Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 63

Who made you cry?
The note was for the hate messages sent on discord and Instagram. Not for the commenters, hehehe I am sorry it came out like that.

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“You know what I usually order, Mister De Luca. Am I on your hit list or something of the sort,” Ari questioned and then pointed out, “And what do you mean by ‘Pallas’ who here is Pallas?”

“You are one of my debtors, and I am your creditor, gotta keep my tabs on you. What will happen if you run away?” Nicolai remarked with mock horror, and Ari rolled her eyes.

She cast him a disdainful gaze and retorted, “Two meals? What a big, fat, loss, it might be for you, Mister De Luca?”

“What do you know? It’s not only about meals,” Nicolai pulled the plastic chair and sat down on it. His giant physique made the chair look minuscule, Ari was certain that any decent human adult could sit on that chair without any discomfort. But for someone like Nicolai, it was simply uncharacteristically miniature.

He leaned his arm on the back of the chair and stated, “It is about reputation. If someone finds out that you escaped from my grasp while you still owe me, my reputation will take a blow.”

Ari rolled her eyes. She did not quibble with him anymore, instead, she questioned, “Alright, I get it. But what did you mean by Pallas? You haven’t answered me about that yet.”

His lips curled in an unhinged grin. “Ah that, it’s actually your new nickname. Pallas. You know, derived from the Pallas cat. I once had a Pallas cat, a vicious little thing, that took a swipe at the smallest offence. Because you managed to survive while being surrounded by those bloodthirsty creatures that are the Nelson family. Isn’t it perfect, for someone like you?”

Ari was momentarily paralyzed. She was about to sit down on her chair but paused when she heard his answer, her neatly stashed thoughts topped over like a block tower falling. She even forgot about her divorce as she was that speechless.

Was he serious? Looking at his grin, Ari knew that he was, in fact, rather serious.

She almost cursed out loud, but that didn’t happen because she was not the one to lose control.

When Nicolai saw her standing an inch above the chair, he reached down and pulled her down. Her bottom hit the plastic of the chair and Ari snapped out of her thoughts. She attempted to pull her hand from his warm and stronger one, but he did not let go of her wrist, instead, he brushed the pad of his thumb onto her skin, as if he was trying to burn his touch into her bones.

His grin turned sickly sinister, it only notched up the creepy murder factor up a notch. A single strand fell over his red eye as he questioned, “Do you like it? Your new nickname? Bet it will cut off all the bad memories of your past? You do like it? Tell me…tell me, tell me. Tell, tell, tell!”

“Stop doing that,” Ari winced as she pulled her hand away from him with a frown. “You are so annoying. Why do you do that?”

“I hate when people ignore me, I crave attention as much as I crave oxygen,” he appeared genuinely hurt. “By the way, I am also super generous, I forgave you for all the rude antics you performed towards my majestic self.”

“You need to get your ego checked. You sound like an attention-seeking brat.”

“I prefer it being called having commitment issues,” Nicolai flashed her a grin. He pointed to himself and then stated, “I am perfectly fine. Never even got flu.”

“Are you sure? Your head seems a bit inflated.”

“There is something else that’s inflated, wanna check?”

Ari wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose, but she couldn’t because if she did that then it meant admitting that he was getting to her. And the worst part of this entire situation? Ari did not think that Nicolai even realized that he was doing something annoying. It was just him being him.

“I will like it if you stop making such remarks in my presence, they make me uncomfortable, Nicolai.”

“F*ck. I love the way my name rolls off your tongue, that posh little accent gives it quite a twist. It’s like a Queen is reprimanding me for walking on her expensive carpet. Kind of hot, I tell you,” the gleam flashed in his eyes, the very same one that he had when he pushed her against the wall and cornered her.

The very same one that Ari couldn’t erase from her head.

Those gleaming red were now brimming with something sharp. Whether it was amusement, curiosity, or sheer bloodlust—— Ari had no idea because she knew that it was impossible to see through Nicolai.

Even a squirrel on crackpot along with a dash of weed would be saner than this man.

“I wonder if you sound like this when you are in …more freaky situations?”

Ari straightened up in her chair as she shot a glare at the man. She wanted to say that she was married, and he was acting crazily stupid, but then the man snatched her wrist from the table.

“What are you doing?” She questioned, sounding alarmed and confused.

Nicolai raised the bandage that he had torn while she was not paying attention. “Cleaning your wounds,” he answered as he pulled out a cotton ball and then wiped her scratches with it. Ari hissed and he muttered a curse.

“Sorry. I did not think that it would sting, it doesn’t to me,” Nicolai offered in a much gentler tone, causing Ari’s eyes to widen a little. He could even use such a tone?

“Done,” he let go of her hand as he strapped the bandages on her scratches and then screwed the lid of the cleaning alcohol back on. “Now, back to the question I wanted to ask.”

Ari thought that he was going to act like a rogue again, but instead, she heard him ask, “Why were you crying in the middle of the street? Who made you cry?”