Free Web NovelChapter 252: Chapter 252
Aria’s POV
I stood there silently, my presence filling the doorway. My eyes locked onto Sophia’s, sharp and unblinking. A slow, chilling smile curved my lips.
“Aria...Sister?” she forced a smile. “What brings you—”
I didn’t let her finish.
I shoved the door open and grabbed her by the hair.
She screamed as pain tore through her scalp, panic flooding her scent. “Are you insane?! There are cameras!”
“Thanks for the reminder,” I sneered, dragging her inside.
The door slammed shut behind us with a heavy thud.
Her politeness shattered. She screamed for help, terror thick in her voice. “Help! Someone help me!”
“Help?” I mocked, tightening my grip as she collapsed to the floor beneath me. My wolf loomed large now, very furious.
“What are you planning, Aria?” she gasped, trying to sound brave.
I laughed, a cold, humorless sound.
“What am I planning?”
I stepped closer, towering over her as she crumpled at my feet, my shadow swallowing her whole.
“You really think Nathan can’t find out what you’ve done?” I said softly, venom dripping from every word.
Sophia’s face drained of color.
My wolf lifted its head inside me, my eyes glowing, recognizing a prey that already knew how to fear me.
“I don’t understand...” she whispered.
“Don’t understand?”
The words tore out of me like a snarl.
My palm connected with her face in a sharp crack. The impact sent her crashing to the floor. Her body curled instinctively inward.
Before she could recover, I struck her again.
“Do you understand now?” My voice was cold, razor-edged, like a winter wind cutting bare skin.
She trembled, clutching her face, fury and terror twisting her features. “Aria, you’re insane! Lana illness was the nanny’s doing, not mine! Stop blaming me!” freewebnσvel.cøm
I paused.
My hand hovered in the air.
For a split second, hope flickered in her eyes...she thought she’d reached me.
I tilted my head instead, feigning innocence, my lips curling into a silent grin.
“Did I mention Lana?”
The color vanished completely from her face.
Before she could react, I lunged forward and pinned her by the neck, my fingers locking tight around her throat. She clawed at my wrist, but it was useless. Even after the hospital, after the weakness, my strength...honed by a year of pain, betrayal, and survival, was far beyond hers.
My eyes burned as memories surged violently to the surface.
Lana’s trembling body, her weak cries, the tears streaking her tiny face.
The helplessness I’d felt that day exploded inside me, fueling my wolf, flooding my veins with heat and rage.
Sophia gasped for air, her eyes bulging. “Nathan...Nathan will make you pay for this! He won’t let you hurt me and go scot free!”
I laughed softly.
Unmoved, I released her only to slap her twice more, the sound echoing through the room.
“I warned you,” I said coldly. “Stay away from me and my child.”
She cowered, raw fear finally breaking her arrogance. “I—I didn’t do anything! Nathan already investigated, didn’t he?”
“Then why did you bribe the nanny?” I smiled.
An icy, merciless curve of my lips.
Her heart hammered so loudly I could hear it. The air around us thickened. I was no longer the timid sister she once trampled over.
Desperate, she lunged for the door.
I yanked her back effortlessly and dragged her across the floor, throwing her onto the couch. Her eyes caught the glint of metal in my hand.
I was now weilding a knife.
“Don’t...don’t be rash, Aria!” she cried, backing away. “Hurting me will ruin your life too!”
I looked at her calmly.
“Thanks to you,” I said quietly, “I’ve already been there.”
She screamed and bolted, slamming into the door. “Help! Someone’s trying to kill me!”
It was locked, her hope shattered.
I seized her again, relentless. Just as despair settled fully into her eyes, a knock sounded outside.
“Sophia? Are you home?” Helen’s voice called, worried and sharp.
I froze.
Aunt Helen. Which meant Margaret, my mother couldn’t be far.
The memory of that crowded street flashed through my mind...the humiliation, the way they’d stood by and watched me be crushed. It was always about Sophia. All they did was protect her. They lived for her.
Why was it that even as Margaret’s biological daughter, I was forever second choice?
My grip tightened unconsciously.
Sophia choked, then surged with desperate strength and broke free, slamming herself against the door. “Aunt Helen! Help me! It’s Aria...she’s gone mad!”
Helen peered through the peephole.
Her scream followed. “Aria I can see you! Stop this madness! Let her go!”
The noise scraped against my nerves. Moments later, I heard hurried footsteps. Margaret arrived.
She also peered through the peephole, her fury erupted. “Aria, you unfilial child! How dare you treat your sister like this!”
I didn’t flinch.
The silver knife in my hand caught the light,. “One more scream from either of you,” I warned calmly, “and she gets a new scar.”
Sophia sobbed. “No! Mom, don’t shout!”
“What do you want?!” Margaret cried, voice shaking.
“An eye for an eye.”
I opened my palm.
There was salt in it, salt i had gotten on my way here.
Sophia’s eyes widened in pure horror. “You...no...!”
I didn’t hesitate. I forced it into her mouth.
She gagged instantly, coughing violently as the salt burned her throat, collapsing to the floor like a creature dying of thirst. She clawed at herself, choking, trembling.
Margaret screamed. “You lunatic! Nathan will see your true colors!”
I raised the blade slightly.
“Did you think of this,” I asked icily, dragging Sophia back as she tried to crawl away, “when you fed Lana salt?”
Sophia shook uncontrollably, choking. “Aria... I won’t let you get away with this...”
I leaned down close, my voice dropping into a low, lethal whisper only she could hear.
“I told you before,” I said. “Lana is my bottom line. You never should’ve crossed it.”
My wolf’s eyes gleamed through mine
“Did you really think I’d let you off that easily?”
