Chapter 253
Chapter 253
Arabelle’s breath hitched. Her fingers trembled. She had poked the monster. Then provoked it. Then challenged it. Then harmed what it loved. And monsters don’t forgive.
Her thoughts spiraled as she drove with no destination, just desperately trying to outrun consequences she herself created.
Where could she go?
She couldn’t go home.
Not with Lucien Feng walking through her front gate like a storm.
She couldn’t go to Adrian’s penthouse, Lucien would find her there within minutes.
She couldn’t go to the family vacation villa.
Too predictable.
The Weng company safehouse?
Lucien had already breached one of her secret locations. There was no telling what else he had access to.
Hide abroad?
Run to an island?
Disappear?
Her breath shook.
She had money, millions. Connections, though most would abandon her once Lucien turned the spotlight on her crimes.
Fake identifications prepared for emergencies.
But the Weng name…
The Weng empire…
Everything she had built her identity on… would burn.
All because of that girl. All because of Serena Lin.
“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance,” Arabelle muttered bitterly, though the words trembled, lacking their usual fire.
Her reflection in the rearview mirror looked nothing like the confident heiress she was.
Her mascara was smudged from anxious touches.
Her lips were pale.
Her eyes, once sharp and mocking, now looked wild and cornered.
Another tremor ran through her.
Lucien had gotten into her hideout.
Lucien had walked into her estate.
Lucien had faced her father and issued a death sentence.
How much did he know?
How much had he uncovered?
What had Meilin remembered?
What evidence did Lucien have?
Her pulse raced painfully.
If Lucien released even half of what he discovered… She wouldn’t just lose her reputation.
She would rot in a prison cell or disappear entirely.
The thought made her slam harder on the accelerator, the engine roaring.
She needed a plan.
She needed somewhere Lucien wouldn’t look.
She needed someone who still owed her.
Anyone.
Her mind flicked through possible names like a Rolodex on fire.
Former allies.
Business partners.
People she had blackmailed.
But the problem with building a kingdom on fear and manipulation was simple. When the kingdom burned, no one came back to save you.
No one.
Her chest tightened.
She laughed, short, hysterical, unhinged.
“So this is what it feels like,” she whispered, “to be hunted.”
The car sped deeper into the night. And for the first time since the chaos started, Arabelle realized something horrifying. Running wasn’t safety.
Running was only delaying the inevitable.
Because Lucien Feng wasn’t hunting her with anger. He was hunting with purpose. And purpose always finds its target.
The darkness ahead felt endless. Yet somehow, she couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter how far she drove… Lucien was already right behind her.
Lucien didn’t go home immediately.
That was the mistake everyone would later talk about.
The Weng estate gates stood wide open behind him, lights blazing, security frozen in fear. Inside, his men moved like shadows, silent, efficient, brutal. But Arabelle was already gone.
“Block all exits from the city,” he ordered quietly. “Airports, borders, docks, private runways, everything. I want checkpoints every five kilometers. She does not leave.”
“Yes, sir.”
He ended the call, jaw tight.
She ran.
Of course, she did.
Arabelle Weng had always been clever. Cowardly, maybe. But clever enough to disappear when it mattered.
His men looked at him for instructions.
He raised a hand.
“Let her run,” he said, voice calm and terrifying all at once. “I want her tired before I catch her.”
No one questioned him.
Because when Lucien Feng stopped shouting, it meant he was done playing.
Somewhere on the outskirts of the city, Arabelle gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles burned. She’d never driven this fast.
The road blurred under her headlights, her breath coming in short, panicked pulls. Her phone lay face down in the passenger seat, cracked from where she’d thrown it.
Lucien’s shadow felt larger now. Closer.
He wasn’t just angry.
He was hunting.
Every red light felt like a death sentence. Every unfamiliar car behind her made her stomach twist. She kept checking the rearview mirror like she might see his headlights swallowing her whole.
Where could she go?
Her mind raced through names. Contacts. Safehouses. Places she had once considered untouchable.
Han.
The thought came like a bitter taste.
He hated her. She knew that much. But he hated betrayal more. And she had information. She still had value.
Her lips curled into a trembling smile.
If Lucien wanted war, then she’d become something worse.
A ghost.
She turned sharply off the main road.
Back at Hillside Estate... Lucien finally returned just as dawn began to bleed faintly into the horizon.
The house wasn’t asleep.
It felt like it was holding its breath.
Guards lined the halls quietly. Windows reinforced. The air thick with tension so heavy it could choke.
He walked straight to the bedroom.
Serena was sitting at the edge of the bed, hug of a pillow against her chest, her hair slightly messy, eyes sharp with exhaustion and fear.
She looked up instantly. “You didn’t answer.”
Her voice wasn’t accusing.
It was scared.
Lucien crossed the room in long strides and stopped in front of her.
“I had to finish something.”
Her eyes dropped briefly to his hands.
Blood.
His.
Someone else’s.
She swallowed.
“Did you get her?”
He didn’t lie.
“No.”
Silence.
The word hung between them like a loaded gun.
Her fingers tightened around the pillow. That quiet, instinctive fear stirred again. Not of him.
Of what he was willing to become.
“She ran,” he continued, quieter now. “But she won’t run far.”
Serena exhaled shakily.
“I heard the guards,” she admitted. “They said lockdown.”
He studied her.
“You weren’t meant to hear that.”
“I hear everything now,” she replied softly. “Since they touched my mother.”
That hit him harder than any bullet.
He stepped closer.
“I won’t let her touch anyone again.”
“I know,” Serena said.
And she did.
That was the most dangerous thing about him.