Trouble in Paradise

Marcelo screamed at me furiously, "I should have killed you! No... I should have killed you all! I'll kill all of you!"

Unfortunately, I feared we wouldn't wait until that moment. He admitted to the crimes he committed, so the trial wasn't delayed like typical cases, especially with the backing of the Hawk family. The court date was set for a week later, which was why I was in such a hurry.

"If you don't confess soon, no one can save you!" I raised my voice to drown out his insults.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a few rays of light darted to my feet. Dust danced in the air, as if in a frenzy to escape. The atmosphere was calm, yet tinged with madness.

I looked up to see Nicholas standing at the doorway in black, blocking out the only hint of light. Instantly, the shouting from Marcelo ceased, leaving only silence in the detention room.

I felt dizzy as if the world had plunged into darkness with his arrival.NôvelDrama.Org copyrighted © content.

He took two steps forward, and several policemen came in behind him. They covered Marcelo's mouth and took him away. Now, in this small space, there was only silence between me and Nicholas. "Thinking of getting a confession out of him?" he asked, his voice calm.

The next moment, a stack of documents was slammed down on my head. While I was still dizzy, he grabbed my collar and pulled me up from the ground.

Before I could react, he wrapped his arm around my neck like a hot iron, pinning me against the wall. He lifted me, and my legs were hanging in the air. "Let... let go... of me!" Each word was a struggle as the air in my chest rapidly diminished.

I dug my nails into his arm, but couldn't budge him an inch. Was he... going to strangle me to death?

Despite a fleeting hope that he had come to rescue me, I was being choked to the point of suffocation. What else could I possibly dream of?

"You said you did nothing, did you?" Nicholas yelled in disappointment. "Ariana, you're a murderer!"

I couldn't speak or move. I wanted to see the documents he threw on the ground, but I couldn't move anything except my eyeballs.

When I thought I was going to be wrongly executed, he took a step back and let go of me.

As I gasped for air and drooled, he elegantly adjusted his cuffs. I raised my head definitely, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

He stood tall, trampling on my dignity, with my 'criminal report' crushed under his feet. This was the man I had loved throughout my youth.

"I told you that you would beg me, Ariana. Do you admit defeat?"

He spoke with great mercy, convicting me outright and not even giving me a chance to explain.

I bit my lower lip hard. At the very least, I didn't want to cry in front of him. But with my choked voice, who

could I decelve?

"Impossible, you jerk!" When I spoke again, my voice grated like sandpaper on concrete, hoarse and broken, followed by a fit of coughing.

"Suit yourself. Reflect on your actions here then," he said calmly before walking away from me.

I tried to fathom his intentions. If he wanted revenge for Claudia, why make me beg him? Or perhaps everything he did was merely to satisfy the lofty attitudes of those above him, simply because I had crossed his boundaries?

"Fuck you! Get lost, and never come back! I never want to see you again!" I screamed until I was hoarse and exhausted.

I tore the so-called evidence on the floor to shreds and threw it against the door. Then, I laughed-a blurry-eyed, tearful laughter. Locked away, I lost all sense of time. I couldn't eat or drink, only perceiving the passage of days through the narrow window.

After countless days-or was it weeks?-as I lay on my back on the ground, footsteps echoed outside my door once more.

I thought it was someone from the Hawk family coming for me, considering they were the ones who had gone through so much trouble to bring me here. But to my surprise, it was Pete.

His hands, gripping the bars, were covered in scars. When his hand touched mine, he suddenly tightened his grip until his fingertips turned white.

s surged in his eyes, i

his lips trembled. "You're such a weakling. The moment I'm not around,

look what they've done to you. You've really embarrassed me."