True Heiress Returns to Her Unemployed Rich Family (Arabella) novel Chapter 644

She had stopped caring—the back of the car would do just fine. Today's plan had to work.

Naomi reached out and began removing Matthew's jacket. She could hear his breathing growing heavier, more strained. Sensing she was close to success, that he couldn't hold out much longer, she quickened her movements.

After tossing his suit jacket aside, her fingers moved to the buttons of his dress shirt.

One button undone, then two, then three.

With a strained surge of effort, Matthew shoved her away and pushed open the opposite car door, stumbling out onto the pavement.

By now, his eyes were tinged with red; every muscle in his body was tense with restraint.

Caught off balance, Naomi fell hard against the car seat.

"Matthew, why do you hate me so much?" Her face had gone pale, her voice thick with hurt. "We were supposed to be engaged!"

"We never were," Matthew bit out slowly.

Naomi's expression froze. After a stunned silence, a hollow laugh escaped her. "All these years I've waited... and that's all I get? Four words."

"Then I'll just have to change those four words." A cold, determined gleam flashed in her eyes.

She tugged open the collar of her blouse, exposing the line of her neck and the curve of her shoulder, and stepped closer to him.

From his height, Matthew could see the hint of bare skin, the inviting slope beneath her clothes. He turned his face away, jaw tight.

A pair of slender hands moved again toward the remaining buttons. The fourth came undone...

"Matthew, we grew up together. Our families made that promise—the Hamiltons and the Stewarts. I always knew I'd be your wife. I worked so hard, perfected everything, just to be worthy of you. All this time, I believed... I truly believed we'd end up together."

Naomi kept talking, her voice almost pleading, but just as her fingers brushed the last button, his hand closed around her wrist and shoved it away violently.

"I told you a long time ago—I'm not marrying you," Matthew said, his voice like ice.

Naomi shuddered. The color drained completely from her face, as if she'd just remembered something long buried.

Back in high school, she'd been the popular one—top of her class, pretty, admired. Once, when someone slipped a love letter into her locker, Matthew had walked by. She'd tried to explain, flustered, but he'd just looked at her coldly and said those same words.

Back then, she'd thought... he was jealous.

That coldness hadn't hurt her then. Instead, it made her happy for weeks. She was sure it meant he cared. Didn't it?

"Ha... haha." Naomi laughed now, but it was a broken, joyless sound.

"All these years... every day I wished I'd grow up faster so I could marry you. And now I'm just... a joke.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?

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