Trouble in Paradise (Arianna and Nicholas)
Chapter 0648

In the darkness, countless white photos were falling over me, like bullets piercing through.

I dreamed that the helpless person seeking rescue was me, lying on the ground, watching as photos floated down from the sky, burying me completely...

I couldn't make a sound, couldn't move a muscle. There was no strength left in my body.

"No!"

I woke up with a jolt, gasping for air, my face drenched in cold sweat.

"Ari!" A pair of worried eyes broke into my sight. "How do you feel?"

My blurred vision gradually became clearer, and I saw Nicholas's slightly haggard face full of anxiety.

"Ari?" He called me again. As he waited for my response, it felt like time stretched infinitely.

I slowly raised my hand and grabbed Nicholas's arm. I wanted to speak, but tears fell first.

"Are you feeling unwell? I'll call the doctor right away!"

Only then did I notice that I was lying in a hospital bed. "Nicholas, how is the person who saved me?"

"They're fine. Everyone's fine. Right now, you're the only one who isn't well. Let me call the doctor to check on you."

He held my hand, kissed it lightly, and turned to leave before I could say another word.

Was everyone really fine? I gave a bitter smile. If not for the subtle twitch in his eyelids and the rapidly drying corners of his lips, I might have believed him.

I had fainted, not lost my memory. Closing my eyes, silent tears rolled down my cheeks.

My eyes opened as the phone on the table suddenly vibrated. The sound of it resonating against the wooden surface was particularly loud.

For no apparent reason, my heart skipped two beats, an ominous feeling creeping over me.

I reached for the phone. The screen showed an unknown number, but I recognized it at a glance. This number belonged to someone I had once truly cherished my sister. "Ariana!" As soon as I answered, Claudia's hysterical voice blasted through the phone.

Still groggy from the dream, her shouting made my head spin, and I had to hold the phone at arm's length.

"Ariana, I command you to stop targeting me!"

There were two words in her sentence I found baffling-command and targeting.

I took a deep breath, clearing my hoarse throat before replying, "Claudia, compared to the things you've done, I don't even know how I've managed to be so

magnanimous toward you. Stop trying to make your presence

tome-you don't d

known

my

attention!"

"Magnanimous toward me?" Claudia screeched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"You've been magnanimous toward me? Then where are my legs? If you were magnanimous, why are you targeting The Secret, my only refuge, and destroying it?

"If you were magnanimous, why did

you push for my mother's life sentence and a retrial? A life sentence isn't enough for you? Only the death penalty will satisfy you, is that it? You're determined to destroy us, yet you dare say you've been magnanimous!"

"Frances' case is being retried?"

"Ariana, stop pretending! Who else but you knows everything about the past? Isn't all of this because of you?"

Claudia's shouting continued on the

phone, but I could no longer hear it.

It seemed Nicholas had taken.

action. Regardless of the outcome, I could only say that they deserved it.

en FindNovel

"Who are you talking to? You shouldn't overexert yourself right after waking up." Nicholas entered suddenly with the doctor, and I quickly ended the call.

"No one." I glanced at Nicholas, forcing a faint smile, and tucked the phone under my pillow.

But Claudia's final words echoed in my mind over and over.

"Ariana! Your secret is in my hands. Don't force me!"