Chapter 35: I Still Can Feel Betrayal
She had to sell her body to survive. Her new husband was gone, and she had lost her mind. And Arianna’s grandfather did that to her deliberately. Therefore, Arianna could somehow understand Travis Cooper’s current revenge, even though she could not forgive him.
As for her father, Arianna didn’t know if Travis was working for Transcendent Jewels at the time of his death, but he was so closely associated with the company now that her grandfather automatically put the blame on him.
Travis took advantage of the greedy nature of humans and was a master of deception. People always cheat on one another in every corner of the world. Some were lucky enough to dodge the misfortune, while others were prone to bad luck. Those who survived became strong, and those who could not be weak. In Arianna’s eyes, her father was the unlucky type, and her mother was one of the weak.
But Arianna knew her grandfather was a paranoid old man. He always twisted the truth to make him and his family look like the victims. And though Arianna did not agree with what he did, she loved him almost as much as she loved her nanny. He also adored her as well, making this quarrel even more difficult for both of them.
However, she could not imagine what he would say if he knew the full truth; if he knew she was forced to give up her body and soul to the enemy in order to protect him and his company; if he found out the company was not saved by his efforts, but rather her immoral agreement. His self-esteem would be damaged beyond repair, so she remained silent and had him misunderstand the situation.
The old man said with deep sorrow, “Arianna, I’ve lost a lot of hope in my life, but now, you’ve made me lose whatever I had left in me. I never asked you to be excellent or outstanding, and I’ve never pushed you to do anything you didn’t like. But I never thought you would betray us in such a way after all we have given you!”
“Why the hell are you with this man? Are you so scared to join me in poverty and start a new life? This man is trying to do that to us! You are well educated. You should know that it is gone forever once your dignity is lost. I’ve never been hurt so deeply by my own family before. I did not expect this from you. You were my dearest one and have always been my pride and joy from the moment you were born.”
“How could you do this to me, Arianna? I may not have many years left, but I’m still alive! I still can feel betrayal.”
Arianna’s heart was hammering. She thought about her grandfather’s perspectives on the situation, but she never considered this one. In his heart, he now saw her as an ignorant girl without loyalty who was willing to trade her family to continue living her carefree life.
Her tears finally spilled over her bottom eyelid. She tried to hug her grandfather, but he began backing away as soon as she approached him. She yelled, “Grandpa, it’s not like that at all. Listen to me. Please listen to me!”
She was desperate for her grandfather to understand that she was not a traitor. But at this moment, someone knocked on the door and said, “President Sanchez, the car has been waiting for a while now.”
His eyes were suddenly glowing. She knew that he had a project argument that day, and he devoted a lot of energy to the project. He even bet his entire net worth… If he won, the Sanchez Group might see its glory return, but if he lost, the business would likely collapse immediately.
He looked back at her impatiently and said, “What do you want to explain? Did you sell your body to that scum, not because of vanity and greed? Then for what? Because he is handsome? Because he treats you well? Or because you love him?” He smirked.
Arianna suddenly lost the courage to admit the facts. She was worried that the truth would crush his enthusiasm for work and would ruin his project argumentation. She was concerned for his dignity.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
She finally spoke, “I met him a long time ago, and I really liked being with him. I was never committed to him for other reasons. I only knew about his horrible ties to our family later, but I was so obsessed with him that I couldn’t leave him at the time. But I will leave him now, Grandpa. Really, I will. Please trust me!”
Franco Sanchez turned around and headed for the door. He seemed to be less angry than before, but he spat the word “Cheap” at her before leaving. This was the last word she heard him say to her before he became mentally ill.
Arianna wandered around the house like a walking corpse, waiting for her grandfather to return. Her tears gradually dried up, and her heart had cooled down. She felt lost. She felt like she wasn’t doing anything wrong for more than a year. In fact, she felt like she had made the correct decision. She began to question everything.
But her grandfather did not make it back. Instead, she found herself in a car on the way to the hospital. It turned out that during the project argumentation, he had a heart attack and collapsed on the spot.
If his confrontation with his granddaughter was a nightmare, then the meeting must have been even worse. Franco always took pride in his partners, but the argumentation was a disgrace and a scam. His partners turned on him and set him into a trap. He never saw it coming. He had been working so hard for months and saw great success, which was instantly destroyed.
The original Sanchez Group would have been able to withstand such a landslide, but now, a bit of wind could have easily destroyed the business.
The moment he figured out what was going on, Franco Sanchez collapsed with his empire.
In the following days, Arianna felt like she was in a nightmare from which she could never wake up again. There were shadows in front of her every day, murmuring spells and strangling her and her grandfather.