Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 408

Chapter 408: A Bitter Exchange
“You could have gone after anyone, Nico. But you just had to go after someone whom you shouldn’t have.”

This was the first thing that Zayden said to Nicolai after the two of them entered a small lounge.

While Nicolai headed to the plush couch where he slumped with a plop, arms thrown back on the backrest behind him and head thrown back — Zayden headed to the mini refrigerator from where he took out two cans of beer.

He threw one at Nicolai as he stood up straight and remarked in a teasing voice. “I thought you didn’t do anything complicated, Nico.”

“Shut up,” Nicolai snapped. He popped the can of beer and took a generous sip of the cool liquid, and as the cold liquid slowly trickled down his throat and turned warm, Nicolai felt a pang of annoyance.

Zayden was right. He didn’t do complicated things, he didn’t like complicated— in fact that word and he shouldn’t even appear in the same sentence.

And yet as he sat in the lounge room, Nicolai knew that his life ahead of him was anything but uncomplicated.

Now he had two options laid in front of him, first, he should get rid of the provocation. Technically, even though Ari was one of the finest—Nah, the finest woman he had met but so what?

Was she worth going against the Serpents?

Yeah, he picked that little when dear old Samuel told him his little backstory.

Only the Serpents wore stitched neon masks. While the Phantoms have never exactly hidden their identities, no one knew who were the driving forces behind the Serpents.

As per the rumours, the Serpents included those preppy rich boys who thought that they were something.

Nicolai had never cared for them, never given them any ounce of his attention. But with the Serpents being after Ari—it meant that if he still chose to go after her, it will be the start of a fucking war.

What was he? Romeo?

And the second option was to let go. If he stopped now, he would keep his family safe and the peace in their life as well as his own, intact. If he gave himself enough time, sooner or later, he would go back to his old way.

But —

Nicolai had never wanted to mark someone as his from the day he was born. However, this particular urge towards Ari was simply eating him alive.

So what would it be? A voice asked inside his head, and Nicolai rolled his eyes. Great, he was now hearing voices in his head as well.

His phone vibrated in his pockets and Nicolai pulled it out. With his finger skimming over the glass screen, he opened the message that was sent to him by an unknown number.

Three seconds —it took three whole seconds for the image in the message to load and in those three seconds, Nicolai felt his entire world turning upside down.

“That fucking!” Nicolai cursed as he hurled his phone right against the wall in front of him. There was a crack followed by the sound of something breaking —It was his insanity, he was going to go fucking insane and that woman would be the cause of his demise.

Why the fuck was —

“Nico,” Zayden called him from saw her behind him, but Nicolai was not listening. He was no longer in any condition to hear anything. Once again—he was going to lose what mattered to him, once again.

And funnily enough, he lost the same person twice.

*******

On the other side, Noah stepped inside the house, that belonged to his family. He was greeted by Jonathan, who smiled at him politely and took his coat.

“Would you like to have dinner now, Master Noah? Or should I have the kitchen prepare it for you later on?”

“It’s fine, Jon. I don’t have much appetite, just send some snacks for me to eat later on,” said Noah, feeling a bit tired.

“Alright, sir,” replied Jonathan.

Noah nodded, but before the butler could leave he asked, addressing the light in the study that belonged to his father, “Is father still awake?”

But before Jonathan could reply to his query, his mother, Mrs Harlow, stepped into the hall in a satin grey sleeping robe.

“He is waiting for you, Noah,” replied his mother as she walked over to where Noah was standing. She looked at her son who seemed more tired than usual and frowned, “What is going on with you, Noah? Don’t tell me that girl is giving you a hard time even now?”

Jonathan took his leave when he saw that Mrs Mia had arrived.

“Mom, I told you that it wasn’t Ari who was in the wrong. She is innocent,” Noah sighed. He had thought that his sister was stubborn, but now that he had spoken to his mother about the truth, he realized that the stubborn one was his mother.

Even now, she refused to believe that Ari was innocent.

Mrs Mia’s brows furrowed as she said in a sniffy voice, “Be that might be the case, there is no need for you to chase after her like this —you are a Nelson, son. An apology should be enough for her to accept you back.”

Noah shook his head as he walked past the hallways and reached the staircase, where he started climbing with his mother hot on his tail.

He heard her say, “Is she still getting chummy with that scalawag?”

“Mom,” Noah turned to look at his mother upon reaching the top of the stairs. “This has nothing to do with us anymore.”

“What do you mean, Noah?” His mother looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. “I mean fine if you would rather not remarry her, but at least tell her what is due to her as your ex-wife. She should at least wait until you are married before she can even think of dating anyone.”

“How will others address you if your ex-wife marries someone else? That too your rival and enemy.”

“Mom, no one gives a damn about this,” Noah spoke his mind as reached the front of the study. “Anyway,” he turned to look at his mother and stated, “It’s no longer the eighties.”