Chapter 663
“What?” Natalie couldn’t believe her. She gave her a deadpanned look, “Really?” After hours of speaking and narrating her sensitive past, this was all she had to say to her. Perhaps her daughter was not an entitled child after all, but a prick. How could she ask that?
“My God,” She gasped, the whole thing finally dawning on her, “It wasn’t a story,” Arianna gagged, wanting to throw up everything that she had eaten, but then, there was literally nothing in her stomach.
“Oh,” She was merely in shock, Natalie found out. The woman thought that Edward had raised an unempathetic daughter. Not that Natalie was proud of leaving her, but she only wanted her to understand her circumstances. Her hands were tied. She had no other choice and everything that she had done was for safety.
“You fucking dated Daniel?!” Arianna set her accusing eyes on her. That was the most disgusting news she had ever heard and God, why did her imagination choose now to be hyperactive? She could no longer unseen the images in her head.
When Elijah told her that her mother and Daniel had been a thing in the past, Arianna had not taken it seriously. But hearing it from the horse’s mouth was a completely different thing. How could she and Daniel...? Arianna brought up the image of Daniel in her head from the last time she saw him and tried to put the both of them together. But all it did was make her stomach churn and she ended up dry heaving.
God, she wished she never saw today.
“Would you stop giving me that disgusting look?!” Natalie chided her, unable to take it any longer.
“Well, what do you expect from your daughter who just discovered that the mother she thought dead all along was alive and not only that, was dating -”
.....
“Once dated and it wasn’t by choice,” She corrected her sternly.
“Well, once dated the father of the man she is dating? Jesus Christ! When did my life turn into a fucking soap Opera and I am not even a celebrity?” Arianna pointed out, overwhelmed by the whole thing. You can’t just spill everything to her in one day and expect her to be understanding. She needed time and a bit of clarity to absorb all of this. It was too much.
“Honestly, Daniel was not like this from the beginning. It was as if one day, he just switched off his humanity and became this cold, blooded asshole that everyone wants to kill.” She tried to explain to her.
“Oh my God,” Arianna groaned, wanting to bury her face into the mattress and never show up again, “Tell me, you didn’t just defend him? That man is a cold-blooded killer and doesn’t have a heart ...” It came to Arianna and she blinked, “You loved him, didn’t you?”
“What?” Natalie was startled by that question. She never saw it coming. She glared at her daughter, “What are you talking about?”
“The both of you were in a relationship, tell me you never catch feelings for him?” as disgusting as that sounded in her head. But Arianna could see through her mother and the lie she was telling herself.
“He kidnapped me! He was the one obsessed with me! -”
“And you never led him on? I’m sorry, but I find it hard to believe that you could know a monster that well without feeling for a part of him -”
A slap landed on her face, whipping Arianna’s face to the side and she accepted it wholeheartedly. Perhaps, she had indeed crossed the line.
“That bastard me! He took me away from your father! Even if I might have empathized with him in the past, you think I forgive him for all he has done to me?! For ruining my life! For ruining Penelope! How could you think I would love someone like that?!” Natalie was so heartbroken that tears spilled from her eyes. How could her own daughter think of her like that?
“Penelope,” Arianna gasped slightly. She was Marcel’s mother and he had to know about this. She turned to her mother and lifted her cuffed hands to her desperately,
“Fine, I’m sorry that the both of us got off on the wrong feet. I know literally nothing about you and shouldn’t have assumed things. But I am just getting to know what happened to you through the story, but then, there’s someone who needs this revelation more than I do.”
She narrowed her gaze at her, “Who?”
“Marcel.” Arianna explained to her, “He has never really moved on after his mother’s death. But I think this story would give him the conclusion that he has been looking for and he would be finally able to avenge his mother. I just need to tell -”
“You’re doing no such thing,” Natalie’s expression became serious when she heard Marcel’s name.
“W-what?”
“You are not going near that boy ever again.”
Her brows furrowed at once, “What are you talking about? He’s your best friend’s son!”
“He is Daniel’s son and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. That boy is the reason why I went through all the trouble to get you back, so there’s no way I’m sending you back to him.”
Bam! Arianna finally saw this for what it was.
She shook her head, “No, you don’t understand. Marcel is different from his father, he would never hurt me! He loves me!”
“He would never hurt me!” Natalie mimicked her, tauntingly, “That’s what I told myself until Daniel’s affection for me grew aggressive and dangerous, you silly child!”
“No!” Arianna pulled on the cuff but she could only go as far as it let her. “What we have is special and you would never understand it because you’re blinded by the demons from your past,” She said, her gaze begging her.
But Natalie’s expression was calm and composed as she told her, “Experience is the best teacher. You should learn from mine already and until you come to your senses, I’ll leave you some time to think.” She turned, heading to the door.
“No, don’t even think about it!” Arianna warned her, but she shut the door on her.
And just like that, Arianna was imprisoned again, but this time, by her own mother.
What was wrong with everybody? Why were they always kidnapping her?! Arianna screamed at the top of her lungs in frustration, but there was no body to help her.