Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 400

Chapter 400: Missing Clues
“Nicolai is not… Trying to upset you, Aaron,” Ari began with difficulty. This was why she wanted to wait until she had processed and gone through this conversation in her mind a few couples of times.

This sudden predicament had made her confused and uncomfortable for Ari felt that it was completely out of her control. She had not the slightest bit of idea what to say or where to begin.

More importantly, how would this conversation turn out—

It was imperfect and Ari was not comfortable doing anything less than perfect.

She clenched the thin blanket draped over her body with her fingers. Shutting her eyes close, she said to him, “It’s just that Ariel was the one who kidnapped me and drove me to Samuel’s mansion. He is just trying to keep me safe.”

“No!” Aaron jerked his head up with a look of disbelief. All the blood from his face slowly started to drain from his face. He looked rather distracted as Aaron shook his head.

“She couldn’t have …how could she-No she can’t…” he muttered before covering his face with his hands and pulling at his front bangs.

A mocking chuckle left his lips for a few seconds. “What am I even talking about? Of course, she did something like this —Ariel had never liked you.”

Aaron swayed and slumped on the plush chair next to her bed as the impact of what Ariel had done crashed into him. With his head in his hands, he sat with his legs wide apart and the heels of his eyes pressing against his eyes. An air of disappointment shrouded his body.

And just as Ari felt his disappointment slink right into her skin, piercing it and strapping against her heart — Aaron stood up on his feet and threw his arms around her neck, he hugged her. And he hugged her tight.

“I am sorry,” he said after a long pause, releasing a sharp exhale. “I —don’t know Ari…I don’t know what to say. Throughout my teen years, I tried my best to smoothen Ariel and your relationship, but it seemed like it was simply foolishness on my part.”

Ari’s heart swelled with warmth and so did her eyes as she raised her arms and hugged Aaron. At least one person had truly cared for her.

“It’s not your fault, Aaron. Ariel never truly liked me nor had she once considered me as her sister,” she said with a light shake of her head. “Her actions cannot be faulted and accounted for by you, Aaron. You did what you could.”

Aaron, however, didn’t believe it wasn’t his fault. He shook his head as he pulled away from Ari. He sat down on the chair and sighed agitated. “Maybe if I had tried to stop Mother a bit sooner — Ariel wouldn’t have turned into what she became today.”

“Her selfishness truly knows and had never known any bounds,” Ari patted him on the back of his hand. “It’s not you, Aaron. Treating her sister with respect, dignity, and love is not something that needs to be taught. She never listened because Ariel never wanted to change, Aaron.”

In fact, if Ariel had an ounce of humanity or regret in her bones, she wouldn’t have treated her how she had done. Mrs Harlow knew that she was not her daughter who explained her lack of care.

However, Ariel? It mustn’t have been long since Ariel found out that Ari was not her sister.

Before that, Ariel believed Ari was her sister and yet, Ariel had never shown her affection or care. If anything she had used the DNA report as a moral ground to justify her actions.

If Ariel had shown her kindness even once, Ari wouldn’t have given up on her without waiting for her sister to redeem herself. However, after suffering at the hands of Samuel, she knew that there was no redemption for a person like Ariel.

She was so proud and selfish that she would willingly sell her sister without curling her toes.

Was Ari supposed to still hope that Ariel would still turn around and become a better person?

Aaron didn’t refuse her, he closed his eyes once again and remarked in a tired, “No wonder, she and mother are missing from home.”

“They are missing?” Ari’s brows moved a fragment as she turned and questioned Aaron, “When did they disappear?”

“I have no idea,” Aaron shook his head with a wry smile on his face. “When I returned home, I only found Dad slumped on the floor. From the mess inside the house, it seems like Mom has been gone for a week or so.”

So, just around the day when she was rescued? Ari thought to herself. No wonder her mother didn’t come looking for her, she was too busy running and hiding her precious daughter lest Ari called the police.

And even if she didn’t—with Nicolai on their tails, it was a matter of time before they were caught.

She parted her lips beginning to say something, but the door of her ward opened and Ari frowned as she changed her words, “What are you doing here?” She asked.

** *** **

On the other side, at the Nelson Corporation.

Jeremy knocked on the door of Noah’s office, when he didn’t hear any response, he pushed open the door and peered inside. “Are you alive, dearest nephew? I hope I don’t have to call the ambulance or worse the funeral house.”

“Uncle…” Noah, who was slumped on his table, raised his head and looked at Jeremy who had walked inside his office. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving you?” Jeremy offered as he stepped closer and closer to Noah’s table. He picked up the empty bottles of liquor from the table’s surface and threw them in the trash can. “Your father is very upset with your lack of efficiency. He has been talking about suspending you for a while until you get your head back on your shoulders”.

He turned on the spot and walked over to the curtains which had been drawn close. Jeremy pulled them to one side, and as the sunlight flooded inside the office, Noah raised his arm and covered his eyes with a painful expression.

“Uncle…stop it…”