(Not) The Billionaire’s Replacement Bride

Ariana then laughed. Not a happy laugh, but a hysterical one. In the end, the trust she had placed in Gerald was once again tarnished. Because the fact was, he didn’t believe her at all.

It was clear that it wasn’t Amber who would reveal the contents of Ariana and Karenina’s conversation in her room yesterday. Ariana could be sure that Gerald must have hidden a listening device in his room. And that was why Gerald changed drastically afterward. Because he clearly heard what Ariana, Amber, and Karenina talked about that day.

So the sweet demeanor he had shown before and all his promises were just empty words. None of it came from his genuine remorse. It wasn’t because he wanted to redeem his mistakes. Instead, it was all manipulation based on what he had heard. And Ariana didn’t like that fact. She felt like she was being played.

Ariana looked at Axel; the boy seemed completely unfazed by his breakfast. She gently stroked Axel’s head, making him look up. “Let’s change your clothes, okay? Mommy will take you to school now.” Axel glanced at his father for a moment, but Ariana spoke again. “Papa has something to do with ‘Mommy Karen.’ So Axel, let’s go with Mommy alone.” She said. Axel just nodded and obeyed as Ariana led him inside the house.

Ariana guided Axel to his room, ignoring the stares from the people at the dining table. She didn’t even care when she heard footsteps behind her. Whether it was Gerald or someone else, Ariana didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to bother turning her head.

Axel led Ariana to his room, a place Ariana actually didn’t know. A woman whom Ariana recognized as Axel’s babysitter looked quite surprised when she saw Ariana walking with Axel. “I will give Axel a bath,” she said to the woman. The woman nodded nervously.

But just before Ariana could take Axel to the bathroom, a hand grabbed her wrist quite firmly.

“We need to talk,” Gerald growled. Ariana just glanced at him briefly before brushing off his hand.

“What else is there to talk about?” Ariana replied flatly. Although deep down in her mind, she was screaming at him very loudly. She felt her ears ringing because of it.

“Take care of Axel. Get him ready for school. My wife and I need to talk,” Gerald told Axel’s babysitter. Then, without many words, he grabbed Ariana’s hand and led her towards the stairs. Ariana knew where they were going. Not wanting to endanger herself by struggling and ending up falling down the stairs like in a drama scene, Ariana finally complied and followed Gerald.

He slightly pushed Ariana’s hand to enter the room before entering himself and locking the two of them inside. Ariana didn’t say much; she chose to sit on the bed, looking wary. Both her hands were folded in front of her chest. She was tired of arguing with him. She knew, in the end, if she didn’t win the argument, she would be plunged into another game played by him.

Gerald paced back and forth in the room, occasionally running his hand through his hair. He looked at Ariana, who refused to meet his gaze. The girl in front of him chose to ignore him completely.

“I’m sorry,” Gerald finally said in a soft tone after the silence he created lasted long enough. Ariana raised an eyebrow and looked at Gerald with a still expression. “For what?”

“For everything,” he replied with frustration in his voice. Gerald approached and chose to crouch in front of Ariana. Ariana still turned her face away. “I know I was wrong. What I did was truly wrong. I admit that I placed a recording device in your room. And I apologize for it.”

Ariana shrugged. “No need to apologize. Why would you apologize? A man like Gerald Aarzu Zeroun has plenty of money and appears very powerful. So whatever he wants to do, it doesn’t matter to him. Even if it violates other people’s privacy,” Ariana sarcastically remarked with her flat tone, making Gerald squirm with every word she uttered.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Gerald grabbed Ariana’s hands. “Ariana…” Gerald tried to speak, but Ariana jerked her hands away.

“What now? Are you going to make up an excuse that you did all that out of concern?” Ariana asked, her voice now beginning to rise. Her emotions were clearly no longer something she could contain. “I don’t need that kind of attention, Gerald. Haven’t you asked people to watch over me enough already? Do you need to monitor my every move too? Why? Are you afraid I’ll cheat on you? When in fact, I thought all your changes truly came from your heart. That you really started to understand me and knew what I truly wanted and needed. But the fact? I feel cheated,” Ariana glared at Gerald.

Gerald fell silent. Basically, Ariana was right. About everything. About all her assumptions. But not entirely correct. Gerald did want to start everything anew. He wanted to please Ariana, even though he knew the way he went about it was wrong. It was his own fault for blurting out everything in front of everyone. But Gerald was clearly already irritated by the provocations of the two women whom he had to admit were his sister-in-law and his mother-in-law.

Gerald admitted he did all that to monitor Ariana’s movements. But the girl was wrong again. Because Gerald did it not because he suspected Ariana would cheat on him.

“I know I was wrong. I apologize,” Gerald repeated his words. “I know this might seem like just an excuse to you. But the fact is, I’m used to controlling everything with my own hands. I can’t trust anyone wholeheartedly. It’s not an excuse, Ariana. But that’s the fact. And you…” Gerald tried to phrase his words carefully so as not to make Ariana more upset with him. “You’re the only person whose thoughts I can’t predict. You’re someone I find hard to control. And I did all that just to be cautious. Who knows, after you leave the hospital, you plan to run away again,” Gerald replied honestly.

Ariana stared at Gerald, her forehead creased in confusion. “Do you really think I would do that? Run away from you?” Ariana asked, disbelieving. Gerald nodded immediately.

“The fact is, you’ve done it many times before,” Gerald replied with shrugged shoulders.

Ariana chuckled to herself. “Why don’t you just implant a tracking chip in my body so you can follow me wherever I go? Or perhaps install a computer in my brain so you know exactly what I’ll do and what I want?” She challenged Gerald.

“Could I even do that?” Gerald chuckled sarcastically.

Ariana growled in frustration. “If you really want to do that, don’t do it to me. Do it to Karenina!” she snapped. “And yes, why didn’t you do it to Karenina first? If you had, maybe she wouldn’t have run away from you the day before your wedding.” Ariana sneered.

Bringing up Karenina’s name seemed to be a grave mistake, as Gerald’s expression instantly darkened.