Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 578

Chapter 578: Three step closer to the vault
Trigger warning: The chapter has some sensitive content; please be careful while reading. Those who are sensitive to suicidal thoughts, skip these chapters. The author is pleading with you, my dear lovely reader.

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“You don’t want that, huh? Then you better tell me what the fuck happened. And I don’t want to hear the bullshit about slipping and skidding because you and I both know that it’s fucking nonsense.”

She went pale, like paler than the moon. He noticed how stiff she was as her breathing quickened and she said to him, “Do we really have to talk about this? Can’t we just talk about something else?”

“No, we are sure as hell not talking about anything else. You tell me how you would feel if I went missing in the middle of the night and you found me lost in a trance, like my soul has been snatched from me. Nicolai questioned. “So, you either give me the truth or get out.”

Ariana’s lips parted and she looked at him in shock. Of course, she was, because he had never talked to her in this tone. He had always acted like a little clown in front of her and that was fine. But with Kayden asking him if he was fine with Ariana hiding him like a little secret, Nicolai realised that no matter how much he said that he was fine, it was not.

“Nicolai,” she stepped closer and reached out to touch him but Nicolai didn’t let her soft call soften him.

He finally understood that Ariana was not his mother; a soft and careful approach wouldn’t work on her. If he wanted her to come out, then he needed to forcefully wrench her out of that place.

He heaved a breath before letting out a shuddering breath. “Get out.”

She tried to touch him again. “I am sorry… please…”

“Why do you have to keep apologising?” Nicolai snapped as he looked down at her. “Why is that your knee-jerk reaction? Why do you keep apologising? Isn’t it better to just tell the truth?”

Ariana flinched as her eyes slowly started to fill with guilt. “I think —I need to leave.”

“Fine, go ahead. That is the only thing that you can do anyway.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? I am trying to solve this—

“You are not solving anything,” Nicolai snapped harshly. “You are trying to hide everything from me, including me! Like you are ashamed to let me in your world.”

“You told me it was fine.”

“I did—but I told you that I am fine with being your dirty little secret but I never said that I was fine with you hiding everything from me as well. I am taking the blame for a fucking murder here, Ariana Ashford. A little honesty is what I deserve!”

“I—”

Nicolai raised his hand and ran it through his hair. He pointed to the door with his free hand and said, “I can’t do this—you might as well go.”

“You can’t leave me!” Her voice rose and her hands reached out to hold his. They were shaking and her eyes were filled with a sadness so intense that it called out to his heart, which was supposed to be ice cold, apparently. “Don’t leave me.”

“Then tell me what is wrong with you.”

Her eyes darkened but not in a good way as she dropped her hands on the sides; she clenched her fists again and her nails started to dig in the same position as they did earlier, causing the blood to ooze out.

“Stop hurting yourself!” He pulled her hand and stopped her from digging her nails into her skin. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You are acting as if you saw something—”

‘Her memories,’ Aiden told him while sitting behind his desk. ‘That’s the only thing I could get out of Dr. Stoll. It seems like she was manipulated into forgetting; as for why, I have no idea. I believe that the reaction of hers had to do with something that she remembered.’

He trailed off and realised how naive he was. He always thought that Ariana was fucking fine because she had always shown a strong persistence of bouncing back. But what about before that? What happens before that?

Nicolai turned on his feet and stormed out of the room before heading to the small studio that Ariana had created in his penthouse.

“Nicolai! No!”

He heard her ballistic shout behind him, but he didn’t give her the chance to stop him.

“Don’t, Nicolai! Don’t, please,” Ariana ran behind him as she shouted. Her tone was one that he had never heard before; it was full of panic and pleading. “Please don’t look at them—you promised that you wouldn’t.”

He turned around as he reached out to hold one end of the white sheet that was covering the canvas.

“Please..” she rushed to his side and tried to pull his hands away from the sheet. She begged and tried to twist his fingers off the fabric but before she could do it, Nicolai ripped it off in one go.

All the air whooshed out of his lungs when he saw the painting. The painting depicted the sheer depravity of a perverse man. One who had ruined many women but there was something that made Nicolai nauseated and disgusted.

Because it wasn’t a woman who was ruined by the man but a little girl.

Nicolai turned to look at Ariana, who had her head lowered in shame and guilt.

“Who—” he began but caught himself just in time before he started ripping all the sheets one by one. The more he ripped them off, the more he realised what kind of beautiful fantasy he was living in.

He was planning a dreamlike fairy tale future with this woman but—for her, this future never existed, because she didn’t have the fucking will to live!

From her paintings it was clear that the fucking freedom that he enjoyed was nothing but a dream for her. For her, freedom meant death.

A death that she was very eagerly waiting for.

**

Wooh, finally we are past this hurdle. Wipes sweat.