damian, however, was driven mad by her indifference. In the dead of the night, when nobody else was around, he grabbed her by the waist and pinned her against the wall, demanding an explanation from her.
"Why are you acting so cold and indifferent toward me? Why don't you care? Why aren't you the least bit jealous at all?
"Did you ever love me at all, Natalie Underwood? Who the hell am I to you?"
Natalie maintained her composure, and her gaze was devoid of any affection for him at all.
"I only care about money. If you want me to show the emotions you just mentioned, I will gladly do that, but you're going to have to pay me more."
