Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 579

Chapter 579: Sneaky activities at night
All the anger gushed out of his body, leaving behind only one terrifying feeling. One that he loathed so much that he once swore that he would never feel it again.

Fear. Fucking damn it.

These paintings were not just paintings; they were signs.

“What is the meaning of this, Ariana?” Nicolai wheeled around and questioned Ariana. His voice was filled with something that even he didn’t recognise. “Stop looking at the fucking floor and look at me! What is the meaning of this?”

She raised her head and looked at him finally but the way she looked at him made his heart ache in ways he could not explain.

“Why?” Nicolai asked again; his voice was low but it still echoed in the deadly silence. “What are you doing by creating these paintings? What do they mean? What’s with this fucked-up desperation?

“It’s not desperation,” she told him.

“Your deepest, darkest desire?” Nicolai questioned. His voice was so hollow that he didn’t even recognise it himself.

She didn’t reply or maybe she could not reply.

“Fuck, Ariana. Why?”

“Because I have always been a mess,” she finally snapped and spoke in a low, deadly voice. “I don’t know how to live with these bitter feelings and memories. I knew that something was wrong with me; I knew that I was disgusting and disastrous and would only ruin those who got closer to me. I knew all of that, which is why I didn’t want to get together with you. So why did you have to fuck up my life; maybe I could have learnt how to live with this self-loathing that I always get when I am not with you. But you look at me like I am beautiful, like maybe I am worth something and it does something to me. You should be away from me, because only then can you live your life. So why don’t you hate me?”

“I am not worthy of you.”

“Who said that?” Nicolai pulled her close and hugged her tight. “Who the fuck said that? There is nothing wrong with you, princess, and I can never think about hating you.”

A whimper escaped from her lips and she hugged him so tight that Nicolai found it difficult to breathe. Her fingers dug into his skin and it hurt, not because her nails were almost piercing his skin; he had faced pain worse than this but because he knew that she was hurting more than that.

The desperation of having even a single good thing. He had felt it once too and knew how bad it hurt.

“Princess, are you okay?”

“J–Just hold onto me, please.” Her voice sounded choked up. “Just a bit longer; it feels fine as long as you are with me.”

And he did just as she asked; he hugged her close.

It seemed like Ariana ran way deeper within him than he thought, and as she pleaded with him to stay with her, he was sure that he was willing to drown if it meant becoming the only anchor that she had in her life.

As long as she was willing to stay alive, as long as she stayed with him—breathing and warm—he would be anything that she wanted.

Penelope stepped out of her room in the middle of the night; her body was covered with a thin black jacket and a cap with a mask. She didn’t light the lights as she knew where she was going and walked to the room that belonged to Ariana.

As she reached her hand to the doorknob, she looked behind her, making sure that there was no one behind her. Only then did she turn her head to the front and start struggling with the doorknob.

“That fucking bitch!” Penelope snapped as she slammed her foot on the door.

She knew that Ariana was not inside her bedroom.

And where would she be if she wasn’t in her room?

But soon she calmed down because Penelope knew that this wouldn’t last long; now that she was engaged to Nicolai and was destined to marry him, she wouldn’t let another woman snatch the man whom she desired away.

With a snort, she turned around and headed out of the house. And instead of using the private elevator, she used the stairs to sneak out of the building.

She had planned an outing with her friends as she wanted to show off her current status as Nicolai de Luca’s fiancée. A few days ago, these people had laughed at her for the rumours about her being the fake daughter of the Ashford family that were running amok.

Now that she had somewhat regained her old status and position, she would love to see what these plastic sisters of hers would say to her.

While humming a song, she reached the bar where she had arranged for the little meetup to be held. However, just as she was about to enter the bar, someone caught her from behind; with a thick handkerchief placed against her mouth, the man pulled Penelope into the dark alley next to the bar.

“Mm-hmm! Mhmm!” Penelope kicked her heels and tried to struggle hard as she used her entire body to push away the man who was dragging her away.

“Shut up, you bitch,” the man cursed at her as he gave her one powerful lurch and pulled her into the car that was parked in the alley.

“You got her?” The hoodlum sitting in the car seat asked while peering down at Penelope, who was a bit more docile now that the drug was in her system.

“Got her, for sure,” the man who kidnapped Penelope snorted and said to his partner, “A fighter, that’s what we got this time around. Even though I used double the amount of drugs that we usually use, this woman packed a punch.”

“They all do,” remarked the other man while gunning the engine as it roared to life. “Don’t worry; once we are through with her, it will be all over.”