Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 445

Chapter 445: Lessons in the memories (2)
Trigger warning: Sensitive content ahead.

‘Good,’ Mrs Harlow nodded, looking satisfied with Ari’s obedience.

She turned on her feet and led Ari to the basement which was faintly lit. The more they walked downstairs, the more Ari felt a sense of foreboding rise in her heart. A part of her wanted to turn around and run away, but she feared evoking the wrath of her mother.

What if she beat her up again? Or trapped her in water water-filled barrel? She didn’t want it. The feeling of suffocation scared Ari and getting kicked was not a pleasant feeling either.

‘Master Roman! It’s so good to see you, are you quite sure that you do not wish to stay in the living room?’ Ari heard her mother say. She walked down the stairs and felt her heart shudder as terror gripped it.

In the middle of the basement stood a man. From his clothes, he looked like he was a rich man — because Ari had only seen such clothes in shops where she couldn’t even step inside.

However, that was not what scared her. It was the mask on his face. It was completely black with a red neon skull stitched on it, which glowed eerily under the dim lightning.

‘There is no need, I am only here to…’ the man broke off as he saw Ari standing behind her mother’s back. ‘Ah my little darling, you are here?’

And without introducing himself, the man walked over to where twelve-year-old Ari stood. He reached out and hugged her tight in his arms and Ari felt his nose skimming the length of her neck through the mask.

Sniffing her.

‘Who—let go of me,’ Ari started to struggle. Though she was young, her teacher had already started teaching her good and bad touch.

Her teacher taught her that if anyone’s touches made her uncomfortable she needed to voice her concerns and tell her parents.

Ari turned to look at her mother with hope that she would drag this man away but when she turned her head to the left, she saw Mrs Harlow standing there quietly. She could see a strange man hugging her, and yet, she didn’t move.

Why? Why won’t she help her? Ari felt heavy despair fill her heart as she started pushing the man from her and when he didn’t budge he was like a mountain wall… She bit him on the shoulder as hard as she could.

‘Ariana!’ Mrs Harlow who had been quite suddenly turned agitated as she rushed towards and slapped her on the face. ‘What did I tell you?’ With a wild look on her face she snarled at Ariana, ‘I told you that he is a very important person, and you need to be polite with him. What are you doing? How dare you bite him, apologize right now or else I will lock you in here for the night. And no bulb!’

Ari looked at her mother in shock. She stepped away and said, ‘He is making me uncomfortable. Why should I apologize? He is a bad man— he touched me.’

‘Ariana!’

‘It’s alright,’ just as Ari closed her eyes and flinched in fear, the man raised his hand and stopped her mother. ‘She is just confused as she doesn’t understand who I am to her.’

To her? Ari raised her head and looked at the man confused while he merely smiled at her through his mask.

His eyes were cold as he stepped close and picked up in his arms. His touch was like a bunch of cold snakes slithering on her skin causing Ari’s eyes to be filled with terror. She had been picked in the air by many uncles and aunts before but no one made her disgusted as this man did.

‘I am Master Roman,’ ignoring the shoves and pushes, the man brought her to the small chair where he helped her sit down. He, too, sat down on the old dusty couch. ‘And I am the man who owns you.’

‘I am not a doll,’ Ari retorted, feeling more and more uncomfortable. She turned to her mother and said, ‘I want to leave, let me go.’

However, her mother pretended not to have heard that.

‘You can leave once we are thorough with this lesson.’ He turned to her mother who picked up a willow-like stick. ‘Hands in the air, right in front of you,’ he commanded and when Ari did not follow —

SMACK!

‘Ahhh!’ Ari screamed in agony as she clutched her legs. The pain that shot through her entire body was enough to make her vision go blurry as black spots started to pop in front of her eyes.

‘Now … I will repeat, hands in the air,’ the same commanding voice echoed in her head and Ari raised her head to glare at the man viciously.

She had done nothing wrong —she didn’t even know this man, so why did her mother and him expect her to listen to him?

‘It seems like the lesson didn’t go deep,’ Master Roman tutted he turned to look at Mrs Harlow who smacked her again and this time at the back of her hands that were holding her legs.

‘AHHHH!’ Ari snatched her hands up from her legs, they were burning and stinging as she looked at her mother with a tearful gaze. ‘Why!? Why are you doing this to me? I have never done anything to anyone.’

Mrs Harlow, however, showed no sympathy. She coldly looked at her and ordered, ‘Just listen to what you are told, do you think you have the right to question anyone here?’

As if to emphasize her point, she raised her whip to hit Ari again but was stopped, ‘Not her face —no. Hit her somewhere else.’

‘Yes, Master Roman.’ Her mother obliged before hitting her in the arms.

And this continued until Ari was holding her hands in front of her. As resentful as she felt she had no choice but to comply because she was helpless. She couldn’t run —she couldn’t escape…she was trapped.

‘At least now we are through with one lesson,’ Master Roman said to her as if he were pleased to see her sitting there and acting like a puppet. ‘Now let’s begin with the second. My darling, from now on, I will expect you to work hard on becoming an Elegant and refined woman. After all, one day, you will be standing beside me. I cannot imagine the humiliation if you were to become a disrespectful woman like others.’