Before Joe could finish speaking, his head was struck, and he collapsed unconscious.
Andrew withdrew his hand and said coolly, “Let’s move out.”
Eric smirked with a snort. “Using the chance to get revenge? Wanting to kill him but not daring to do it outright… Andrew, you’re pretty sly.”
Andrew chuckled. “Sly? When we get to Goldridge, if I see your old over again, I’ll smash his head in.”
Francesca and Aspen walked him to the door, their eyes full of worry. “Honey, once you find Shiloh, come back to Blumedale as soon as you can.”
Andrew nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll be quick. When I return, we’ll head north to Chetvine, and that’s when we’ll have our wedding.”
The two women gasped, their faces burning red. They both let out a soft, embarrassed hum, their hearts melting with sweetness, though they dared not say it aloud.
Originally, Andrew had planned to fly straight to Goldridge, but Eric insisted it was not necessary. He argued that driving would be even faster, and once they got there, he had the connections to smooth things over.
Andrew only shrugged, neither agreeing nor objecting. The last time he went to Goldridge, Henry and the McCormick family dominated with overwhelming influence, but this time was different.
If anyone dared to interfere or deliberately caused trouble, Andrew had no qualms about unleashing a massacre. He still had old scores with Henry and his people to settle.
Upstairs in Serenity Villa, Dylan lowered his gaze from the window and said, “Mr. Lloyd only took Mr. Humphrey with him.”
He turned toward Natasha with a shrug. “You should realize by now that he has more confidants around him every day. You’re just a servant; a widow at that. Beauty? You’re lacking compared to the others. Strength? You’re nowhere close. So sometimes it’s best to recognize your place. With him, you’d better give up. The higher he climbs, the further he’ll be from people like us.”
Natasha bit her lip and stayed silent. After a long pause, she lowered her head and returned to her room in silence.
Dylan lingered outside her door for a while, raising his hand as if to knock and comfort her, but he stopped himself. He was just a rough man, and Natasha already looked down on him. Comforting her might only backfire.
Still, he could not help feeling uneasy. Natasha was actually a very good woman. At the very least, she served Andrew with all her heart, never asking for anything in return.
Meanwhile, Andrew treated her kindly. Yet, he had never given her a title or taken that final step with her.
Dylan knew this had always been Natasha’s hidden sorrow. Since yrodale, she had wanted to give herself to Andrew and become his woman. In the beginning, maybe it was a way to secure her place and hold onto him. But over time, her feelings had changed.
She had grown sentimental, truly falling in love with Andrew. The problem was that their identities were drifting further apart, and their strength even more so. Even the chance to spend time with him grew rarer and rarer.
If things continued this way, it was easy to imagine that Natasha would only end up farther from him, until there was no chance
left at all.
“At least I don’t regret it,” Natasha whispered softly into her blanket.
In this world, not everything turned out perfectly. Many people and many stories were destined to end with regret.
Chapter 2050