The Jilted Heiress' Return to the High Life - Chapter 469

Chapter 469:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

A warmth, deep and overwhelming, spread through Corrine’s chest. Her eyes burned, a mist of unshed tears blurring her vision.

She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I am sorry… I did not mean to shut you out.” She had spent so long carrying burdens alone, so long believing she had to fight every battle by herself. It had become second nature—this solitude. She had not even realized how much she had been neglecting his feelings.

“Do not apologize.” Nate’s hand slid to the back of her head, his lips brushing the corner of her eye. His voice dropped to a hushed murmur.

“If anything, it is my fault. I should have done more.”

Her breath caught, and a sharp ache welled up in her chest. She blinked rapidly, but the tears that had been threatening finally welled over.

Nate noticed. His gaze softened, his thumb brushing gently against her cheek.

“You have a battle to fight tomorrow morning,” he reminded her.

“Get some rest.”

She swallowed and nodded.

“Okay.”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she held out her hand.

“Give me your phone.”

Without hesitation, Nate pulled it from the bedside table and handed it over.

𝖁𝗶𝖊𝖜 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊 ⸮ 𝖌𝖆𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀﹒𝗰𝗼𝗺

“The password is your birthday.”

Corrine stilled for half a second, her heart skipping a beat. She kept her face neutral and her voice deliberately casual.

“Why use my birthday?” Before she could process the thought, Nate’s arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her against him with a swift, effortless motion. His lips brushed against her ear as he murmured, his voice husky with an intimacy that sent a shiver down her spine, “Because I want everything about me to be tied to you.”

Corrine’s breath hitched. She looked up at him, momentarily lost in the depth of his dark eyes.

The dim light of the room cast a warm glow on his chiseled features, and in the depths of his gaze, she saw it—a quiet, unyielding devotion.

“Sweet dreams,” Nate murmured before pressing a soft kiss to her eyelids.

The next morning, a sharp, insistent knocking jolted Corrine from sleep. She sat up with a groggy frown, rubbing her temples as the commotion outside grew louder.

Leah was making a scene—something about a missing diamond necklace. It didn’t take long before Leah, in her usual fashion, suggested searching everyone’s cabin. One by one, the rooms were inspected. When only Corrine’s remained, the tension outside her door thickened.

Hearing the reason for the intrusion, Corrine cast a slow, sardonic glance at Nate. Well, well, how predictable.

“Miss Holland, we hope you will cooperate by opening the door,” the guest room manager said, his tone polite yet firm.

In the gathered crowd, Leah’s eyes shimmered with anticipation. Corrine’s delayed response only fueled her excitement. Perfect. Everything was falling into place. If last night’s scheme had worked as planned, then Corrine would be too rattled—too guilty—to open the door.

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