Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 512

Chapter 512: Putting her in her place.
“Nico!” Penelope’s eyes lit up. She was looking at her saviour; she rushed to where Nicolai was standing and said to him, “Nico, they are trying to marry me off to a man.”

She spoke as if they were lovers, and Nicolai would rush forward to save her at all costs. Indeed, Penelope believed that Nicolai would help her; in her eyes, even if the man had refused her again and again, he must like her in some way or another.

Compared to Ariana, she was better in many ways. Even if she was not the biological daughter of the Ashford family, she was raised by them.

She had the elegance and the wisdom of a socialite; certainly Nicolai would choose her over that woman. One whose reputation was in the slumps compared to her reputation, Ariana, was nothing but a slut.

“Are they?” Nicolai raised a brow with a baffling expression.

Seeing him react like such, Penelope’s eyes brightened as she thought that he was taking interest in what was happening to her. She nodded and said to Nicolai, “They are trying to marry me off to a man I do not love. They are doing it because now they know that I am not their daughter, all I asked was peace but they are not even willing to give it to me.”

Her eyes turned red as she spoke in a sobbing tone, “I cannot believe that my family, whom I have treated as one, would treat me in such a way.”

Kaylyn couldn’t help but state in an annoyed voice, “What in the world do you think you are saying? I have been more than patient to tell you that it is not like this. I found a man who likes and respects you. Not many men would accept you as you have a weak heart, Penny.”

“But I don’t like him!” Penelope turned and looked at her mother in agitation. “I like Nicolai!”

As she finished speaking, her cheeks flushed red and she turned to look at Nicolai, who arched his brow.

“Nico,” she said to him. “I really, really like you. I have liked you since I was twelve; please, please–please… help me.”

“How do you want me to help you?” Nicolai asked as he crossed his arms in front of him.

“By marrying me, of course,” Penny was more than happy that Nicolai was willing to listen to her. She smiled at him and said to him, “I will be good to you, Nico.”

Nicolai smiled at her and she smiled back.

“No,” Nicolai shook his head as he leaned against the wall of the room. “I have no interest in marrying you. In fact, I would marry a street rat if given a choice between you and him.”

Penelope’s smile faltered as she looked at the man in front of her, she blinked her eyes in disbelief. “What? Why?”

“You know why,” Nicolai stood up straight and glared at the woman. “You fucking know why!”

“No. I don’t,” feeling as she had been slapped on the face, Penelope looked at Nicolai as if he had slapped her on the face.

She was trembling with anger as she clenched her fists on her sides.

“I really don’t understand, all I did was to tell you how I felt. Why did you have to lead me on? Why did you treat me like this?” Penny sobbed silently as she lowered her head, her anger rose and fell and before she knew it, it turned into an inferno.

She raised her head and glared at Nicolai before saying to him, “Did you reject me for a woman who is nothing but a whore—”

SLAP!

Penelope didn’t even get to finish her words as Nicolai raised his hand and slapped her. Even Mateo took a violent step toward her but stopped when he saw that Penelope had been taken care of.

“Call her that again, and I will bury you right into this very ground for your family to see.” Nicolai raised his hand and pointed a finger in warning at Penelope. “I have been taking enough shit from you all these years because of your family, but you are adamant as hell to cross my bottom line.”

“But if you say one thing against her, I will not even take your family into consideration!”

Kaylyn frowned when she heard Nicolai’s words; she wanted to help Penelope up, but when she thought about how Penelope had called her daughter whore… Her attitude couldn’t help but cool down.

Even Theodore didn’t say anything. The circumstances might have led them here, but Ariana was his daughter, and as her father, he could not hear someone discredit her reputation like this.

He perfunctorily said to Nicolai, “Do not use your hands to speak, Nicolai. Be a bit more polite as you are in our house.”

“I don’t use my hands to talk under normal circumstances, Mister Ashford,” replied Nicolai. “I only do it in special circumstances. Like when someone really, really needs it.” He glared at Penelope before stating, “Especially if that person ruins someone’s reputation for no reason.”

Penelope stiffened.

This was half due to her nervousness and half due to the fact that he slapped her for a woman whom he only got to know for a few months when she had been with him for years.

Her eyes glistened with tears as she looked at Nicolai and said to him, “Why did you slap me? The only fault that I had was to love you and respect you. Why did you slap me for no reason?”

She then turned to look at her family and cried, “Can you not see this? He is slapping me, and you all are just watching this happen like a spectator?”

Ariana, who was reading a book in her room, frowned when she heard Penelope’s voice. She knew that her parents were talking to Penelope about her marriage. But how did the situation turn into slapping her?