The Scorned Heiress's Hidden Empire (by Jade Quinn) novel Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Then he turned to Natalie, waiting for her to cheer him on.

Natalie was silent for a couple of seconds, her face unreadable. “No.”

Blake’s usually stern face showed a rare look of surprise. He hadn’t expected her to say no.

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But then he thought, ‘Natalie must just be worried about me. She doesn’t want me getting into anything dangerous.

That thought warmed his heart, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Even though Natalie always seemed cool and distant, and said “no” out loud, she was actually super protective of him.

Natalie,” he leaned in, with a hint of pride in his voice, “are you worried your big brother might get into trouble?”

Natalie gave him a calm look.

ler gaze was steady, but Blake instantly took it as. Ha, I knew it. She really does care!

Don’t worry,” Blake said.

le gave Natalie’s hat a gentle pat, his voice soft. “I’ve been risking my neck for years. There’s nothing I haven’t seen. Those hoenix Syndicate guys? They’re nothing to me.”

latalie’s mouth twitched, but just then. Ryan called, so she let the topic drop.

latalie swiped to answer. “Hello?”

Natalie! Where are you?” Ryan’s voice came through, sounding excited.

With Blake. What’s up?” Natalie replied.

Nothing much. There’s a party tonight. Want to come hang out with me?” Ryan asked.

yan sounded pumped, with music thumping in the background. He was definitely somewhere buzzing.

latalie raised an eyebrow. “What party?”

It’s a yacht party my friend’s throwing. There’ll be drinks, music, and the night view is insane. It’s gonna be a blast!” Ryan aid.

le paused, then added, “Oh, and I’m doing a fireworks show tonight, right out on the water. Bet you’ve never seen anything

ike it.”

Natalie was silent for a moment.

Fireworks show?‘ she wondered.

Honestly, she’d never actually watched one before.

It wasn’t that she’d never seen fireworks. She just never bothered to go somewhere just to watch them.

But with Ryan sounding so excited, she figured, why not? She didn’t have any plans anyway.

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“Sure Natalie said.

Ryan sounded thrilled. ‘Awesome! I’ll swing by and pick you up soon.”

“No need Just send me the address. I’ll get there on my own.” Natalie replied.

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After hanging up. Blake asked, “Was that Ryan?”

Natalie nodded. “Ryan invited me to hang out.”

Blake nodded. “Alright, I’ll drop you off later. There’s some fun stuff up ahead. Want to go explore?”

Sure, Natalie said.

3lake perked up and led her further into the shooting range.

nside was a huge indoor training facility, way bigger than the shooting range outside.

All kinds of equipment were set up, and there were sandbags hanging in the corners, covered in punch marks.

I usually come here to work on my punches,” Blake said.

He walked up to a sandbag and threw a few quick, powerful punches.

Natalie leaned casually against the doorway, watching his moves.

Blake’s punches were legit. Each one hit hard, no messing around.

t was obvious he’d picked this up in real fights, not just some flashy stuff for show.

Blake glanced at Natalie, thinking about how she’d just nailed a perfect score, and before he knew it, he blurted out, “Natalie, Lave you ever trained for this?”

He asked, but honestly, he was pretty sure she had.

After all, to nail every shot dead center, stay steady through the recoil, and be rock–solid like that, you don’t get that good without some serious strength training.

Natalie nodded. “I’ve had some training.”

Blake’s eyes lit up. “Some training? How about a quick spar with me?”

He couldn’t wait to see what Natalie was really hiding.

Natalie looked at Blake, her face expressionless.

“You sure about that?” she asked.

Her stare made Blake a little nervous, and he licked his lips. “Of course! Your big bro just wants to see what you ve really got”

Natalie nodded.

“Alright.” she said.

Chapter 80

She walked to the center of the training room, shrugged off her jacket, and tossed it aside.

Blake watched her and started to feel a bit uneasy.

‘Why do I feel like I’m digging my own grave here?‘ he thought.

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“Carl, you don’t think something’s really wrong with Mr. Mitchell, do you?” someone asked.

Yeah, Mr. Mitchell never locks the door, ever…” another added.

Carl felt a bit uneasy too, but remembering how calm Natalie had been, he figured it probably wasn’t anything serious after all.

Alright, let’s try knocking again,” Carl said.

He knocked a few more times.

This time, they finally heard something from inside.

After some rustling sounds, the door opened just a crack.

Blake Mitchell’s face appeared in the crack of the door, half of it swallowed by shadow.

What’s going on?” he mumbled.

His voice was low and a little groggy.

Carl blinked, a little thrown off. “Mr. Mitchell, Natalie said you were asleep, so we came to help you back to your room…”

Don’t bother,” Blake cut him off.

I’m good. Just go back,” he said.

He started to close the door.

But Carl was sharp. In that split second, he noticed something strange about Mr. Mitchell’s face.

‘Mr. Mitchell!” Carl quickly braced the door open. “What’s up with your face?”

Blake froze for a second.

The others gathered around, and in the hallway light, they finally saw it clearly.

Blake Mitchell had a nasty bruise around his left eye.

The bruise was fresh. No doubt he’d just been punched.

Everyone there was lost in thought.

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Carl was silent

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He opened his mouth, but his mind went totally blank.

“Mr. Mitchell

Carl finally managed to speak. “What happened to your face?”

AD