CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

Lara and Nate went to Sheton to visit the Clayton family. Since calling on the phone turned out to be useless, they thought of solving the matter once and for all, talking face to face.

Either way, there was not much they could do to hurt Lara. Not anymore. Revealing their trump card had been the wrong choice.

They had left the pups to Melanie - and likely to Luther as well - and were ready for a long afternoon with Lara's parents. Even though they were planning a quick visit.

Nate squeezed her hand once before letting go and pressing the bell. Meanwhile, Lara observed the house and tried reconstructing how it was when she had left. There had been many changes over the years. Even when she was a teen, her parents liked changing the furniture and details of the house quite often.

«It was red when I left,» she said, pointing at the wall. They had painted the outer side a light blue. Just like some of the buildings in the quarter where Nate's penthouse was. It felt like a trend.

«And there was a swing in the garden,» she added. «They removed it after I left. My brother and I would sit there and talk even after becoming adults.»

He moved his head, willing to turn to her, weren't it for the steps approaching the door. He stood there, facing the enemy and defending his mate.

Lara was a little lost, but she regained focus when she noticed Nate's stance. If he was on alert, then her parents were opening. They could see only Nate without opening the door, which made her realise that they would open without questions.

When they did, they found Steve.

«Come in,» he said, with the clear intention of making them disappear from outside. He didn't want to attract anyone's attention.

If it were Grace, she would have shouted as to attract everyone's ear and eye, to show how Nate Woods visited her house. But Steve couldn't bring himself to do that.

«I guess you're here because you have something to say,» he started walking to the living room. «Grace isn't home, right now, but you can tell me. Oh, I can call David if you'd like to see your brother.»

«No need,» Lara said, walking inside.

In the living room, she found a surprise. One wall was covered with pictures of her. When she was a baby, a toddler, a teen... Even her first day of university! Her mother had made all the pictures for an unclear reason, but she wouldn't put them on a wall for anything in the world.

It was so mundane and cheap to cover a wall with photos of one's kids, she would say. That was the perfect place for an expensive painting.

She noticed her brother's pictures were more or less where she had remembered them. Only hers weren't, but the wall... It was a machination for something she needed.
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«Do not even try it,» Lara said.

She turned to Nate in search of support, but he was staring at the wall like an idiot. His eyes were wide to absorb every detail.

And he couldn't think straight because he had the vital mission to check every single picture and imprint it in his mind. All the while, his brain would produce shadows of thoughts about Lara's prettiness.

Seeing him so absorbed in his exploration, Lara let him be. His face was as focused as when he would strike a deal. He must be searching for something important, she thought.

She calmed down and realised she was on her own. Not alone, because Nate would hold her hand or agree with her if she asked him to. But she couldn't count on him while he was in that state.

«Don't try saying you felt guilty and were desperate to have me back, that you asked me to forgive you... Don't say anything like this to the press because we both know it's false. And don't use this as a way to show your regret,» she said, pointing at the wall. «I don't even want to know the story you came up with for the press, about regret and tears, and mistakes...

You don't care about me, and I won't care about you. That is how things should be.»

Since Lara was saying something with her convinced and unmoving tone, Nate nodded by reflex. However, his eyes were on a particular picture of her as a teenager, wearing her school uniform and with her hair tied in a high bun. Was it even legal to be so cute?

Where was he then? What was he doing? What could be as relevant as finding his mate?

If he had met her earlier, nothing of that would have happened. She would still think her family treasured her, and they would be happily married and with... With the pups?

Oh, the pups wouldn't be there if anything went differently.

And Lara's happiness would have been a lie, thinking her family was there for her.

It wouldn't have been better. And that wall, as precious as it could be, was just a trick. Had they put it there to prevent him from thinking?

How could they know it would work so well? Oh, he had told them at the beginning that he was completely swayed...

While Nate returned conscious of his surroundings and the situation he was supposed to fix, Lara had already lectured her father about not talking with the press.

«It won't work,» Lara said. «Whatever you say to the press, I'll simply deny. Who do you think will they believe, in the end?»

Nate stepped out of his world of awe and caught the chance to be a knight in shining armour. It was time to look cool, helpful, and solemn.

«If you say anything more than this,» he declared, «I'll do everything in my power to erase your companies from the business world. Everything, no matter how illegal or immoral. I won't let you set foot in any social event, club, or stock exchange building. I'm serious, this time. You can't hurt my family and my children and hope to survive it.»