Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Everyone has a limit
Mrs Harlow felt like her face had been slapped. Even though it was the truth, she did not expect Ari to say it so bluntly. The sweet and caring smile on her face slipped and was replaced with a stern expression.

She said to Ari, “Quit with your stupid actions, Ariana. No matter what you do, you will never amount to anything more than being a cleaner in a restaurant or a bar.”

With a hearty scoff, Mrs Harlow continued, “I know that you are jealous of your sister. But what is the point of being jealous? She was born with luck and charm, while you were born without any.”

“Even if you try to compete with your sister until your last breath, you will never be able to even become worthy of carrying her shoes. So give up when you still have time, lest you humiliate yourself.”

After she finished speaking, Mrs Harlow puffed out her chest as if Ariel being rich, popular, and charismatic after stomping on the dreams and hopes of her siblings was something that needed to be praised.

“You seem to have misunderstood something, Mother,” Ari said with a cold smile playing on her lips. “I never once fought with Ariel for anything. Nor did I bring her up in this situation, what I am trying to say is —— regardless of what gifts Mrs. Nelson has given you,”

She trailed off before lowering her head and breathing in, she then raised her head again and continued, “It’s your own business. But do not expect that I will pay for those gifts with my life or comfort.”

With her words falling like beads falling from a broken string, Mrs Harlow could no longer smile. She stared at Ariana as the smile on her lips slowly faltered.

‘What… What does Ari mean by that? Is she saying that she will not return to the Nelson mansion even when I am telling her to? Impossible!’ Mrs Harlow’s thoughts went through a roller coaster ride and her expression changed again and again.

“Ari,” she gritted her teeth and questioned, “Why are you saying these things, what do you want to do?”

“The question is not what I want to do but what do you want to do Mom,” Ari calmly shot back. She blinked her lashes and then looked at the woman in front of her.

As Ari had not turned the light on when she stepped inside the house just now, Mrs Harlow and her were sitting in a dark room. Moonlight filtered through the large window that faced the balcony on the side.

Mrs Harlow’s face was illuminated by the moonlight, which made her look even more ghastly.

And this image of hers collided with the one that horrified Ari even now.

“When I was four, I was given a small doll by Aunt Macie. I liked it very much, but Ariel threw a tantrum and asked you to give it to her, and you did.”

“Even when I pleaded to you, begged in front of you while crying and screaming that I liked that doll, your heart did not melt,” Ari brought up the events of the past.

Something she had never done before because bringing those memories up, only inundated her mind with hurtful thoughts.

Those thoughts taunted her for being nothing, and she would find herself being chased by her demons.

“Ariana——”

“When I was six, I went to the grocery shopping and won two tickets to the aquarium. Those tickets were mine, it was me who won them,” Ari pretended not to hear Mrs Harlow’s voice and went on. “But Ariel found them under the pillow of my bed and asked you to take her, which you did. Ariel had no right to snatch those tickets from me, but you turned a blind eye to her actions.”

“When I was ten, the neighbour gave me a whole turkey on Thanksgiving. I was supposed to eat it, but I did not even get a single wing.”

“When I was eleven——”

“When I was sixteen——”

Ari raised her head from her lap and stared at Mrs Harlow with reddened eyes, which terrified Mrs Harlow.

For she felt the raw hatred and anger that Ari held towards her in her heart.

It was like a knife biting into her skin.

“Worse of all, you gave Ariel the chance to take the credit for saving Noah. It was I who put my life on the line, and you let Ariel snatch it from me,” Ari laughed self-deprecatingly and continued, “Does Ariel’s fame come from her luck or charisma? Or does it come from the fact that you locked me in a trunk when I was just twelve years old!”

“I could have died inside that trunk, Mom…” Ari screamed in a wretched manner. “What am I to you? Do I look like a joke to you, Mom? Do you think that I have a heart of iron? That no matter how you pinch and bend me, I will not get hurt, but I do! It hurts me! What you have done to me has left scars all over my body.”

She curled her lips and sneered, “Sometimes I even wonder whether I was born by you.”

Her words seemed to have stimulated Mrs Harlow, as she stood from the couch and pointed at Ari. She screeched, “You have gone too far, Ari. I have done those things for you because you are sick——”

“Am I?” Ari blinked her eyes and raised her head to stare at Mrs. Harlow. “If I am sick, do you not fear pushing me into a corner, Mom?”

“What are you—-”

“I have nothing,” Ari smiled brightly, there was a crazy look in her eyes as she stated, “I have nothing, mom. Do you know what people who have nothing, do? They die.”

She nodded at the shocked look on Mrs Harlow’s face and said with her eyes widening, “Yeah. If you push me too much, I am not scared to die, dear mother. But if I die… then just remember one thing….”

“I will not let your precious daughter off either. So don’t fuck with me any more than you have already done.”