บท 3: Chapter 3

Are they planning on sending her into an endless life of suffering by marrying her off to a poor man?!

She felt devastated because she knew that if she ever let that happen, that would be the end of her dream.

No!

She wouldn't let them dictate how her whole life would be for her. She had to make a move and she had to make it fast.

First thing tomorrow morning, when everyone has left the house, leaving her with piles of work to do, she will escape. She would gather all the money she had and run away; she didn't care about the remaining course any longer; she had to save herself first.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Ariel clenched her fists beside her as she heard her stepsister's voice from the entrance of the living room.

She slowly opened the door, enough to let her eye see what was happening in the living room.

"Oh my goodness! Eva! Look, Jude, My baby is home!" Caroline dashed towards her daughter at the center of the living room, hugging her tightly and placing kisses all over her face.

"Hahaha, Mom, stop it, I'm no longer a child," Eva laughed softly, hugging her Mother back.

"Come here, Princess," Jude said as he walked with widened arms towards the mother-daughter duo with a large smile.

"Dad, I missed you so much," Eva ran into her father's arm, burying her face in his chest.

"We missed you too, Princess, come on, let's have dinner together," Jude led his wife and daughter back to the dining table.

"You two go ahead, I'll bring in my luggage from the car," Eva said in a gentle voice.

"No way! Where's that imbecile? Ariel!" Caroline called harshly.

Ariel sighed and moved away from the door; her time as an observer was over; it was time for her to become the center of attraction.

She quietly pushed the door open and walked in slow strides towards them.

"Oh mummy, she's still as slow as ever; look, it's starting to rain; I don't want my expensive bags damaged by the rain," Eva complained like a child to her mother.

"Move quickly! You silly child," Jude barked at Ariel.

Ariel felt her heart shatter; this was the first thing a father had said to his daughter since that day.

She caught a glimpse of Eva's sinister smile towards her as she was lovingly wrapped in the arms of her mother and father.

Ariel was used to that sight, it wasn't supposed to hurt anymore, but it still did. It hurt like hell watching someone who was supposed to be your protector and your only family give their affection to someone else while they treated you like trash.

Ariel stepped out of the house and walked straight to the bright pink car, it couldn't be missed. Pink has always been Eva's favorite color.

Ariel found it ironic, having a cute exterior with a demonic heart. Well, she guessed Eva was just demonic with just her, every other person thought her to be a cute soul.

There were lots of luggage in the trunk so she only took a few inside, planning to come and get the rest after she dropped them inside the house.

"You bitch!" Eva suddenly placed her leg in front of the approaching Ariel.

"Uhg!" Ariel unceremoniously fell face-first to the floor, the luggage rolling away from her hands and falling in the distance.

Ariel felt her visions blurring again. She had just come back that morning, but the beatings she'd received since she came back left her in more pain than the accident itself.

"Oh look now, look what you've done to my expensive bags, you moron!" Eva kicked Ariel's hips with the pointy side of her shoe.

"Argh! No, please, it hurts!" Ariel cried out.

"Shut up and go get my bags before I destroy that ugly face of yours with my heels," Eva threatened.

Ariel quickly struggled to stand up, wanting to get as far away from her step-sister.

"Stupid girl," Eva said as she saw Areil limping out of the door.

Ariel roughly wiped the tears off her face as she stood behind the pink car. She stared out of the compound, different thoughts running through her mind.

If she were to escape from home, then, where would she go, and who would accept a stranger into their home?

But she didn't care; she would find a good time to run away; being homeless was way better than her condition in that house, and it was a thousand times better than getting married off to a disfigured man.

Ariel bent over the trunk to get the remaining bags, but she suddenly felt a presence behind her, and before she could turn to see who it was, a hand swiftly moved over her head and placed a white handkerchief on her nose. And before she knew it, she lost consciousness and fell limp into her attacker's arms.

Inside the house, Eva watched silently through the window as Ariel got kidnapped by some unknown suited men, but she said nothing. She just kept smiling evilly as they put Ariel in an expensive-looking car and drove away with her.

"Eva, where's Ariel, she needs to clear out the plates," Caroline called from the dining.

"Oh, Mummy, I didn't do anything to her but look," Eva pointed at the bags that had fallen when she tripped Eva.

"What happened?" Catherine asked, going over to her daughter to hold her hands gently.

She was already thinking of horrible ways to punish Ariel when she saw her.

"Oh, Mummy, I was just trying to help her carry some of the bags, but she suddenly pushed me down and ran out of the house," Eva sniffed, tears streaming down her face as she hugged her mother's bosom.

Catherine's face turned angry; she felt so bitter about what she had just heard, "That stupid girl, she dares to hurt you and run away from the house?" She narrowed her eyes in anger as she gently patted her daughter's hair.

"My waist hurt, Mummy," Eva cried, rubbing her lower back.

"Oh my poor baby, come here, Mama will take care of you. Don't worry, she'll get what's waiting for her when hopelessly returns tomorrow," Catherine said, carefully leading Eva to sit on the couch.

***

"Yes, Ma'am, she's Hudson's daughter. She was right in front of their house when we took her," Ariel heard a man's voice speaking the moment she regained consciousness.

She didn't rush to open her eyes, wanting to listen in on her new environment before alerting them of her regained consciousness.

From the feeling beneath her, she knew she was lying on a bunk bed. Fear engulfed her as she thought of what they might have done to her while she was still unconscious.

"Hm, she doesn't look as classy as he claimed, but, she'll do," She heard an elderly woman's voice reply.

"Yes, Mrs. Nari moment. Just a little touch-up, and she'd be an angel," A younger woman's voice said beside Ariel's bed.

"Open your eyes, young lady, we have business to discuss," The elderly woman said in a stern voice.

Ariel's heart skipped a beat as she heard the words of the elderly woman.

So she's been playing herself all the while?

Ariel opened her eyes and was shocked to see a lady's face in front of hers, blocking the light above the ceiling. The strange lady kept staring unblinkingly into her Ariel's eyes, not saying a thing.

"Ahh!!" Ariel screamed and quickly scrambled up on the bed, shifting away from the strange lady.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, calm down," The lady moved back, raising her gloved hands beside her head, her lab coat riding above her knee as she raised her hands.

She looked like a doctor.

In Ariel's anxious attempt to flee, she felt a sensation in her arm and realized that she'd been brought to a hospital she looked down her arm to find a cannula fixed into her vein.

She quickly looked around; the room was white with blue curtains and drapes, a drip stand was beside her bed, and an elderly lady with bright grey hair was sitting at the far corner of the room in a wheelchair, her bright yellow suit complimenting her bright skin.

Six security men were standing around the corners of the room, pretending like they didn't even exist.

Ariel was beyond scared.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Ariel asked, her heart beating rapidly in fear.

Who could these people be? Why have they suddenly kidnapped her?

"Oh, where are my manners? Sorry about that, let's fix that," The lady replied.

She went over to the elderly woman and pushed her closer to Ariel's bed.

Ariel noticed that despite the aging, the old lady was still a beauty to behold, an aura of sophistication surrounding her as she neared Ariel's bed.

"This is my Grandma, Grandma Nari, and I'm Lin, the owner of this hospital," Lin said, pointing at Grandma Nari.

"What is your name?" Grandma Nari asked.

Ariel hesitated; this wasn't what she wanted at that moment. She needed an explanation as to why they'd kidnap her, or, better still, she wanted to leave; she wasn't interested in whatever they had to say.

"I asked a question, young lady. What is your name?" Grandma Nari asked again, her eyes narrowing at Ariel's weak figure.

"Ariel," Ariel replied, sighing.

"Ariel Hudson," Grandma Nari completed, slowly shaking her head.

Ariel's eyes widened. How did she know her father's name? Suddenly, it dawned on her that she'd just been kidnapped by one of her father's enemies.

How unlucky was she? She even had to pay for her useless father's sins too.

"You're going to do me a favor, Ariel," Grandma Nari said.

"I'll do no such thing! If Mr. Hudson owes you a favor, then I suggest you score it out with him. I'm never putting myself up for that evil man," Ariel said angrily.

She knew it was a risk to challenge her captors, but she couldn't just accept the fact that they wanted her to atone for her father's sins, and they looked so classy like all those higher-up billionaires in the country.

What did that old fool get himself into now?

"Dear, show her this," Grandma Nari raised her hand behind her, giving her phone to Lin.

"Yes, Grandma," Lin took it and walked around the wheelchair.

Ariel watched the screen as Lin slid through two slides of pictures, each was a picture of a house.

The first one was a picture of their current house, and the second one was a picture of her mother's white cottage. Even though both houses belonged to her mother, the white cottage was more precious to her. It was where she had spent most of her time as a child with her mother. It was the same cottage they were heading to when the unfortunate event happened.

But she didn't understand why they were showing her pictures of these buildings, what was their point?

"Uh, what does this mean?" Ariel asked cautiously.

She was scared, but she tried her best to look and sound confident.

"Your father owes us a lot of money, and when it's time to pay, he obviously doesn't have the money," Grandma Nari said seriously, stretching her hand out to Lin and Lin put her phone back into her hand.

Ariel's eyes widened in shock. Her idiot of a father owed such powerful people and he had the mind to still live lavishly with that witch of a wife.

"What does this have to do with me? Or the houses?" Ariel asked, squeezing the ear of the hospital pillow in anger.

"Everything, dear Ariel..." Grandma Nari replied with a little nod.

"You see, I know these houses originally belonged to your deceased mother, and I know about your unfavorable living conditions," Grandma Nari tapped her thigh slowly.

Ariel was too shocked to speak, but what did she expect? Rich people were dangerous, they'd find out everything about you in a matter of seconds if they wanted to.

"Now, your father has offered us those houses as collateral, and, my husband has happily accepted. Now these buildings belong to us; my husband was just looking for new sites to build a new orphanage and a hotel. Looking at those pictures, their locations are not bad at all," Grandma Nari said in a quiet but certain tone.

"No!" Ariel suddenly brought her legs down from the bed, placing her free hand on the bed beside her to support her weak body.

"Of course, child...no. I'm a woman, too, that's why I understand how you must feel learning that your father had given away your memories and assets just to pay off his dubious debts, and I know she willed these houses to you," Grandma Nari motioned for Lin to push her forward, closer to Ariel.

"You want to keep your mother's house?" Grandma Nari asked, placing her hands on Ariel's thigh.

"Yes," Ariel replied without hesitation.

This time, she was ready to do whatever it took to make sure those evil couples didn't get what they wanted. She will get those houses back by all means.

Had he lost it? Selling her mother's property?

She was sure it was that crazy Catherine's idea.

"Good, that's the spirit," Grandma Nari waved one guard over and he instantly walked over with a file.

"What's your condition, Mrs. Nari?" Ariel asked.

Grandma Nari shared a meaningful look with Lin before looking up at Ariel's face and saying, "Marry my Grandson."