A DEAL WITH MY BEST FRIEND'S HUSBAND

Chapter 6

Nathalie.

“Mother did not give us a single cent! We haven’t settled this semester's fees at all. We need 10,000 dollars right now, Nathalie,” he cried out.

“WHAT?!!” My voice echoed loudly through the bedroom. Suddenly, I realized I hadn’t seen my mother or Emily since yesterday.

“I’ll call you right back, Ethan.”

I rushed into my mother’s bedroom, but she was nowhere to be found. A lot of her clothes were completely gone. I ran over to check Emily's things, and her clothes were missing too. I held my head tight, taking slow, shaky breaths. I couldn’t even fully process the horrible thing my mother had just done to us, because I urgently needed to find money for my brothers.

Nathaniel’s name popped into my mind. But I couldn't do it. I couldn’t ask him for such a huge amount of cash right after everything he had already done for me.

“Okay, calm down,” I murmured to stop my racing heart. “I have 5,000 dollars in my account right now. All I need is an extra 5,000.”

That is how I found myself back at the club that evening. I turned off my phone completely and dressed in a skimpy bikini for the first time in a while, and it felt incredibly wrong.

Zack came into the dressing room, informing me that I had a VVIP client. I clutched my chest tightly as I strutted toward the private room, praying deeply with every step that it wouldn't be Nathaniel. How on earth would I explain that I broke my promise to him?

I stepped inside the room and let out a massive sigh of relief. But as I looked closer, the man sitting on the couch looked slightly similar to Nathaniel.

“Hey, Nathalie,” he smiled.

I furrowed my brows, wondering how on earth this stranger knew my real name.

“Don’t worry. I’m just here to talk,” he said gently. “I’m Grayson, Nathaniel’s youngest brother.”

His voice made my spine straighten instantly. I swallowed hard, looking at him with a mixture of confusion and intense guilt.

“Hey, c’mon. Just sit. I just want to have a conversation with you,” he said in a cheerful tone, noticing how uncomfortable I looked.

I sat down slowly, feeling incredibly weird that I was half-naked in front of my boyfriend’s own brother. “Did—did Nathaniel send you here to check on me?!” I stuttered, terrified that he might actually know I broke my promise.

Grayson shook his head. “No. Nathaniel and I came here on the first day, and I noticed his eyes were stuck on you. But to my surprise, I noticed he kept coming back every single night. So, I was just interested in meeting the girl who made my brother fall insanely in love.”

“Oh,” I breathed out, a massive wave of relief washing through me.

“Nathalie,” Grayson said, pressing his elbows onto his knees and intertwining his hands. His expression turned completely serious. “I just want to confirm that you love my brother and won’t betray him. I’ve never seen him this interested in a woman before.”

His words pierced straight through me. A heavy layer of guilt painted my face, and I didn’t even know what to say. My heart truly believed I was betraying Nathaniel by just stepping foot in this room—

“Nathalie,” Grayson cut through my thoughts.

“I—I don’t have any plans to betray him. I really like Nathaniel. He brought so much peace and warmth to my life in just this short period of knowing him. But...” I paused, watching how Grayson’s serious expression shifted to a calm look, then back to a more stoic expression the moment he heard the word “but.”

“I feel like I betrayed him by just being here today. He... he asked me to stop stripping, but a massive family emergency came up. That's why I’m here, but he doesn’t know.” My voice cracked as the words tumbled out.

“Hey. Chill, Nathalie,” Grayson’s voice softened considerably. “You did not betray him that way. You had your reasons for being here, and family is always important.”

I nodded my head, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. “I know, but it’s just so overwhelming. Seeing you here, I was so scared that maybe Nathaniel already knew.”

“He doesn’t,” Grayson replied. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but your problem seems to be about money. Why didn’t you just ask Nathaniel for it? You have to know he would prefer being asked over you going about it this way.”

My fingers nervously scratched the fabric of the couch. “He... he has already done so much for me. Asking him for even more money sounded like an absolute taboo.”

“Nathaniel has more than enough wealth,” Grayson muttered. His hands reached for a briefcase sitting beside him, and he passed it over to me. I took it, my brows furrowing in deep confusion. “I actually wanted to have a blast in the club tonight, but you can just have the cash. I don’t want Nathaniel finding out you’re here. He really would see it as a betrayal.”

My head didn’t fully process what he was saying until I unlatched the suitcase. I gasped softly, my eyes locking onto row after row of fat racks of dollar bills. “I—I can’t accept this.”

“Why?!” He stood up, towering over me as he looked down at the couch.

“I—you had plans for this money. You literally just said you wanted to have a blast in the club tonight. I can’t let my personal problems ruin your fun.”

“Thank you,” I murmured. My heart filled with immense gratitude, but a part of me felt terrible that I was placed in this situation.

He nodded and started walking out. I stood up, my voice making him halt his steps. “Please don't inform Nathaniel that you saw me here. It should be our secret.”

“I won’t,” he said firmly, then walked out the door.

I took a deep breath. Picking up the briefcase, I walked out of the room and quickly changed back into my normal clothes. I proceeded to ask Zack to help transfer enough money to Ethan and Nathan. I handed him the briefcase full of cash to fully settle the debts and cover my brothers' school fees.

With a wave of delight and a sense of true happiness, I finally walked out of the club. Suddenly, my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my bag as I stood waiting for a cab.

“Hi, Nath—”

“Get into the car, Nathalie.” His voice through the speaker was low and impossibly cold, completely void of any expression. A sense of absolute fear mixed with shock washed over me as a sleek SUV pulled up directly in front of me.

“Oh, goodness. He knows.” A whisper left my lips. I shakily opened the door and entered the car. The driver drove off immediately without sparing me a single glance.

My feet kept tapping the floor relentlessly in pure anxiety. After some minutes, a huge gate opened, revealing the massive Harrington mansion.

I forgot about my fear for a brief second as I stared at its sheer beauty, but then my chest tightened all over again. The driver stopped at the garage, and a maid led me inside toward an elevator. Once the doors opened, she turned her back and left.

The elevator chimed open, and my eyes locked instantly with Nathaniel’s dark, bluish gaze. He stood there in a crisp white shirt tucked into his suit pants, with a few of the top buttons left open. A few loose strands of dark hair fell effortlessly across his forehead. The raw intensity of his stare kept me rooted to the spot. I could see exactly how much anger was running through his veins.

My legs shakily stepped out of the elevator.

“Who were you with at the club?” he asked, his jaw clenched.

“No—no one,” I stuttered, swallowing hard. I had no idea if he actually knew I was in that room with Grayson.

He took a slow step closer to me, and my breathing turned frantic. “No one?” His voice was calm, but deadly cold.

I swallowed hard before nodding my head.

“Why did you go to the club, Nathalie? I need answers, and don't you dare think of lying to me.”

“I—I,” I sighed heavily. “I needed money—”

“Money?!” he cut me short with a disbelief-filled scoff.

“You don’t understand, Nathani—”

The sharp chime of the elevator cut me short as we both snapped our necks backward.

Grayson froze the moment he spotted me, but he instantly turned his head toward his older brother. “Hey. You sent for me.”

Nathaniel shoved his hands deep into his pockets. “Were you with her?” he glanced directly at me, then shifted his gaze back to Grayson, “inside a VVIP room?”

Grayson glanced over at me. My eyes were red and panicked, knowing I had already dug a hole by lying.

“No. I just went to the club for a quick drink,” Grayson said smoothly.

“Grayson, you mean you don’t know this lady?” Nathaniel tilted his head to the side a bit.

My heart tightened in my chest. Something inside me screamed to stop the lies. This man always found out the truth one way or the other, but I couldn’t find my voice. I just stood there, paralyzed.

“I know her. I watched her dance the day we both went to the club together,” Grayson shrugged.

Nathaniel nodded slowly. He walked toward his private bar, pouring himself a drink. The dim lighting illuminated his sharp features.

The suspense was drilling into me. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Grayson; my eyes were completely stuck on Nathaniel’s steady movements.

Nathaniel's fingers tapped rhythmically against the glass. “I don’t get why my brother and my girlfriend are both lying to me! To my f*****g face!”

I bit my lip hard, my eyes quickly flashing to Grayson, begging him to just drop it. But his words came out too quickly before he could notice my look.

“C’mon, Nathaniel—”

“What the f**k is this?” Nathaniel’s calm voice suddenly carried a dangerous tone underneath it as he turned the screen of his phone around to face us.

It was a video of Grayson walking inside the VIP room. Then, seconds later, it showed me walking right behind him.

“Both of you?!”