The Year She Stopped Being Crazy for Him novel Chapter 48

Just then, Jude walked straight toward her.

Natalie froze. The next second, Jude took the seat right beside her.

She immediately stood up. After what happened last time, she saw right through him—Jude was only using her to piss off Hassan.

She refused to be his human shield. "I'm going to step out for a minute."

Someone chimed in, "Natalie, the game's about to start."

"You guys go ahead without me," Natalie said, walking out the door.

She stood in the hallway, scrolling through her phone.

A little while later, the sudden sound of a violent scuffle erupted from inside the room.

Startled, she pushed the door open, only to see Jacob Holt and Hassan throwing punches at each other.

Everyone else was frantically trying to pull them apart. "Let it go, Hassan! Jacob and Gardenia are just friends!"

"Yeah, why are you actually buying into Natalie's mind games?"

Only Jude was leaning against the wall, thoroughly enjoying the show. "You really played that beautifully, Natalie."

Hassan was absolutely ruthless. Jacob's lip was split open, and he was already spitting blood.

She had never seen Hassan like this before.

It seemed like ever since Gardenia entered the picture, Hassan was constantly shattering everything she thought she knew about him.

So he wasn't always capable of being rational and calm after all.

Natalie heard Jude chuckle. "Jacob just accidentally bumped into Gardenia, Hassan. Isn't your possessiveness going a little overboard? Since when are you this territorial? You certainly never acted this possessive over Natalie."

Someone nearby muttered, "How can you even compare Natalie to Gardenia?"

She didn't stay to listen to the rest of it and walked out of the club.

The voices gradually faded away, but the image of Hassan fighting kept flashing through her mind.

Natalie knew Cecily's amiable facade was just that—a facade. She was clearly unhappy about the incident, which was why she was bringing it up.

Natalie had always had a vibrant, unapologetic personality, but when she first married into the Carlson family, Cecily had reprimanded her on more than one occasion.

She was told never to flaunt the Carlson family's power in public, never to joke around or be too loud with her friends, and never to do anything that might bring negative press to the family name.

For Hassan, she had swallowed it all.

"Hassan didn't come back with you?" Cecily asked.

She stayed quiet for a moment before answering, "No."

"Natalie." Cecily took a sip of tea. "You should know that the only reason I arranged for Dr. Weston to do your grandmother's surgery wasn't because your name is Natalie Thornton. It's because you are Mrs. Carlson."

"I know," she said, lowering her head.

Cecily let out a soft laugh. "You don't know. If you knew, you wouldn't have disappeared for three days. I'm well aware you have other places to go, but you should also be very aware that for the Carlson family, taking certain things away requires nothing more than a few words."

"Hassan doesn't love me." Natalie stared at her. "The person he loves is Gardenia. Can you really stop him forever?"