Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 583

Chapter 583: Slow Poison (2)
“Who am I to tell you what to do with your life?” Danny chuckled as he stroked her hand. “As long as you are happy, that’s the only thing that matters. And I only said those things because I thought you needed someone to boost your confidence. I never said them to make you feel like you were letting me down.”

“Then you—I mean—”

“I don’t feel betrayed or put down if that’s what you think I am feeling at the moment. I am your best friend, not your guardian angel; you don’t need to live your life worrying about whether or not I approve of your decisions,” stated Danny as he scooted over to her side and hugged her. “Did you think I was a letdown when I came out to you?”

“Of course not.” Ariana shook her head. “You are my best friend.”

“That’s right, we are like best friends till the end of this eternity because we are definitely turning into ghosts and sharing tea once we die,” Danny chortled. “Anyway, what I mean is that I am not judging you but I am severely judging that man for getting engaged to another woman.”

“It’s fake.”

“Don’t care. All I know is that you are the only one who needs to be engaged to him no matter what kind of scenario it is.”

Ariana felt her throat swell up and her eyes sting as she lowered her head. She said to Danny, “Thanks… did I tell you how lucky I am to have you?”

Danny smiled up at her. “So, how did you two get together? Who was the one who chased first?”

**

“Mom, are you really not going to help me with the shopping?”

When Ariana arrived at the penthouse, she heard Penelope questioning Kaylyn, who was sipping and reading a magazine. Despite the fact that her adopted daughter’s engagement was getting close, Kaylyn didn’t seem too bothered by the fact.

“You decided everything on your own,” said Kaylyn calmly. “You can also decide about your dresses and shoes that you want to buy, Penelope.”

She raised her head and looked at Penelope, who seemed mutinous by her response and added swiftly, “You heard your father, didn’t you? One of the warehouses of our textile business was burnt down by the Serpents. I don’t know whether you heard it or you are pretending to not hear it but we do not have the energy to deal with your engagement.”

Penelope’s expression changed when she heard Kaylyn’s words. She had indeed heard about the accident but she pretended as if everything was fine, as she did not wish to be blamed.

“A warehouse was burnt down?” Ariana walked over and questioned her mother. Her heart was thudding in her chest when she thought about how problematic the situation might turn when she gets engaged to Nicolai for real.

Should she truly just elope with him as he asked her to?

Before Kaylyn could say anything, Penelope raised her head and glared at Ariana. “You don’t need to pretend to be so kind!” Then, without letting Ariana say anything, she turned on her feet and walked away.

Kaylyn sighed and shook her head. These days the more she looked at Penelope, the more disappointed she became. Though she knew that Penelope had her own thoughts and was worried about her position, she and her husband had never thought about sending her away.

As long as she behaved, they would have helped her find a decent family and get married. However, Penelope had set her gaze too high and the decent families became nothing but trash in her eyes, which Kaylyn thought was too much.

Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if she had spoiled Penelope too much.

“Mrs Ashford?” Ariana turned to look at Kaylyn, whose eyes softened when she heard Ariana call her.

“It’s nothing. The Serpents have always been a tad bit cocky. Kaylyn patted the place next to her and Ariana sat down. “They have been asking your father to open up the channel of the Big Birdie ocean, but your father has never agreed. Because of this they are not happy with your father—and now that the matter of Phantoms and the Ashfords getting together has spread through the city, they are naturally making a little noise but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“But you said—”

“I only said that because your father asked me to keep a distance from this matter. We cannot make a big spectacle of this engagement; your brothers and, as well as you, have your own jobs. While Penelope does not understand the severity of the danger, we do.”

Penelope had never worked a single day in her life and had lived a life of comfort without any worries. How could she understand what kind of danger she had put her family into?

Kaylyn and Theodore could only use the distancing tactics for the time being. Of course Inez promised that they would be willing to help their family but being cautious never hurt anyone.

Ariana understood what Kaylyn was trying to say; though the damages that their family suffered were not severe, they still chose to stay clear of the engagement.

She heard Kaylyn sigh, “I just hope this engagement gets over soon. After that, your father plans on sending Penelope abroad until the marriage is scheduled.”

She wondered if Penelope would go crazy when she realised that the engagement was going to push her away from the Ashford family?

Ariana was indeed correct; Penelope was indeed going crazy. She wanted to get engaged to Nicolai with all kinds of big hoo-ha. But her family had other ideas, which didn’t seem to align with her own.

And to make things worse, her left hand was getting more and more stiff. She could not understand what was going on; did she sleep on the wrong side of the bed?

Last night when Roman let her go after feeding her a small pill, Penelope was indeed worried but after waiting for three hours, nothing happened, which made her relax as she thought that there was nothing wrong with the pill and Roman only used it to scare her off.

In fact, she felt quite proud later on as she thought that Roman only scared her and didn’t harm her because she was still useful to him and even disdained him for using such cheap tactics.

However, if she had looked at her left shoulder, she would have noticed a faint redness and swelling that was spreading through the entire arm slowly.