Chapter 147 His Remorse
The warm yellow light suddenly seemed to be covered with a layer of cold frost, tearing apart the lingering warmth in the air until it was completely shattered.
Arthur's figure stood between the entryway and the living room, his silhouette outlined by his suit like an insurmountable iceberg, forcibly blocking their departure.
He didn't look at Lance. His gaze remained fixed on Aria, his eyes churning with emotions too complex to name—rage, anxiety, and a hint of obsession on the verge of losing control, as if he wanted to tear her apart and swallow her whole.
"Arthur, what do you want?"
Lance's voice turned cold, his eyes taking on a dangerous edge as he looked at Arthur.
"What do I want?"
Arthur repeated Lance's words, his gaze never leaving Aria's pale face. He let out a self-mocking laugh. "Aria, don't you have anything to say to me?"
Aria's heart pounded wildly in her chest, almost bursting through her throat.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Though her voice carried a barely noticeable tremor, she still maintained her last shred of dignity. "Arthur, we're already over."
"Over?"
Arthur laughed as if he'd heard the biggest joke, a low sound full of bitterness and cruelty. "Aria, you disappeared for five years with my child, and you think one word—'over'—can erase everything?"
His gaze fell on Jasper again. The child, frightened by the tension between the adults, shrank further into Aria's arms, his small hands clutching tightly at his mother's clothes.
Arthur's Adam's apple bobbed violently, the pain in his eyes almost spilling over. "He's my child."
Jasper glanced timidly at Arthur, then buried his face in his mother's neck.
Aria's fingers tightened, holding the child closer. Word by word, clear and firm, she said, "This child has nothing to do with you."
"Nothing to do with me?"
Arthur suddenly stepped forward, his powerful presence instantly enveloping all three of them.
Lance immediately moved forward, confronting him. The distance between the two men was barely half a meter, the air between them seeming to crackle with electricity.
"Arthur, have you gone crazy wanting to be a dad? Why don't you ask the current Mrs. Grant to give you one?"
Lance's words dripped with mockery.
Arthur's face instantly darkened to rock bottom. His black eyes, which had been churning with complex emotions, now held only an icy coldness. He stared at Lance, the murderous intent in his eyes almost overflowing, like a beast whose scales had been touched, on the verge of exploding.
"Lance, you're asking for it!"
Five years ago, helping Aria leave was one thing, but now he dared to interfere again.
Lance showed no fear. Instead, he curved his lips into a mocking smile. "What? Did I hit a nerve? Isn't having a Mrs. Grant by your side enough for Mr. Grant? Seeing someone else's child and wanting to claim them as your own? Can't produce one yourself anymore?"
With each sentence, he moved forward, getting closer and closer to Arthur.
The two men were similar in height and equally imposing. Standing face to face now, the air between them seemed to spark with electricity, thick with the smell of gunpowder.
"Lance."
Arthur spoke slowly, his voice cold as ice. "Mind your own business. My affairs are none of your concern."
"Your affairs?"
Lance raised an eyebrow, his gaze falling again on the child in Aria's arms. "Aria and Jasper are your affairs? Arthur, have you forgotten that you signed that divorce agreement yourself? Or have you forgotten that when you and Sophie had your wedding, you deliberately made Aria do the decorations just to disgust your ex-wife?"
He took another half-step forward, his voice dropping lower, yet every word was clearly audible to everyone present.
"What? Did a chandelier fall on your head and make you stupid? Can't admit what you've done?"
Arthur froze in place.
The sharp, aggressive aura he'd had moments ago deflated like a punctured balloon at these words.
His face changed dramatically, from icy fury to deathly pale, then gradually filled with undisguised distress.
"I didn't..."
He spoke, his voice losing its composure, carrying a panicked hoarseness. "That wedding wasn't what I wanted. I never meant to hurt you..."
"Never meant to?"
Lance laughed coldly, pressing forward step by step. "You marrying Sophie wasn't what you wanted? Did she hold a knife to your throat and force you? Don't be ridiculous, Arthur. None of us are idiots, okay?"
Arthur's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He couldn't argue back.
His gaze fell back on Aria's face in panic. Seeing the deathly calm in her eyes, his heart felt like it was being crushed.
"Aria."
His voice trembled, almost pleading. "Back then, I..."
"Enough."
Aria spoke softly, her voice light but carrying a kind of calm that came from complete resignation.
She looked up at him, her eyes holding no hatred, no resentment, only a barren coldness.
"Arthur, you don't need to explain."
"You signed the divorce papers, you held the wedding, you chose your path."
She paused, each word clear as ice beads hitting the ground.
"From the moment you signed your name, you and I had nothing to do with each other anymore."
Arthur's pupils contracted sharply, his chest heaving violently.
He wanted to step forward, to grab her, to pour out all the misunderstandings, all the helplessness, all the maddening longing of these five years.
But Lance stood firmly in front of him, eyes cold.
"Did you hear that?"
"She doesn't want to see you anymore."
Arthur stood there, his fingertips white, his whole body trembling with restraint.
He could only stare at Aria, at the child in her arms, his eyes churning with despair, regret, and pain, unable to say another forceful word.
The light from the entryway fell on him, casting a lonely and wretched shadow.
This reunion was destined to be bloody from the start.
Aria's fingers gripped her clothes tightly, her nails digging deep into her palm, sending sharp waves of pain.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, they were covered with a layer of frost.
"Arthur, it's been over between us for a long time."
Her voice was soft but incredibly firm. "From the moment you did those things five years ago, there was never any possibility left between us."
Aria's words were like fine needles, piercing Arthur's heart with dense, overwhelming pain that left him barely able to breathe.
The oppressive, cold aura surrounding him shattered inch by inch in this moment. The regret, longing, and madness he'd forcibly suppressed for five years broke through all restraint, surging into his eyes. "Aria..."