Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 482

Chapter 482: Tied in the past
The crackle of lightning echoed in the silence of the night, Mateo who had returned home ran his fingers through his locks to shake off the drops of water that were sticking to his hair.

“I think I need to take a warm bath,” he said to himself as he pushed the door of his apartment and stepped inside. However, as soon as he turned the lights on, he found his parents sitting on the couch in the middle of the living room.

Mateo flinched at the sight of his parents but then he curled his lips in a smile before teasing them, “What’s this? Are you two trying to scare me eh?”

As he spoke he shrugged off his jacket and threw it in the laundry basket while walking over to the pile of clean clothes from where he took out a clean towel which was placed on the armchair.

Mateo did not like hiring servants after the betrayal he had received from the maid who relayed the information of his lover to Penelope which led to the fatal accident where his lover lost her life.

Thus, most of the household tasks were now done by him.

“That woman —who was she?” Kaylyn, who had been waiting for an answer since the evening, did not engage herself with the joke. She raised her head and looked at Mateo who paused in his actions and even though he very gracefully pulled the towel off his head, Kaylyn could see a subtle stiffness in his actions.

“What woman?” Mateo said to his mother while trying to act as if he was not panicking on the inside.

“Mateo!” Kaylyn rose to her feet and walked over to her second son. She reached out her hands and clasped Mateo’s arms, she spoke desperately, “You need to tell us the truth, Matt. You cannot–not after we have seen her, lie to us. Just tell your dad and I who that woman was?”

Mateo looked at his mother who looked back at him anxiously.

“She is no one.”

“MATEO!” Theodore rose to his feet, his expression thunderous as he said to his second son, “You mean to say that a woman who looks so much like your mother and I just happens to exist and you are acquainted with her by mere coincidence?”

“How big of a fool do you take us as?”

“I do not take you as fools, dad. But does it change anything?” Mateo said to his father with a stiff voice. “Even if she is what you have already guessed, does it change the fact that you still have Penelope? Will you send her away if I were to bring her back? Do you think your precious daughter will accept Ariana? No she won’t! In fact she would do everything in her power to kill Ari!”

“And I don’t want that to happen!”

“Penny, won’t do such a thing—” Kaylyn began. Now that she knew that Penelope was not her daughter, she had no idea what to make of the situation in front of her.

However, she still believed that even if Penelope was not her blood, she had raised that girl, certainly she had grown up to be a little bit kind towards the world?

Mateo laughed out loud when he heard the words of his mother.

He said to her, “Why do you think she went after Ariana’s heart? Who do you think failed to break my lover’s car? Who do you think twisted the neck of Keon’s favourite canary? Who do you think ripped Emil’s flight tickets for the final formula race?”

With his gaze cold and mocking, Mateo looked at his mother and said to her in a cold voice, “This is why we didn’t tell you, mom. Because I knew that you would ask Ariana to accept, compromise and live with Penelope.”

“Because you still foolishly believe that the daughter you have raised is a kind hearted woman. She is not! I am telling you that she is not the kind of person you expect her to be,” Mateo breathed out before adding, “And even if she was –I would still refuse to let Ari share what belongs to her with anyone else. She has suffered a lot already and the last thing I want…is for her to make way for a fake.”

“Matt,” Kaylyn spoke in a pleading voice but Mateo shook his head.

He sternly said to his mother, “Mom, you cannot have the best of both worlds. And unless you cannot understand this, please leave Ariana alone.”

After he finished speaking, Mateo turned around on his feet and then headed upstairs leaving his bewildered, hurt and confused parents alone.

***

The next morning was one of the gloomiest ones that Ari had seen in the past few months. And as she sat on a chair Ariana found herself looking out of the window of the office of Doctor Stoll, who was sternly looking at her.

“Doctor Harlow, are you sure that you want to continue?” Doctor Stoll asked. Even though he knew Ari’s answer, he still confirmed it with her. “You looked really pale the last time we finished the session, I am afraid that you might collapse this time around.”

“I do.” Ari nodded as Doctor Stoll released a sigh when he heard the stubborn words of the woman. He rubbed his forehead with his slightly cold hand before saying, “Alright but if you feel uncomfortable,” he opened the drawer of his table and took out a squeezing ball.

He handed it to Ari before saying to her, “Squeeze this as hard as you can, I will stop the session alright?”

“Alright.” Ari gave Doctor Stoll a nod. The man smiled at her before holding up the hypnotizing ball in front of her eyes. He said to her, “Alright look at the ball, Doctor Harlow.”

“Keep looking at it until I say otherwise.”

Ari continued to look at the swinging crystal ball that went left and then right in front of her eyes. A wave of dizziness washed over her mind, as Ari found herself sleepy and tired.

Her eyelids became heavier and heavier.

And when she opened them again, she found herself tied on a chair.