A Love Forgotten (Arianna and Elijah) novel Chapter 6

It was already 9:00 am when I woke up the next day. I stretched my sore neck before freshening up in the bathroom. After getting changed and heading downstairs, I saw the empty living room. Someone was having breakfast in the dining room, though.

I walked closer to find that it was Evan. When he saw me, he snorted scornfully and turned away, not wanting to look at me.

My gaze dimmed. I headed to the kitchen to get food. There wasn't anything aside from some cold oatmeal and a few pieces of bread.

I frowned and got a glass of milk from the fridge to warm it up. Then, I fried a couple of sunny-side-ups. When I brought the things out of the kitchen, Evan looked at me like he'd seen a ghost. I furrowed my brows. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

He pointed at my food. "You can cook?"

His doubtful tone made me feel a little uncomfortable. I said coolly, "It's not that hard to fry an egg."

He snapped to his senses and glared at me. "Don't try to pull anything funny."

I slammed my milk on the table, scaring him. 

A few seconds later, he got mad. "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to pick a fight?"

I drank my milk and said icily, "You're crazy!"

His face became red with rage. "Who are you calling crazy? Don't think you can do whatever you want now that you're out of the hospital, Ariana. I'm here to watch you on Eli and Josie's behalf! Don't even dream of ruining their relationship from now on!"

I laughed. That spooked Evan. "Why are you laughing? I'm being serious. This time, I won't let you hurt Josie. And don't think you can scare me off by acting like you're still that high and mighty heiress of the York family. Josie may be scared of you, but I'm not."

I held out a hand. "Fine, then. Pay me back."

He gave me a knowing look and mocked, "Are you asking for money? What money? I knew you were nothing but a gold digger, Ariana. You pulled all those tricks to marry Eli for our family's money, didn't you? You're so shameless!"

I looked at him emotionlessly. "Yes, I did it all for the money. Now, pay up."

He became angry when he saw that his words didn't faze me. "What money are you talking about?"

I sneered. "What else? The 50 million dollars that I, a gold digger, invested in Linden Group!"

Evan was dumbstruck. My sneer grew. "I invested 50 million dollars in the company five years ago. If we were to assume that I'm a regular shareholder, you and your family would owe me a huge sum in dividends.

"And if you consider the money a loan, think about how much you'd have to repay me if you were to include interest."

I pulled out my phone and started doing the math. "If we were to assume the interest was 11% or 12%... Oh, boy…"

Evan's face became blotchy with rage. He probably wanted to curse at me but couldn't find the words. I happily finished my breakfast as he watched me. Then, I wiped my mouth and got up.

Evan finally managed to say something. "What the hell are you up to, you freak?"

I turned to look at the face that seemed completely different from the one in my memories. I said softly, "You used to call me Ari."

He looked like he'd been struck by lightning. He remained rooted to the spot while I headed upstairs.

…

I couldn't believe it was so tiring just to have a simple breakfast. It only solidified my desire to leave Elijah. I called Teri, who sounded tired when she answered. "What's up, Ms. York? Have you and Elijah made up yet?"

"Nope."

"What?" she screamed. "What did you just say?"