Breaking into her uncle’s place was much easier than she thought but strange as well. Arianna knew they would deny her entrance if they had any idea it was her. Even if they didn’t, it was always better to take the enemy by surprise.
So when she climbed over the wall – her favorite spot. Having lived here most of her life, she knew the weak points – she had been conscious of security and had pretty much camouflaged herself for most of the sneaking in.
But Arianna shouldn’t have worried because there was literally little to no guard at all in the place. Even the staff had been drastically reduced that none of them noticed her presence until she was in Claudia’s room.
However, Claudia’s room was empty, as if there was no one living there at all. No, no, no, that can’t be possible. She had specifically come back for her dear cousin, to teach her a few lessons.
Claudia wanted her dead, right? What would she do now the person she wanted to destroy so much was alive and back for vengeance? Arianna at least wanted to see the smile wiped off her face. Big Joe might have given Claudia a beating, but she hadn’t done hers.
Her heart beating frantically, Arianna ran out of the room only to bump into a staff on the way – one she knew too well. She pointed the gun at her, roaring, “Where are they?!”
Arianna knew the girl, she had been one of Claudia’s closest maids. Back then, Claudia used her to carry out most of her malicious plans and Arianna had to say, she liked the terrified look in her eyes now. It fueled her; made her feel in power.
“W-who?” She choked, tears already running down her cheeks.
Arianna snorted inwardly at her weakness, such a chicken. She wondered how the girl would have survived if she had gone through what she experienced the past month.
.....
“You know who I’m talking about! Claudia, her mother, and my uncle!” Arianna was running out of patience – and time.
Once she was through with this, Arianna was leaving through the backdoor to her freedom. But Marcel wouldn’t sit still either, he wouldn’t be the leader of such a large organization at a young age if he didn’t have real skills. She merely slowed him down and had a feeling that Marcel had been indulging her all this while.
The maid spoke so quickly that Arianna wouldn’t have caught most of the details if she hadn’t been paying attention, “Madam and sir fought after Miss Claudia was taken away and they decided to divorce. Then miss Claudia returned by luck last night and madam took her away to live on their own,”
Arianna’s head swarmed from so much information. Wait, Claudia was taken away by who? Also, her uncle and wife were divorcing? What the hell was going on?
So she has a guilty conscience, Arianna was amused. If the maid had been good to her, she wouldn’t have feared her with a gun. But now, all her mind probably told her was that she – Arianna – was here for revenge.
“Of course, I wouldn’t,” Arianna smiled, “I don’t want to go to prison yet,”
Arianna felt the moment the tension left her body; the maid relaxed.
“Thanks for the information,”
And then, without a heads-up, hit her in the head with the butt of the gun. The maid was rendered unconscious.
Arianna took a deep breath, admiring her handwork. That should leave a nasty bruise and teach her never to bully for another’s entertainment. Then she left for her uncle’s living quarters.
Unlike Claudia and her mother, Arianna had mixed feelings about her uncle. She couldn’t exactly say her uncle had been good or bad to her. The man treated her well when he could yet never defend her against her family and acted indifferent to their maltreatment of her. Nonetheless, that made him guilty as well.
So when she stepped into his room, she was satisfied to see his things were intact yet no sign of him. He couldn’t be away on a business trip else the chatty unconscious maid would have told her, moreover, with the crisis in his family, he wouldn’t have the time for that.
“Hello uncle,” Arianna made herself comfortable on the seat across from him, the round table the only thing separating them.
She found him in the verandah, going through the morning papers and one should see the shock on his face. She could make a meme out of it.
Her uncle took off his reading glasses, his mouth agape while his hands holding the papers shook greatly until they slipped.
“I thought with me gone, you’d live a better life but you aged so greatly I almost mistook you for my grandfather,” And yes, her uncle did take after his father in resemblance.
“Ari...”
His voice was emotional and he attempted to stand only for Arianna to drop the gun she was holding on the table and he realized she wasn’t here for a family reunion.
He gulped and sat back down.
Arianna crossed her leg over the other, “So how does it feel selling me off?”
“Arianna, I -”
“Shut up!”
He obeyed that single command and that was only because she had the power now. Now, she could understand why Marcel was quite cocky. The feeling was a bit addictive.
“Whose idea was it selling me off?” She rephrased her question.
This time, her uncle was silent which meant it was a difficult question . In one word, it was either his wife or daughter, or both of them – the two people he loved.
“Uncle, come on, I don’t have much time and you’d be surprised to know how much I’ve changed in such a short while,” she threatened him.