Ignored When Chasing: Why Cry After I Got Engaged-Chapter 73: He Is Your Greatest Love, Then What Am I?
"You already know everything, don’t you? So why are you asking me?" Cecilia Nathan watched him with a cold gaze.
Her once-limpid eyes were now like a silent, stagnant pool, incapable of being stirred by any ripple.
A smile played on Damian Hawthorne’s lips as his long fingers reached out to pinch Cecilia’s cheek. "You still love him?"
"Cecilia, are you making me compete with a dead man?"
"Damian Hawthorne!" Cecilia cut him off coldly. "He’s not dead. At least, in my heart, he’s alive forever."
Damian looked down, a sarcastic smirk on his lips. "Then what was all that drama you made, dying for my attention? Was it just an act?"
Cecilia stood silently. "Anyone can say what they want about him. But you have no right."
Cecilia took a few deep breaths and limped out of the kitchen.
Damian sneered as he watched her stumble away, his gaze darkening.
Just as Cecilia reached for the wall to steady herself, Damian suddenly swept her into his arms.
The world spun around her, and before Cecilia could react, he had carried her into the bedroom next door.
This was the bedroom where Damian had most enjoyed being intimate with her.
Damian tossed her onto the bed, his body pressing down on top of her.
He leaned in close to Cecilia’s ear, gently catching her earlobe between his lips and teasing her most sensitive spot.
A shiver ran through Cecilia’s entire body.
"Cecilia, come back to me," Damian sighed, his voice soft and alluring.
He dipped his head, his chin brushing against her hair as his fingers threaded gently through the strands. "Come back to my side," he said, his voice a seductive whisper. "We can start over."
Fighting through the pain, Cecilia gently pushed him away.
"It’s too late," she said, her gaze fixed on him. "Damian Hawthorne, you already made your choice between me and Serena Hughes. You chose her."
Damian frowned. He started to say that he had mistaken the person, but he bit back the words.
’What could he say?’
’That he had mistaken Serena Hughes for Luna?’
’To Cecilia, there was no difference between Luna and Serena Hughes.’
Cecilia’s words were like a splash of cold water to the face, slowly bringing him to his senses.
’In some ways, Cecilia is a lot like Luna.’
’At first, it was just a game. But eventually, he’d found himself craving this warmth.’
"Come back to your side, and then what? Marry you and become Mrs. Hawthorne?" Cecilia’s crimson lips parted, her melodic voice tinged with a playful, probing edge.
Sure enough, at the mention of the title "Mrs. Hawthorne," the passion in Damian’s eyes died down again.
Cecilia gave a sarcastic smile.
It was always the same. The moment she mentioned marrying him, it was an instant turn-off.
She used to think he was against the idea of marriage, but now she knew the truth: Damian Hawthorne just didn’t want to marry *her*.
His proposal to Serena Hughes said it all.
Cecilia slowly got to her feet and straightened her clothes.
"Damian Hawthorne, if you can’t offer me marriage, then let me go." Cecilia lifted her chin, the line of her jaw elegant and smooth, her expression resolute and composed.
Her voice was gentle, yet it sent ripples through Damian’s heart.
Cecilia turned to leave.
This time, she grit her teeth against the pain, refusing to let it show.
She refused to show any vulnerability in front of Damian.
In the end, she made dinner for Damian and, forcing herself to ignore the pain, walked out the door.
But just as she stepped out of the Hawthorne villa, the family’s private doctor approached with a medical kit.
"Miss Cecilia Nathan, Mr. Hawthorne sent me to look at your ankle." With that, the private doctor immediately helped Cecilia sit down in a chair.
Cecilia remained silent, allowing the doctor to examine her.
The doctor was highly skilled; the Hawthorne family had kept him on retainer ever since his retirement.
Her ankle was indeed in pain. If she didn’t get it treated today, it would probably be much worse tomorrow.
"Your ankle is dislocated, Miss Cecilia Nathan. Please bear with me. This is going to hurt a little."
With that, the private doctor gave her ankle a sharp twist. A searing pain shot through her, but just as quickly, the pain vanished.
Cecilia was taken aback.
"All set. Just apply this ointment on schedule and make sure you get plenty of rest."
The doctor handed her a packet of medication.
Cecilia wiggled her ankle and found that she could move it.
Just as she was preparing to leave, Damian’s lazy voice cut through the air. "You owe me a week of meals. So, for this week, you’ll stay here. Don’t go anywhere. It’ll save me the trouble of having to fish you out of whatever mess you get into."
After saying his piece, Damian turned and walked away.
Cecilia watched him walk away, her eyelashes fluttering down.
’So what Damian means is, he doesn’t want me to cause him any more trouble.’
And just as she expected, the Hawthorne villa was surrounded by bodyguards. ’I can’t tell if they’re here to keep strangers out or to keep me in.’
Damian was dead set on keeping her here for the week.
Thinking of Sharon Quincy’s plan, Cecilia’s brow furrowed.
’I need to contact my father.’
’I never expected Father to let Sharon Quincy use the Nathan family’s bodyguards.’
’I don’t know what strings Sharon pulled to get command of the Nathan family’s bodyguards.’
Cecilia sighed faintly.
’Looks like I really need to get to Aethelgard sooner rather than later...’
「Hawthorne Villa, Bedroom.」
Damian Hawthorne stood by the window, a cigarette pinched between his fingers, his gaze distant.
"President Hawthorne, we have the results of the investigation. The Nathan family was behind it."
"You’re saying Selina Nathan kidnapped her?" Damian arched a brow.
"Yes. We don’t know Selina Nathan’s motive for the kidnapping yet, but it doesn’t look like she and Cecilia were working together." Justin Bell’s face appeared on the video call. "However, that Finn Hawthorne guy is working *with* Miss Cecilia Nathan."
Damian snorted and crushed the cigarette butt.
"That Finn Hawthorne from the nightclub is trying to curry favor with Miss Cecilia Nathan. It looks like he’s taken quite a liking to her."
The thought of that man parading around the nightclub with a face so similar to his own made Damian’s expression darken, and his mood soured even further.
"Didn’t I tell you to find him a proper job?"
Even though he despised Finn Hawthorne, it was obvious those people were just using the man to cash in on his resemblance to Damian.
He had sent people to report the club to the police for a thorough investigation several times, but they never found anything illegal.
"I found a job for him, but this Finn Hawthorne refused it." As he said this, Justin Bell’s expression grew a little odd. "He said the job I recommended doesn’t pay as well as his current one."
Damian scoffed, a humorless laugh escaping him.
’Of course the money is good. That Finn Hawthorne is parading around and conning people with my face.’
Even some of the heiresses who used to fawn over him were now going to the club to request Finn Hawthorne.
And to make matters worse, the man had actually legally changed his name to Finn Hawthorne.
Rumors were even spreading that Finn Hawthorne might be his long-lost brother.
’A brother?’ he thought. ’Which god did I piss off to deserve a brother like him?’
"What exactly is Cecilia’s relationship with him?" The thought of the deceased Hugo made Damian’s mood darken.
’First, there’s Finn Hawthorne. Then there’s Hugo Grant, and on top of that, just ’Hugo.’ When the hell did Cecilia become so popular that men are constantly swarming around her?’
"Actually... I get the feeling it’s a one-sided crush on Finn Hawthorne’s part. Miss Cecilia Nathan doesn’t seem to feel that way about him," Justin Bell said, unsure how to explain it.
’This Finn Hawthorne is a real character. He doesn’t try to cozy up to the rich, and he refuses to bow to money.’
’Even when Selina Nathan paid him to do... that... to Cecilia, he refused.’
’And he was going up against the Nathan family, no less!’
At this thought, Justin Bell couldn’t help but feel a flicker of admiration for the man.
