Chapter 94 Chapter 94
Nathaniel couldn’t sleep that night.
He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Cassandra’s angry words still echoed in his ears. The fight earlier had left the whole house tense and silent.
He turned his head to her side of the bed. It was empty. She had refused to sleep beside him again. Nathaniel sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.
“What is happening to us?” he whispered.
He tried to understand her sudden change — the shouting, the mood swings, the distance. She was not the same woman he married.
Then a name came back to his mind — Marcus.
He sat up slowly. That name had not crossed his mind in years. Cassandra once mentioned him long ago, saying Marcus was her ex-boyfriend. Nathaniel didn’t ask too much back then. Everyone had a past, and he trusted her.
But lately, she had been hiding things — especially after the missing fifty million naira. He had asked her about it, and she claimed she went shopping, but he hadn’t seen anything new in the house.
Now, as he sat in the quiet room, Nathaniel couldn’t stop connecting the dots.
Could Marcus be the reason behind all this strange behavior?
He walked toward the window and looked outside. The sky was dark, and the city lights flickered in the distance. “Marcus,” he muttered under his breath. “What did you do to her back then?”
He thought maybe Cassandra was still hurt from her past relationship. Maybe seeing him reminded her of something painful.
Nathaniel rubbed his neck tiredly. “Maybe I’ve been too hard on her,” he whispered. “Maybe I should be patient.”
He had no idea that the truth was much darker — that Marcus had tricked her, taken her money, and disappeared.
He still believed Marcus was just part of her past, not knowing that Cassandra’s tears were not from old heartbreak but from the sting of being used again.
Nathaniel lay back on the bed, holding a picture frame of their wedding day. Cassandra’s smile in that picture was bright, genuine, full of love.
He sighed softly. “I don’t know what’s happening to you anymore,” he said. “But I still want to help you heal.”
Down the hallway, in the guest room, Cassandra sat on the edge of her bed, staring blankly at her phone. She had tried calling Marcus again, but the line was still off. Every attempt went straight to voicemail.
Her chest tightened, and tears ran down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands, feeling stupid and lost. “How could I be this foolish?” she whispered.
She remembered Vanessa’s warning — don’t give that man your money.
But she didn’t listen.
Now the man she trusted was gone, and the guilt was eating her alive.
She wiped her tears quickly when she heard footsteps in the hallway. It was Nathaniel walking to his study. She stayed quiet, afraid he might see her crying again.
When he passed, he didn’t notice her door half-open.
Nathaniel walked to his study, sat down, and poured himself a glass of whiskey. “Marcus,” he said again, shaking his head. “Whoever you are, you really broke her heart, didn’t you?”
He thought Marcus was just an old wound.
He didn’t know Marcus was a fresh one — a deep, ugly scar Cassandra was trying to hide.
Back in her room, Cassandra looked out the window, her heart burning with regret. “You will regret this, Marcus,” she whispered to herself, her eyes red and tired. “You took my money, but you won’t take my peace.”
She lay down slowly, covering herself with the blanket, her mind still restless.
Nathaniel, in the study, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had no idea that the man he pitied — Marcus — was not a ghost from Cassandra’s past, but the very reason she was falling apart in the present.
The night was quiet again, but the distance between them grew wider.