CHAPTER 421
Arianna met Harmony’s gaze with the cold poise.
No fear. No flinch.
Just icy calm—and a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The kind of smile that said: I see you. I know exactly what you’ve done. And I’m not done yet.
Harmony’s smile didn’t falter.
She tilted her head ever so slightly, meeting Arianna’s stare like it was a game
She paused, eyes gleaming with theatrical delight.
“Let me guess—this is your big, desperate plea? Your final act? A pathetic little monologue about how I should spare you,” she spat the word like it offended her,
“or spare him? Let you both ride off into the sunset while I just... fade away?”
Her laugh came then—low, sharp, and bitter.
“Oh, Arianna,” she whispered, voice full of cruel amusement.
“You’re still clinging to this fantasy that I care about your pain. That I ever did. Newsflash, sweetheart—your tears don’t move me. Your love story? It bores me.”
She leaned in, eyes wild and voice dropping to a hiss.
“And as for your husband?” She smirked.
“He was mine long before you even knew how to spell his name.”
Then, clicking her tongue with faux sympathy, she straightened and sighed.
“Poor thing. Still trying to play the heroine, when you were never more than the extra in my story.”
Arianna didn’t flinch.
She let the venom pour, let Harmony circle like a mad dog off its leash. And when the silence finally settled, she raised her head—calm, unshaken.
Her smile was cold. Unapologetic.
“Are you done?” Arianna stepped forward, slow and deliberate, her heels a steady drumbeat of coming war.
“You talk like you’re the villain in some twisted fairy tale. Like this is all your story.” She tilted her head, mock thoughtful.
“But here’s the thing, Harmony—you’re not the villain. You’re not even the obstacle.”
Her eyes narrowed, voice a blade wrapped in silk.
“You’re just background noise. Static. A footnote.”
She stepped even closer, until only inches separated them.
“And for the record—he was never yours. You might’ve had his attention. But you never had his soul.”
Harmony's smile twitched, cracking like porcelain.
“Ohhh… oh, wow,” Harmony breathed, eyes wide, pupils dilated like a cornered animal pretending to be amused.
“You think you’ve won? You think just because he’s playing house with you now, you’ve replaced me?” Her smile shattered.
Her lip curled in a twisted smile, eyes gleaming with a feverish mix of rage and triumph.
“Go ahead, wear your little crown and play the good wife,” she sneered, voice sharp as glass.
“But deep down, you know the truth—he’ll always come running when I call. Always. Like he’s done a hundred times before. Like he can’t help himself.”
She leaned in, her whisper venomous.
“Because no matter what he tells you… I am the part of him he can’t let go.”
Another step. Closer now.
She leaned in, her breath brushing Arianna's ear.
"You should've known your place, darling," she whispered, voice as soft as silk and just as deadly.
"You were never meant to stand beside a man like Xander. Not when there are women like me."
Arianna still didn't answer.
Her eyes flickered to the clock.
Just a few more seconds and this would be live.
Harmony gave a light laugh, but something in her eyes flickered.
"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to come to me," she said.
"I figured you'd avoid me after the little... incident."
This was it.
It was time..
And action....
Arianna stepped forward, a small, cold smile playing on her lips.
"I'm glad you brought up the incident," she said softly, her voice edged with steel.
"You tried to kill me, didn't you?"
Harmony let out a low, chilling laugh, her eyes gleaming.
"Kill you?" she echoed with delight.
"Oh, sweetheart, of course I did. And honestly? It was a brilliant plan."
Arianna’s voice rang out, calm but laced with defiance.
“Brilliant plan… really?” Arianna laughed, low and mocking.
Harmony’s smile twisted into something darker, eyes wild and unsteady.
“Well, it was… until now. But that’s the damn problem, isn’t it? You’re still standing. Still breathing. Like some twisted damn nightmare that won’t die.”
Her voice dropped into a sharp, frantic hiss, each word dripping with manic intensity.
“Do you have any fucking idea how much those drops cost?!”
She clasped her hands together mock-innocently, swaying ever so slightly.
"Imported. Black market. One single drop-just one-is enough to stop the heart instantly. Instant cardiac arrest. No trace. No poison was left behind. Nothing. Like it never happened at all..." She snapped her fingers.
"Poof."
Arianna's smile widened.
“And yet... here I am,” Arianna declared, arms thrown wide, as if claiming the whole room.
“Still breathing. Still standing. Seems even God’s got a soft spot for me.”
Her eyes flared—wild, untamed, and dangerously bright.
“No matter what pathetic games you play, I’m not going anywhere. Xander and I? We’re bound. Meant to be.”
Harmony’s twisted smile vanished, replaced by something feral—lips pulled back to reveal teeth clenched like a predator cornered.
“Shut up,” she spat, voice rough and ragged, raw with fury.
“You don’t know a damn thing about me and Xander. He’s mine. Always has been. And you? You’re just a passing nightmare.”
She stepped closer, each word dripping with venom.
“You think you love him? Please. You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed for him — what I’ve shattered, what I’ve destroyed.”
Her eyes glazed over for a moment, haunted and distant, before snapping back, sharp as a blade.
Arianna’s voice cut through the tension like ice.
“Really? Then tell me—what twisted version of ‘love’ is that? What have you done that classifies as love”
"When we were twelve, a stray cat scratched his hand. A tiny scratch. He cried-and I felt it. So, you know what I did?"
She leaned in, eyes wide and glittering. "I found that cat the next day. Tracked it down. And I stabbed it. Again. And again. And again. Until it stopped moving. How dare it hurt my Xander."
Arianna stared at her in horror, but Harmony only giggled.
“And when he was thirteen... some girl—Cindy, I think—had the audacity to make him laugh. Right in front of me.”
Her voice cracked, trembling with manic emotion.
“His eyes crinkled, that stupid little dimple showed—because of her. Like I wasn’t even there.”
She took a sharp breath, then hissed, low and wild,
“Only I am allowed to make him laugh. Only me. How dare she try to take that from me.”
Her eyes sparkled with a dangerous light, teeth clenched in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“She thought it was harmless. Cute. Just a joke. But it wasn’t. Not to me. Never to me.”
Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.
"So I waited. Until everyone left. Then I pushed her down the school stairs. Poor thing shattered her spine. Never walked again."
She laughed again, soft and erratic, brushing a piece of imaginary lint off her shoulder.
Harmony's eyes darkened as a bitter smile curved her lips.
"And oh-how could I forget Lily?" she hissed, almost gleeful now.
"We were fourteen. Just kids, right? But even then, girls couldn't keep their filthy little eyes off him."
She took a slow, menacing step forward, her gaze far away-lost in memory.
"She asked him to be her boyfriend. Can you believe that? My Xander. And he, being the sweet boy he is, let her down gently. So polite. So kind. Too kind."
Harmony's head tilted, her voice growing disturbingly soft.
"But me? I couldn't just let it slide. No, no. She needed to learn that Xabder was mine. Only mine. So I followed her after school. Waited until she was alone in the art room, cleaning brushes like the pathetic little teacher's pet she was."
She let out a low chuckle, the sound dry and hollow.
"I took the red paint first. Poured it over her stupid little sketchbook. Told her it reminded me of what her blood would look like if she ever spoke to him again."
Harmony's expression twisted, eyes shining with something unhinged and wild.
"Then I cut off a chunk of her hair. Right from the scalp. Still have it, actually-pressed it into my diary like a souvenir. A warning."
She leaned in close to Arianna, her voice dropping to a whisper, almost reverent.
"She moved schools two weeks later. Never looked back. But I do. Every time I open that page."
Then she leaned in, her face mere inches from Arianna's.
"I did all that because I love him," Harmony spat, her sneer twisting into something almost feral.
Arianna's eyes narrowed. "You call that love? That's not love... that's obsession. You need help. Real help. You're more unhinged than I ever thought."
Harmony's head jerked like a puppet yanked too hard on its string.
"Shut up," she hissed, her voice shaking with rage.
"Don't you dare stand there pretending you understand love," Harmony snarled, her voice unraveling into something sharp and unstable.
"You've never loved Xander the way I have. You can't. You're soft. Weak. You would never do even half the things I've done for him!"
Arianna's expression hardened, her voice cutting like ice.
"You mean the girls you tortured? The lives you destroyed in his name?" She stepped forward, fire in her eyes.
"That wasn't love, Harmony. That was madness."
Harmony's eyes flared wide, but Arianna didn't stop.
"That wasn't devotion-that was delusion. Twisted. Vile. Pathetic." Her voice was rising now, steady and merciless.
"You didn't protect him. You poisoned everything around him."
Harmony flinched, just for a second.
"That's not love," Arianna said again, voice low and cold.
"That's obsession with a loaded gun and a body count. And you-" she shook her head, eyes full of loathing-
"You're not some tragic lover. You're a ticking bomb in heels, and the only thing you've ever been good at... your sick."
Harmony's lips trembled... then parted in a chilling smile.
"Maybe I am sick. Maybe I've always been sick. But Xander-he's my cure. My only medicine. The only thing that makes the voices shut up. The only thing that makes me feel real."
Her eyes glittered, glassy and wild.
"But then you came along," she hissed, voice dropping into something guttural.
"You... this perfect little thorn in my side. Always smiling, always shining. And the moment Xander noticed you-I felt it. Everything changed. He started talking about you all the time. First he said you were interesting... then he said he liked you..."
She took a shaky breath, voice cracking.
"And then... he said he loved you."
Harmony's entire expression twisted, hate and heartbreak warring beneath her skin.
"I had to do something, right? What was I supposed to do-lose him?"
Her eyes gleamed with vicious triumph.
"So I arranged for you to meet a man," Harmony said softly, almost dreamlike. "At the hotel. The night before your wedding..."
Arianna's eyes narrowed-as the memory hit her like a punch to the chest.
Her breath caught.
"You..." she whispered, her voice trembling.
"You set that up?"
"Ring a ding ding" she chuckled
She stepped closer, her breath trembling with manic energy.
"I told Xander you were sneaking around. Took him there, led him like a fool. And he saw you-walking into that hotel room with a man. Just like I planned."
She let out a soft, deranged laugh.
"He thought you were cheating. He was devastated. He had no idea I'd paid that man. No idea the plan was to rape you... then strangle you and leave your body in that room. But you ran." Her eyes narrowed with loathing.
"You ran. And I panicked. You weren't supposed to escape. You weren't supposed to live."
Her voice turned to a breathless whisper, trembling with fury.
"I thought you'd tell him. I was terrified you'd tell him. That it'd all fall apart."
Harmony's expression darkened, smile gone, face hollow.
"But you didn't. You said nothing. You put on that white dress, walked down that aisle like nothing happened."
Her next words were almost reverent.
"I was there. Sitting in the very back row. Gun in my purse. Finger on the trigger. If he'd said yes, if he'd taken your hand-I would've shot you dead. Right there in front of everyone."
She gave a breathless laugh.
"But lucky you... he said no."
Her gaze snapped up to meet Arianna's.
"And you walked away. But I'm still here. And I always will be."
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
