Chapter 7
“Between me and Alarieka, who do you choose?”
Kieran answered right away, “You.”
Alarieka still remembered the disgust in his eyes and his cold voice. “Alarieka, don’t get any funny ideas about me.” To him, her feelings were like garbage in a sewer, disgusting even to look at.
The fear she once felt when facing the disgust in his eyes now turned into an equally strong urge to stay far away. Shaking off the memory, she wearily lay down on the bed until Tamika’s shrill voice woke her up.
“Don’t you know that nobody in this family likes us? Even the servants look down on us! I’ve pinned all my hopes on you. You gotta make something of yourself!”
Alarieka was sick of hearing this and wasn’t going to budge. “Mom, don’t push me!”
“Alarieka, Tamika, stop daydreaming!” came a voice that was sweet on the surface but laced with arrogance.
Tamika glanced at the door, and her face turned pale all of a sudden. She said in a fawning tone, “Ms. Argent, you’re back.”
Alarieka quietly grabbed the suitcase from Tamika’s hand, about to stuff it back under the bed, when Clarissa Argent walked in on her high heels and got right up to her. Clarissa was Kieran’s cousin and Wallace’s only granddaughter. She was the center of attention and was treated like a princess. She looked down at Alarieka with that same familiar gaze – cold, condescending, and sharp as ever.
“If I hadn’t come back, you guys would have turned our family into a mess! Alarieka, didn’t Kieran make it clear to you?” Her pretty face wore a mocking smile. “He told you to stay the hell away, but you keep hanging around him shamelessly, even when he’s on a business trip!”
Alarieka stood up calmly, looking Clarissa straight in the eye, her tone steady. “This is my room. Please leave.”
Clarissa’s face twisted into an even more mocking look, like she had heard the funniest joke. “Don’t get ideas that this place is yours just because you’ve been here all these years,” Clarissa scoffed. “Listen, this is the Argent’s villa, not yours. I can go wherever I want here.”
Alarieka’s eyes turned a little colder. “But at least in Sir Argent’s eyes, this is my room.”
Clarissa’s face darkened. “How dare you talk back to me and use Grandpa to pressure me? Who do you think you are?!”
To get on Kieran’s good side, Alarieka would do anything to win over the Argent family in her last life. She’d put up with Clarissa’s bossiness and nod along to whatever she said. Even when Clarissa gave her a hard time over Roschelle, she’d take it.
This was the first time she had ever stood up to Clarissa. It felt great, but Clarissa was clearly ticked off.
Just as Alarieka was about to leave, a car pulled into the courtyard. Clarissa let out a little laugh. “I know why you have to follow Kieran on the trip. Let me tell you, your scheme doesn’t work!”
She shoved Alarieka aside and strode to the window to look down. “Kieran, Rose, here you are!”
Alarieka’s room was on the second floor of the villa, and the sounds from the courtyard would always faintly drift in. She heard Roschelle’s voice, which she hadn’t heard in a long time. It still had that same classy and elegant feel, with a bit of charm in its cool tone, just the way Kieran liked.
“Rissa, I’ve brought you a gift. Come downstairs and check it out.”
Kieran’s voice was loud enough for Alarieka to catch how he was indulging Clarissa.