In a hotel in the center of the Maldives, within a certain room.
"Nicholas... I love you..."
Nicholas Coldwell’s lips were tightly pursed. A cold shadow flickered across his tense, handsome face, but it was fleeting. Diana Powell didn’t catch that flicker of coldness at all. Nicholas lay down beside her and pulled the blanket over them both.
After ten minutes, Diana was fast asleep.
Only then did he sit up, put on his robe, and walk out to the balcony to gaze at the night view.
His and Diana’s honeymoon journey had begun in Hawaii, with the second stop in Paris, France, and the third being the Maldives. Today, they had just flown from Paris to the Maldives. He didn’t know that Julia Bluen, the woman he couldn’t forget, had just departed from the Maldives for Paris; their planes had practically brushed past each other.
The beauty of the Maldives was somewhat intoxicating, yet a sting remained—Julia Bluen’s words, her claim that she had gotten married.
How could it be? He didn’t believe it. He figured Julia must be lying to him. After three years of being in love, he understood her to some extent. She definitely still had feelings for him; saying she was married was just her way of deliberately provoking him.
Nicholas Coldwell murmured her name inwardly, Julia, a trace of pain sweeping across his handsome face. I still love you.
As for Diana, he was merely using her. He planned to use her to secure his position in the company and truly integrate into Upper Class Society. Then there was the Cosmos Group. Diana was an only child, so the Cosmos Group would eventually be hers. Marrying Diana was tantamount to acquiring Cosmos. Given her infatuation with him, tricking her out of her Cosmos shares would be child’s play.
The woman he truly loved was still Julia Bluen. Regardless of Julia’s status, his love for her was the most genuine.
Pulling out his phone, Nicholas Coldwell keyed in Julia Bluen’s number. Diana disliked him contacting Julia. After his last attempt to call Julia—asking her to get Glades Horne to spare the Cosmos Group—had failed, Diana had demanded he delete Julia’s number from his phone. He had deleted it, but he knew it by heart. Even if it wasn’t saved in his phone, he wouldn’t forget it.
The call connected on the first try. Nicholas Coldwell sighed in relief inwardly; he had genuinely worried Julia might have changed her number.
Did the fact that she hadn’t changed her number mean she hadn’t forgotten him, that she was leaving a way open for him to return?
In the minute he waited for Julia to answer, Nicholas Coldwell entertained a thousand possibilities.
Julia probably hadn’t gone to bed yet, right? It was just after nine in the evening.
"This is Julia Bluen."
Just as Nicholas was speculating, Julia answered. Her distant, crisp voice came through the phone, sending a pang of pain through Nicholas’s heart.
"Julia, it’s me," Nicholas Coldwell said in a low voice, careful not to speak too loudly for fear of waking Diana, who was asleep in the room. After all, Diana was his last lifeline; without her, all his efforts would have been for nothing.
"Is something the matter?" Julia knew it was him, of course. She hadn’t expected Nicholas Coldwell to call her again, especially not at night. The man lying beside her in bed, waiting for her to join him, was now gazing at her with his unfathomable eyes.
"Julia, what you said last time... did you really get married?" Nicholas Coldwell asked softly. Even though he had spent the past few days traveling with Diana, sharing intimate moments daily, Julia’s claim of being married was like a nail hammered into his heart. He couldn’t pull it out without knowing the truth. "Julia, I know it was my fault, but I had my reasons..."
"Mr. Coldwell, I don’t want to hear your apology. We’re strangers now. You owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing, so there’s no need to apologize. If it’s not a life-or-death emergency, please don’t call me again, especially at night. After all, you’re a husband now, and I’m a wife. We both have to consider our spouses’ feelings. Especially you. Ha! If your wife finds out, she might divorce you in a fit of pique, and then you’d really be out of luck." Julia Bluen’s words were cold yet laced with barbs, striking Nicholas Coldwell hard and making him bristle with extreme discomfort.
Dealing with a faithless man, Julia naturally wouldn’t use a gentle tone.
"Julia," Nicholas Coldwell’s voice deepened. Hearing Julia’s barbed words, his heart felt as if it had been stabbed with a knife, and his face paled. He was a man of immense pride. With Diana cherishing him like a treasure, he couldn’t stand Julia’s cutting remarks, even though everything she said was true. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to hang up; he missed the sound of her voice too much.
"You said you’re married. Who is your husband?" Nicholas Coldwell still didn’t believe Julia was truly married. Julia loved him. It had only been twenty days since he and Diana had wed. How could Julia possibly marry someone else so quickly? Who could she have married? It wasn’t that no one else would love Julia, but she wasn’t the type of woman to casually marry just any man. If she were to marry, she would definitely choose someone better than him. Of course, given her status, almost any man she might pick would be superior to him. But he just couldn’t believe Julia would marry herself off in such a short time.
"Is there any need to tell you?" Julia, however, had no intention of telling him she had married Glades Horne—who was supposed to have been her brother-in-law.
"You must be lying to me, Julia. You still love me, don’t you? Julia, I’m sorry. When I get back to the country, can we meet and talk?" Nicholas Coldwell said presumptuously, even shamelessly suggesting they meet.
Julia’s eyes widened in disbelief. She never knew Nicholas Coldwell could be so shameless! Such a waste of his handsome looks. She must have been utterly blind to have fallen in love with him back then.