Chapter 5: The Seven-Years Lie
1791 Words
Natalia’s Pov
I don’t know you from anywhere,” I said, stepping back and feeling my heels digging into the carpet. “I’m sorry, you… you must have mistaken me for someone else. Let go, Christian.”
The whole ballroom gave a hushed murmur.
"I'm not going anywhere," Christian said, not moving an inch. He stood right behind me, his dark eyes locked on mine, not yelling yet, just studying my face.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Damian, my pulse hammering in my throat, the beat of my heart echoing in my ears, but for a moment, I saw the tension leave Christian's jaw. He almost believed me after seeing the genuine confusion in my eyes.
I grabbed his arm, digging my nails into his suit, trying to pull him away from the ballroom, away from this circus.
Just as my foot touched the threshold of the ballroom—
“So that’s really your answer, Natalia?" Damian’s voice echoed across the big room.
I froze.
The entire ballroom seemed to freeze along with me. No one was drinking or saying a word.
Damian slowly walked closer, his leather jacket making a creaking sound. His face looked completely broken and his eyes were wide with some theatrical sadness that made me physically sick.
“After seven years..." Damien’s voice cracked as if he was having trouble pulling himself together. "After all those promises you made me in that little apartment, you decided to choose him over me? Just because of his name?”
A wine glass slipped from someone’s hand near the buffet
CRASH!
The sudden sound of the broken glass made me jump.
Whispers exploded instantly, rippling through the crowd of investors and reporters like a wildfire.
“Seven years? What is he saying? That they were together for seven years?”
“Poor Christian... his new bride is a cheat!”
"And here I thought she was such an innocent little dove."
When I turned around, I saw Richard Blackthorne's face twisted in an angry pout.
Several of the board members exchanged disgusted glances, and the reporters eagerly took pictures with the flash of their cameras.
Christian’s fingers curled around my wrist like a vice, yanking me back forcefully until he had me pressed against his chest. “Answer him, Natalia.”
“Let go of me, Christian!” I exclaimed, struggling to pull my arm from his grasp, which he finally let go. “I already told you! I’d never met this man in my life!”
Christian drew closer until his nose nearly touched mine. “Look into my eyes and tell me that again.”
I gave him a withering look, but somehow, his dark gaze pierced right through me. “I’m telling the truth! I don’t know this man!”
Christian looked from me to Damian, then back to me. For some reason, the anger in his eyes shifted. Clearly, he didn't believe me, but he didn't seem to believe Damian either.
He was cornered before the most important people in the country, and his pride was bleeding out.
Damian let out a bitter chuckle, shaking his head at the ceiling. “You really forgot, didn't you? Just like that?"
He turned to face the whole ballroom, gesturing wildly in my direction. "Natalia here has been my girlfriend since college. We started dating when we were both eighteen, living off cheap meals and big dreams”
The older women in the ballroom gasped collectively.
"She left my place two nights ago," Damian continued dramatically. "And imagine my surprise when I turned on the TV this morning and saw my own girlfriend, newly married to none other than Christian Blackthorne!"
Complete chaos erupted. The reporters started pushing past the security guards, their microphones reaching toward us.
"Enough!" I screamed.
They all stopped dead in their tracks, surprised by the sheer force of my voice.
I pointed at Damian, my finger shaking. "I have never met this man! The only thing I know about this man is what everyone in this room knows—that he is a movie star! Why is no one listening to me? Look at him! He's an actor! Obviously, he's staging this!"
Then, Damian did something that made my heart stop in my chest.
He slowly sank to one knee on the marble floor.
The room gasped again. Everyone watched in shock as Damian looked up at me with tears streaming down his beautiful face.
“I know I made mistakes, Natalia. I should’ve refused the film offer in Japan. I should’ve stayed with you instead of being away for so long. I’m so sorry,” he lowered his head, his shoulders trembling. “Please stop pretending that you don’t know me just because you’re mad at me. Let’s just go home to being happy again.”
Gemma suddenly rushed forward, covering her mouth with her hands. “Natalia… oh my goodness, Natalia, is this true? Have you really been cheating on Christian this whole time?”
Looking into her eyes, I knew she wanted me to say yes, to prove to everyone here that I had been lying. She wanted me to fall into the hole I don’t even know if she was the one who dug for me.
I looked up at the other guests, but their faces were all twisted in disgust and disappointment. Even Richard Blackthorne looked away from me.
I turned back to look at Damian, my teeth gritting together.
“Proof,” I said.
Once again, the ballroom fell silent.
“If it was true that we dated for seven long years,” I said, stepping forward until I was standing right in front of him. “Why hasn’t anyone seen us? Why isn’t there proof? Why didn’t my family ever meet you?”
Damian looked up, a knowing smile touching his lips.
“Because you begged me to keep our relationship private, Natalia. You told me making us public. would ruin my career with the agency if people knew we were dating. I respected your wishes because I loved you.” He stood up, turning his eyes to glare directly at Christian. "But I never knew you were hiding me so you could sneak around and date this rich scum behind my back."
“Say that again,” Christian growled, stepping up to him.
“You’re scum, Blackthorne,” Damian said without hesitation, stepping right up to Christian’s face. “Did you really think being a billionaire gave you the right to steal another man’s woman?”
With a sudden burst of rage, Christian punched Damian right in the jaw, sending him reeling backwards.
The long banquet table crashed to the floor, sending plates of food, drinks, and desserts flying as Damian landed on his backside with a grunt.
The guests all let out horrified gasps. But the security personnel were scared of touching their own boss—Christian.
“Christian,” Richard Blackthorne roared from the front seat. “Get a grip of yourself.”
The board members murmured amongst themselves. “He hit a celebrity… in public… on camera… the stock prices will drop drastically by noon.”
Gemma leaned over my shoulder, her whisper barely audible. “How does it feel, big sis? Having two powerful men fighting over you in public? You must be so proud of your little self.”
My hand itched to slap the smile right off her pretty face, but I held myself back.
Damian groaned in pain, wiping a smear of blood from his lip.
He slowly pushed himself up from the ruined table, grinning at Christian. "For Natalia... I’ll take another punch. Go ahead.”
Christian lunged at him again, his eyes wild with rage.
“Mr. Blackthorne! Please, stop!”
Out of nowhere, everyone turned to see one of his assistants rush into the ballroom. “Mr. Blackthorne! Sorry to bother you, but a courier just arrived at the front desk. He said this envelope must be delivered to you immediately!”
Christian snatched the thick brown paper envelope from the assistant’s hands, his breath heavy.
He ripped the top open, pulling out a thick stack of glossy photographs.
The moment he saw what was inside, the blood drained from his face.
"Christian, what does it say?" Richard frowned, stepping closer.
Christian quickly tried to stuff the pictures back in, his jaw tight. “It’s nothing. Just some junk mail.”
But it was too late.
Gemma lunged forward with a sharp gasp, snatching the envelope right out of his fingers. "Oh? Let me see—"
As she pulled it, her fingers slipped. The entire stack of photographs scattered across the polished marble floor, sliding right to the feet of the reporters.
My breath caught in my throat as I looked down.
Picture after picture. It was Damian and me.
We were seen holding hands in a park.
Another one of us eating dinner by candlelight, his hand resting on my knee.
A photo of us kissing deeply against a brick wall, my arms wrapped around his neck. We were laughing and looked deeply in love.
All the guests leaned in to see the photos better.
My knees gave out, and I dropped to the floor, my hands pressing against the cold marble as I gasped in disbelief.
It wasn't possible.
I never met him.
I never went to the park.
Am I dreaming?
Did I lose my memory from the first life?
No, it couldn’t be…
Damian looked up at Christian, a cold, satisfied expression replacing his sadness. "Do you believe me now?"
Christian didn't answer. Instead, he stared at the photo of Damian and me kissing passionately, his hands trembling so violently that his knuckles had turned white.
Damian sighed heavily, wiping the remaining blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Forget it. Keep her. I don't want anything to do with a lying piece of trash like Natalia anyway. I only wanted to teach one arrogant billionaire that his money couldn’t buy everything in this world."
He turned on his heel, walking slowly toward the heavy exit doors.
I sat there on the floor, my eyes blurry as I watched his back move away.
But just before Damian reached the doorway, right before my eyes, he paused and turned his head back toward the crowd for a split second.
He looked directly at Gemma.
And then, right before my eyes, Damian gave my sister a tiny, hidden smile. And the smallest, quickest wink.
Gemma’s red lips curled upward into an almost invisible smirk before she quickly covered her mouth with her hands to look shocked again.
My blood turned into pure ice.
No...
They were working together.
- Writer
