Chapter 687
“Have you thought about inviting Marcel here?” He said tentatively, waiting for her reaction.
Natalie froze for a moment as she let what he said digest and then she turned to Eric with an unbelievable look. “You.” She said pointedly, “Want me to invite Marcel to your place? Are you kidding me?”
Eric said to her, “I understand why you wouldn’t want to see the boy around your daughter considering your history with Daniel, but this is not just about you, Natalie. Arianna needs closure. If the both of them is to break up, they should do that face to face rather than on a phone call. Don’t you see how devastating it is for Arianna? She needs to move on. ” He made his point.
She stood up to say, “And what if things worsen after she sets her eyes on him? Arianna is a young woman with raging hormones and doesn’t understand that this stage would surely pass away. She would get over this, I know her. I am strong. She is strong.”
“Arianna is not a child,” Eric reminded, “She has the right to make her decision, and doing that would give her more chances to open up to you. You want your daughter to accept you, well, this is an opportunity to make up for your shortcomings. It’s left up to you Natalie to take the first step or you can let the bridge burn.”
As much as Eric spoke well, Natalie still had the final say and she said, “What Arianna needs is time to get over all of this. She will adjust.”
Only she knew what she – and everyone close to her – had passed through in the hands of Daniel. Even if by chance, Marcel’s intentions towards Arianna were pure, Daniel was there and it was a definite no. Natalie would not let that monster near her daughter.
Almost immediately there was a knock on the door and Jason came inside only to notice the tension in the room. However, there was nothing that he could do because this was urgent, and couldn’t wait even a minute.
.....
“Boss, you need to see this.” Jason went over to hand the file to Eric who received it from him while Natalie stared at the scene.
Eric didn’t know what he had been expecting but by the time he read through, he had gone pale in the face and his hand was shaking.
“What the hell,” The words left his mouth as he stared at the letter and drew Natalie’s attention.
Sensing something was not right, she walked over to where Eric stood and took the letter from him, and by the time Natalie was done going through the letter, she was not spared from the shock either.
“Well, you did get an invitation, after all,” Natalie said with thick sarcasm handing the letter over to him.
Eric turned to Jason, his eyes filled with anger, “Where is Elijah?”
And speaking of Elijah, he was busy spending time with his little niece. Even at that, he was distracted while the young girl went through his phone, lounging on his bed. He couldn’t help but think about Arianna crying earlier and it bothered him greatly.
Elijah was guilty because ever since Arianna arrived at this place, he has never seen her smiling. If anything, her time so far was miserable. Elijah had been sure that he was doing the right thing by separating her from Marcel and now he wasn’t so sure anymore.
He knew Marcel thoroughly and he was poison – poison to Arianna. He would make her miserable! He was not going to treat her well! He doesn’t deserve her! That had been his driving force. Elijah was confident that he was doing her a favor and now he doesn’t know if Arianna’s sorrow was worth it. It wasn’t a fairy tale yet who knew that a monster could find love?
Who knew that she really liked him and Marcel wasn’t a manipulation? Elijah’s conscience gnawed at him. Neither does he understand what’s going on in his life anymore.
He could have stayed at his own place where he will have the space all to himself – and wouldn’t have to obey Eric’s stupid rules – but he preferred the family house – which now belonged to Eric as the first son – where there was a lot of activities and could distract him from thinking about a certain somebody – a name that he had no right to call anymore.
Adele.
It still rang in his head.
Elijah couldn’t help but wonder how she was doing? Did she receive the letter that he wrote her? Has she gotten over him or like Arianna, was she taking his betrayal hard? The thought of that made his heart clench tightly. He didn’t mean to hurt her that way.
He was not going to lie, more than once, Elijah was tempted to call her, but he knew better than to do that. It would only make things complicated and make it much harder for her to move on. Right now, they have discovered his betrayal and that makes him her enemy. She doesn’t have to choose between him and her family.
His train of thought was interrupted when someone rudely banged into his room and he looked up to see that he was his brother.
Elijah got to his feet saying, “Seriously? Just because I’m under your roof doesn’t mean -”
The rest of his words were forever silenced as Eric landed a punch on his face, shocking him.
“I warned you, be careful of your games!”
Rose screamed, startled by the sudden violence.
“Heck! Rose is here, Eric!” Natalie frowned at his action. She quickly went and took the child by the hand, leaving the tense room with her.
While Jason held back the furious Eric and stopped him from murdering Elijah.