Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 316

Chess, Not Checkers

ARABELLA’S POV

“Al…bina?”

20 vouchers

The name rolled off my tongue at the same time my heart sank, a bitter taste settling on my tongue.

Alvise had been betrothed to someone?

Why was I only finding out now?

The look on Rozaliya’s face told me there was more, but she was holding back.

My chest tightened.

“If he was betrothed to someone… how did he end up engaged to Tatiana? What happened?”

She glanced at Alvise once again and sighed. “The betrothal was cancelled some years back because….”

I nodded, urging her to keep talking. “Because what?”

“You really should hear this from my brother himself, Arabella,” Rozaliya breathed. “I’ll get in trouble if he finds out I even told you any of this.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Alvise walked back to the passenger door, seemingly done with his conversation with Andrei.

Rozaliya shot me a pleading look before turning toward the window, her hands clutching her dress tightly.

My head was a mess, different thoughts, questions, and scenarios playing out all at once.

There was so much I wanted to say, yet nothing at all.

I couldn’t even seek answers from Alvise because then I’d be implicating his sister.

So, I leaned back in the seat, shut my mouth, and closed my eyes.

Because that was all I could do.

“Arabella.”

I opened my eyes, rubbing them as Rozaliya’s face came into view.

“You slept all through the drive,” she mumbled. “We’re at the house.”

I sat up, my eyes finally clearing from their haziness as I stifled a yawn.

“I thought I’d ascended.”

“You’re crazy,” Rozaliya scoffed, grabbing her bag and stepping out of the car.

8

O

1

KIKA

G

111

<

Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

My door suddenly opened, and I peeked up to see Igor nodding at me.

Thank you.” I muttered, exiting the car after taking my bag and stretching my arms.

Rozaliya walked ahead of me as if she were trying to escape, and I hurried after her to catch up.

“Are you avoiding me?”

“Yes, I am,” she admitted, pulling her phone from her purse.

“You don’t want to answer my questions.”

20 vouchers

“You have to understand.” She glanced at me apologetically. “I’m trying not to get in trouble with my brother.”

“But you’re already in trouble with him,” I said, referring to her secret relationship.

“Well, I’ve braced myself for the day my family finds out about that. But meddling in his life is something I haven’t planned for…” She hesitated, her expression turning uneasy. “And in a twisted way, I feel like the punishment would be worse.”

Before I could say anything else, she walked ahead of me, heading into the house.

My shoulders sagged, and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before following her inside.

I walked to the foot of the stairs, about to head up, but the sharp clicking of heels against marble stopped

My face fell when Mrs. Valerio came into view as she descended the stairs, a smug smile already playing on her lips.

“If it isn’t my unwanted daughter-in-law,” she snickered, walking toward me until she stopped directly in front of me. “What a coincidence.”

“Good evening, Mrs. Valerio,” I greeted, moving to sidestep her. “But I don’t think us running into each other is exactly a coincidence.”

“And what do you mean?” she asked, stepping in front of me again.

I brought my hands to my sides and tilted my head. “You probably saw us coming from your room and decided to come down.”

“You think I’ll leave my room just to come down,” she pointed at me as though I were filth beneath her shoe, “to see you?”

I took a deep breath, groaning inwardly but plastering a polite smile on my face.

“This house is quite big…”

“Bigger than you can ever afford.”

“Like I said,” I muttered, ignoring her harsh retort, “it’s big, and I think it’s actually easy to avoid running into someone… Just like you’ve been deliberately avoiding me.”

YIRJ

8

O

1

KIKA

G

Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

shut up and stop making things up.”

It was the truth.

And she knew it.

E 20 vouchers

I hummed. “Really? Because I think it’s quite weird that ever since you promised to ‘teach’ me how to be a proper daughter-in-law of the Valerio house, we’ve conveniently not seen each other.”

Her sharp eyes narrowed, and she took a few extra seconds to answer.

“You’re not so important that I’ll skip meals for you.”

There it was.

“I didn’t even mention that you’d been absent for dinner and breakfast yet,” I said, the corner of my lips tilting upward.

I’d thought about it and realized it was quite strange that I suddenly hadn’t seen her at all after she announced at the dining table that she was going to ‘tutor’ me.

Seeing the expression on her face now, it all finally made sense.

“Goodnight,” I beamed, sidestepping her once again.

I made it halfway up the stairs before she spoke, stopping me.

“You think you can speak to me however you want now, huh?”

I turned around to find her glaring at me.

“Watch your back, little girl, and make sure you choose your moves carefully,” she warned, turning on her heel and stepping off the stairs. “I’m playing chess, and you’re playing checkers.”

My smile faltered.

Her threat lingered in the air as I stared at her retreating back, heavy weight settling in my chest and my gut telling me she wasn’t just bluffing.

She knew something I didn’t.

Shaking my head to push away the thoughts, I headed to the room, nodding at the guards before pushing the door open.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify