Addiction to Temptation: His Mischievous Sweetheart Captivates Him-Chapter 274: Loyalty and Betrayal

Zane Thorne smashed everything breakable in the house.

The floor was littered with shattered items, and Zane sat among them. His head hung low, with his left leg bent and hand resting on it, his fingertips bleeding.

His entire being was shrouded in a gloomy rage.

Natalie Vaughn’s heart trembled at the sight. She hurriedly knelt in front of Zane and reached out to inspect his hand carefully.

"What’s wrong?"

Natalie’s voice trembled slightly; she had never seen Zane like this before.

Harsh, desolate, and endlessly forlorn.

Upon hearing Natalie’s voice, Zane’s fingertips twitched, and he grasped her hand with great restraint.

"Nina, let me be alone for a while, please."

Understanding the effort Zane took to suppress his emotions and speak gently, Natalie’s nose stung, and silent tears began to fall.

She nodded frantically.

"Alright, but can you let me bandage your hand first?"

The blood was pouring out.

Zane tried to muster a smile to reassure Natalie but couldn’t quite manage it.

Natalie’s tears flowed freely.

"It’s okay, it’s okay. No rush. I’ll leave right after I bandage it."

Natalie hurriedly went downstairs to find the first aid kit. She had been sleeping since arriving and was unfamiliar with the layout, searching the house like a headless chicken.

Faster, a little faster, he’s in pain.

Racers’ hands are their most prized possession, faster.

Finally, Natalie spotted the first aid kit on a shelf, grabbed it, and dashed back upstairs.

The night was deep, and the moon hung high, its light shining into the house, illuminating Zane.

He sat amid the chaos, the loneliest in the room filled with broken fragments.

Blood continued to drip from his fingertips, forming a small puddle on the floor.

With the first aid kit in hand, Natalie knelt before Zane again, disinfecting his hand with alcohol before wrapping it in gauze.

She moved as gently as she could, afraid of causing him pain.

After bandaging the hand, Natalie stood up silently, took the first aid kit, and headed for the door. Zane grasped her hand, pressing it for a moment before letting go.

Natalie closed the door softly after leaving.

She wasn’t at ease, so she sat outside the room.

The sight of Zane earlier had shocked her completely senseless, leaving her unable to think. What had happened? All she knew was that someone had been persuading Zane to return to racing.

But if it was just about returning to the track, why did Zane become like this?

She couldn’t understand. Natalie’s mind was filled with the image of Zane sitting on the floor, bleeding fingertips, and fierce eyes enveloped in endless sorrow, leaving her perplexed.

She was very worried about Zane.

...

Inside, Zane stared at the gauze on his hand for a long, long time.

Racing was a dangerous game from start to finish. Broken bones were minor injuries, let alone simple cuts and scrapes.

He never paid much mind to them. When he first joined the club, he accidentally tumbled while riding a motorcycle for fun, scraping the skin off his entire right forearm. Yet, there wasn’t much blood. He just tore his sleeve and wandered around the club with the wound exposed.

It was Gideon Sheffield who spotted him and brought a first aid kit to bandage him.

He said, "In our line of work, while we play with the resolve that if our lives end, we can’t play in the next, we mustn’t neglect our bodies—our bodies are the capital of our revolution."

Later, he shared these words with the kids at the club.

How could he come to terms with the fact that the brother he valued most, whom he revered as an elder, would end up doing such a thing? He cherished relationships and held them to the highest standard of trust, with no room for flaws.

If, back then, Gideon Sheffield truly conspired with others to strip him of his eligibility to compete, he could not forgive him.

The deeper the bond, the sharper the thorn that pierced his heart.

He despised betrayal the most.

He couldn’t understand why Gideon Sheffield would do such a thing. The brotherly love he felt was genuine and unmistakably evident in his memory.

They had stood together on the podium as champions, the most in-sync and understanding partners on the training grounds.

They had driven to blaze new trails, through mountainous roads and the expansive plains.

After a loss, all it took was a can of beer and a barbecue to lift their spirits. They both loved grilled food and even learned how to barbecue together.

In the most passionate and exhilarating days of his youth, Gideon Sheffield had been the brother leading him forward. But how had it come to this?

Zane couldn’t comprehend when Gideon Sheffield began harboring such thoughts.

Ha, it turns out that the resentment Gideon Sheffield held over the past five years was not just because of that accident. There must have been other reasons, right? Otherwise, why would he, after all these years, still refuse to let himself or Zane off the hook?

...

Zane stayed inside as long as Natalie sat outside the door.

February in Kensingport was bitterly cold. Even with the fireplace crackling inside, the hallway remained chilly.

Natalie had grown numb. She longed to check on Zane’s condition but feared he would exert himself to suppress his emotions for her sake.

So she continued to wait.

After enduring the cold for so long, only one thought occupied Natalie’s mind. In all her understanding of Zane, only the incident from five years ago could cause such an emotional upheaval.

But wasn’t that resolved? Gideon Sheffield had returned from Altara and was living back home. Vera Underwood’s infidelity and the child born out of it, Gideon knew about these now.

Regardless of whether Gideon could move on and start anew, these matters were none of Zane’s concern.

Being bound by guilt for five years was enough.

But if it wasn’t about the incident from five years ago, what else could it be?

Natalie couldn’t figure it out.

She was so cold, so tired, so exhausted, but she couldn’t succumb to sleep. She needed to watch over Zane, afraid he might harm himself again.

Luckily, everything breakable inside had already been shattered.

Natalie thought in her muddled state.

She didn’t know how much time had passed before finally hearing movement inside the room. Natalie’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as she tried to awaken but felt weak.

Biting her lip to clear her mind with the pain, just as she was about to stand, the study door suddenly opened.

Losing her support, Natalie toppled toward the ground, but Zane noticed the movement in time and hurriedly crouched to catch her.

Her whole body was icy cold.

Zane furrowed his brows deeply.

"Why are you sitting here?"

His voice was raspy, unrecognizable.

Natalie struggled to sit up, looking up at Zane’s face, seeing his eyes still weighed down with concern, and couldn’t resist reaching up to smooth his eyebrows.

"I was worried about you, and I wanted to be with you."

Her fingers were cold to the bone.

Zane pressed his lips into a fine line, quickly lifting Natalie into his arms.