Addiction to Temptation: His Mischievous Sweetheart Captivates Him-Chapter 275: I Feel Awful

Zane Thorne sat with Natalie Vaughn on the carpet by the fireplace, warming her with his body while gently rubbing her.

"Isn’t it silly to wait sitting on the floor?"

Natalie still hadn’t quite recovered. Her hands clutched tightly onto Zane’s clothes, leaning against his embrace.

Her lips were chapped from being cold for too long.

Zane only got up to get her some warm water after Natalie had warmed up a bit. He brought it to her lips, waited for her to moisten her lips first, and then slowly tilted the cup.

Natalie was able to speak.

"Are you feeling better?"

Zane just adjusted the blanket without directly answering Natalie. Knowing he didn’t want to talk, she didn’t ask further.

She shifted her body to get closer to Zane, but suddenly winced and inhaled sharply.

"What’s wrong?"

Zane immediately lowered his head to inquire and lifted the blanket. Seeing the instinctive movement of Natalie’s hands, he quickly held her ankle.

There was an injury on the sole of Natalie’s foot, probably from accidentally stepping on something when she entered the study. At that time, all her attention was on Zane, so she didn’t notice it. Later, sitting on the floor for a long time, her feet went numb from the cold, and she didn’t realize the injury on her foot.

Zane stared at the wound on Natalie’s foot for a long time and didn’t speak throughout the process of treating it with a medical kit.

Natalie didn’t quite like it when Zane repressed his emotions and remained silent.

It hurt her heart.

"Just a small wound, it doesn’t hurt."

Zane put the medical kit aside, looked at Natalie’s still somewhat pale face, and after a long while, sighed and held her back in his arms.

He didn’t know how to talk to Natalie; he didn’t even know how to convince himself.

The guilt of the past five years felt like a joke.

Did he hate Gideon Sheffield?

Not really.

That night, the two of them just leaned against each other, by the fireplace, on the carpet.

...

Natalie caught a cold, probably because her body wasn’t quite used to Kensingport’s climate, and she caught a chill after sitting in the hallway for so long last night.

When she woke up, she was already lying in the bedroom; the curtains were half drawn with light filtering in, but it wasn’t glaring.

Zane wasn’t in the room.

Natalie sat up, raised her hand to touch her forehead—it was still slightly feverish, and her head and throat ached.

There was a glass of water on the bedside table. Natalie took it and drank half of it; it was still warm.

Natalie got out of bed, opened the door, and as soon as she reached the staircase, she heard Zane downstairs, talking on the phone. It seemed he was busy in the kitchen, with the phone on speaker.

It was Leo Chandler’s voice.

"Gideon Sheffield came to see me yesterday."

After returning to his home country, Leo was preparing to open a clinic domestically, still in the preparation stage. With the New Year just past, Gideon went to find Leo with great urgency, so it had to be something important. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Zane’s movements paused a bit, and he asked.

"What did he come to you for?"

Leo didn’t know how to say it, and he sighed deeply. He had known before that Gideon always kept things hidden and that Gideon’s feelings towards Zane were quite peculiar.

But after hearing Gideon’s words, he only felt a pang of regret.

Regret for Zane.

"You’d better brace yourself for this."

Leo’s hesitation made Zane faintly guess something. He washed his hands, then wiped them with a tissue.

"Just say it."

"Gideon said that during the competition preparation period, he deliberately brought you food, which is why you tested positive for stimulants."

Leo spoke these words quickly, to the point that if you weren’t listening carefully, you might not catch them.

Natalie stood at the staircase, covering her mouth.

She had never expected that the incident from back then was actually like this. Didn’t that mean Gideon deliberately made Zane test positive for stimulants, and then calculated that Zane would come looking for him afterward?

In other words, the accident in Gideon’s match back then was entirely his own doing.

So what were Zane’s five years worth? For five years, Zane had been tormented by guilt, even giving up his professional career because of it.

What was this all for?

Natalie’s chest heaved with rising anger, and she trembled slightly from the intensity of it.

She bit the skin between her thumb and forefinger to stop herself from making a sound, wanting to know how Zane would react. Yet she had not expected Zane to respond with just a calm "Mm."

On the other end, Leo Chandler was about to explode.

"What the heck, how can you be so calm? This is completely villainous behavior from Gideon Sheffield. He’s jealous of your talent, your achievements, your reputation, yet he calls himself a brother. Would a brother do something so underhanded?"

"I was fuming after hearing it. I wondered why he hated you so much, as if the past incidents had anything to do with you. Turns out, it was just his own jealousy."

"Ha, I’ve been asking for five years and didn’t get it out of him; that guy hid it really damn well."

Look at that. Even as an outsider, Leo was so angry. Then how much more upset would Zane, the person involved, be?

Yet Zane remained indifferent.

"I got it. Anything else? If not, I’m hanging up."

Leo didn’t understand.

"Did you even hear what I said? Is this your reaction?"

He couldn’t comprehend it.

But Natalie finally understood.

She finally understood why Zane’s emotions had flared up last night, why the anger was evident in his eyes.

Natalie squat down, barely able to contain her emotions.

How hurt Zane must have felt.

The brother he valued, the elder brother he respected the most had done something like this. Natalie knew that what Zane liked, he would deeply cherish; the people he respected were held dear to his heart. The deeper the affection, the more painful the betrayal felt.

Carter Chapman said that abroad, Zane would often drink late into the night. He said it was for work, but what work requires staying up every night?

Zane, because of Gideon Sheffield and this attachment, suffered for five years.

Now, being told that his suffering was for nothing, that the person wasn’t worth it.

Leo was slow to realize.

"Did you... know about this long ago?"

Zane didn’t answer, just hung up the phone.

The porridge was ready. Zane filled a bowl and placed it on a tray, preparing to take it upstairs.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs thudded in Natalie’s heart. Before Zane could see her, she quickly returned to the room.

Zane looked at the person sitting on the bed, gave a slight smile, placed the tray aside, and reached out to touch Natalie’s forehead.

"How long have you been awake?"

Natalie’s eyes were red, her throat tight, at a loss for words. She shook her head, pointing to the glass of water on the cabinet.

Zane brought the water to her lips.

"Throat hurting?"

Natalie drank the remaining half glass of water, paused for a bit, then threw herself into Zane’s arms, hugging his waist.

"I’m uncomfortable."

Zane immediately reached out and gently patted her back.

"There’s still a slight fever. Take some medicine later and sleep a bit more, and you’ll be fine."

Natalie sniffled, rubbing against Zane’s chest.