Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 94

Lies, debt and threats
Ari picked up the trash bag and walked out of the café. Instead of going through the front door, she chose to go through the back, as she would rather not drop anything at the entrance of the café.

She hummed a soft song while walking through the back alley to the front, where the trash cans were placed.

On her way, she met with the shop owner of the shop next to their café.

“Oh, good afternoon, Ariana. Taking the trash out?”

Ari smiled, “I am, Mrs Elsher. Are you back from the trip to the south already? I thought you were going to come back next month.”

“I did,” replied the woman with a sigh. She rubbed her forehead and said, “How I wished that my employees were as capable as you. They have made a mess out of the shop when I was gone. I will see you in the evening, Ariana.”

“Sure, Mrs Elsher,” Ari waved at the woman with her free hand. She could see that Mrs Elsher was rushing to deal with the mess that her employees had made in the shop.

Ari continued with her work, she opened the lid of the trash can and was about to throw the trash in the trash can when a tall shadow loomed over her head.

A bit surprised, she turned to look at the person who had blocked the sunlight and the second Ari turned to look at the person, the lid of the trash can ended up falling back.

“Oh…” The man with a cruel face, and upper lip cut in half smiled at her. “It seems we scared you, Miss Ariana.”

‘Calm down, calm down… there is nothing that they can do to you. This is a busy street,’ Ari thought while trying to calm down her trembling limbs.

She gulped and questioned, “Wh…who are you?”

The man guffawed instead of answering the question. He turned to look at his underlings who laughed along with him, and Ari felt her heart go cold. There was only once when she was cornered this way, and she still remembered how that incident ended——

‘Don’t go there. You are no longer a child, ‘Ari said to herself. She clenched her fingers in a tight fist. She stated coldly, “I do not see anything funny about my question.”

Her words brought a sudden pause to the laughter of the three men. They looked at her while their leader curled his half-cut lip in an upward sneer.

“Indeed, there is nothing funny about your question, Miss Ariana,” the man conceded. “It’s your imprudent attitude.”

He then raised his hand and clenched it around Ariana’s jaw, causing the trash bag in her hand to drop to the ground. Her hands instinctively reached for the hand of the thug that was holding her cheeks between his thick fingers.

“Le… Let go of me,” Ari tried to shake off the hand that was hurting her as she winched in pain. The man was crushing her jaw with his grip.

“Haha, this is the right way to talk to us,” the man pushed her back, looking satisfied as he dropped his hand to the side.

Ari, who was pushed back, stumbled a few steps before straightening up. She wanted to glare at the man but held back as she could feel that these people standing in front of her were not joking around with her.

She eyed them warily before repeating her question, “I still don’t understand what I have done for you to look for me. I don’t believe we have run into one another before.”

“Ah forgive me. I am Fletcher,” said the leader of the thugs. “You can call me, Boss Fletcher or Mister Fletcher, whichever you prefer more.”

Ari did not prefer either, but she couldn’t say that. She said, “Mister Fletcher, why are you looking for me?”

Mister Fletcher smiled at her. He took out a piece of document from his breast pocket and handed it to Ari.

His actions left Ari confused, but as she opened the document that was folded into four parts, all her confusion vanished.

“This…”

“It’s the debt that your father owes us, Miss Ariana,” said Mister Fletcher with a shrug of her shoulders. “Ten million dollars cash and the interest rate, don’t forget that.”

Ari felt as if the mountains had crumbled and crashed on her shoulders. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She whispered in utter shock and disbelief, “No… How could…? This …how is this possible?” Ari hadn’t forgotten how she was almost crushed to death when she and Aaron repaid their father’s debt. However, back then the sum was five hundred thousand dollars.

It was still reachable with their efforts, but ten million? She wouldn’t get that much money even if she were to sell herself!

How could this happen!? She had asked Aaron to keep an eye on their father and even sternly told her parents that she would not be paying a single penny. So how did these people end up here!?

“Your father is an addicted gambler, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pile up a debt as big as this. Now, I hope you will repay the debt as soon as possible because then things will become messy for you,” Mister Fletcher said to Ari.

“B—But why me?” Ari quickly interrupted the man. “I am the youngest and I don’t earn much. They have the eldest daughter who is an actress and a son, why are you asking me to pay this debt?”

Mister Fletcher looked at her as if she were a fool. “That’s because your mother asked us to look for you. She said something about your divorce and alimony, so you better not try to run away, little miss or else…” he dragged his thumb across his neck and Ari felt chills climb down her spine.

Her mother…? But she told Mrs Harlow that she did not take even a penny from Noah! So why did she!?