Chapter 136 Breakup 3
But Gabriel held her close, as if playing a game with her. "That's all your sincerity amounts to? A little neck massage, a bit of leg rubbing, like I'm some three-year-old? In the adult world, we naturally move on to adult activities."
Adult activities... his implication couldn't have been clearer.
She wiped the water from her face with her other hand, bracing against his chest. After only a moment's hesitation, she asked coldly, "If I satisfy all your demands tonight, will you sign?"
"Try it and find out."
"What if you go back on your word?"
"That would just mean you didn't serve me well enough..."
Arabella understood what he meant: as long as she abandoned all dignity and self-respect tonight, letting him do whatever he wanted—that would please him enough to sign.
Gabriel watched her struggle with the decision, in no hurry at all, even leisurely brushing her wet hair away from her face with the back of his hand.
Arabella said nothing more, just took a deep breath, then settled herself fully into the bathtub and stripped off her soaked nightgown right in front of him.
She'd never been intimate with him under such bright light.
Never exposed herself so completely.
Even when he'd watched her bathe while holding their daughter the past few nights, she'd still shyly turned away.
But today, none of that mattered.
He wanted to see her humiliated, stripped of all dignity—so she'd tear herself apart to satisfy him!
So what if her belly was loose and saggy?
So what about the watermelon-like stretch marks?
She didn't care anymore.
Better to let him see it all clearly, maybe disgust him enough to kill his interest entirely!
Gabriel was indeed shocked by this side of her, his expression freezing momentarily.
But it wasn't enough to make him lose interest.
Arabella didn't try to hide anything, saying matter-of-factly, "You see what I am now—damaged goods. You really don't need to torture yourself... With your status, even if you get tired of Emily, you could find countless young, beautiful women with perfect figures. Why bother?"
Gabriel was pulled from his daze by her self-deprecation, looking up at her again.
"True enough," he said, pulling her up to sit with him, tilting her chin up to kiss her. "But don't you know..." he murmured against her lips, "mature women have so much more appeal..."
Arabella couldn't speak, only cursing him as a pervert in her mind.
That night, Arabella fully experienced just how shameless he could be.
When Gabriel turned cruel, he truly wasn't human.
The first time the baby woke up crying for milk, she had nothing to give.
That bastard had taken everything!
The second time the baby woke up crying for milk, she still wasn't free.
The nanny knocked on the door, and getting no response, discreetly took the baby away to prepare formula.
Arabella felt she could never face anyone again.
At least, once dawn broke, she'd be leaving this place.
But when the sun rose, she was sleeping as if swallowed by a black hole, completely unconscious.
When her body finally recovered slightly from extreme exhaustion, she forced her weary eyes open—it was already one in the afternoon.
Cursing furiously in her mind, she hurried to get up and dress.
The marks he'd left on her body from before still hadn't faded, and last night had added countless new ones.
Standing up, taking her first steps, her legs nearly gave out beneath her.
'Bastard! Son of a bitch! Animal!'
She kept cursing internally, barely managing to support herself as she went to the bathroom to clean up.
When she came downstairs dressed and ready, all the household staff acted as if nothing had happened, not showing the slightest unusual expression.
Only Mary looked at her with concern, saying sympathetically, "Mrs. Sterling, the kitchen has prepared some food. Please eat something."
She smiled weakly, not refusing.
She was truly both hungry and exhausted—without eating something, she'd have no strength to leave this place.
But who could have known that even after filling her stomach and regaining her strength, she still couldn't leave.
"Mrs. Sterling, Mr. Sterling has instructed that starting today, you cannot leave Parkside Estate without his permission."
Samuel appeared from outside the door before she could leave the living room, delivering this message with rigid formality.
Arabella was stunned. "What does he mean? House arrest?"
Samuel wasn't good at communication and couldn't answer.
Mary stepped forward to persuade her: "Mrs. Sterling... for the sake of the children being so young, please give him one more chance."
Arabella was already getting angry, and at this point, she couldn't listen to anyone's persuasion. She took out her phone to call Gabriel.
After tormenting her so badly last night, waking up to no signed divorce papers was one thing, but now he wanted to place her under house arrest!
Was there no justice left in this world?
The call went out, rang twice, then he hung up.
She was even more furious and called again. This time it went straight to voicemail!
Arabella was livid, opening her messaging app and sending voice messages.
"Gabriel, you've gone too far! You clearly agreed last night—you got your satisfaction and now you're going back on your word!"
She shouted this right there in the living room, making both Samuel and Mary extremely uncomfortable.
But she didn't care anymore.
With her personal freedom gone, what did she care about losing face?
She fired off five or six angry voice messages in succession, but there was still no response.
Arabella grabbed her luggage and tried to force her way out. Samuel waved his hand, and several burly bodyguards in black materialized from nowhere, forming a line and blocking the door completely.
"Mrs. Sterling, please don't make this difficult for us," they said in unison. Since there were gender considerations, they didn't lay hands on her, just stood like wooden posts forming a human wall.
Arabella fell silent.
In the side room, the children who had been enjoying the sunlight through the floor-to-ceiling windows seemed to sense something and suddenly began crying, their wails growing louder and louder.
Mary pulled at her arm: "Mrs. Sterling, the children are crying. Please go check on them first. When Mr. Sterling comes back, you can talk things through properly. Even if you want to leave, you should discuss it calmly first."
Arabella was holding back her fury, refusing to give in, but when Isabella's crying became so severe that she started spitting up, and the nanny cried out in alarm, it tugged at her heartstrings. She hurried over to tend to her daughter.
---
In his office, Gabriel stared at his phone, playing the woman's furious messages several times over.
Tsk, just like an angry little cat, all claws and teeth ready to scratch.
He was certain that if he were standing in front of her right now, that little wildcat would definitely claw him bloody, wanting nothing more than to skin him alive!
Sitting quietly in contemplation, he picked up the divorce papers lying on his desk.
This morning when he left, seeing these few sheets of paper, he'd impulsively brought them with him.
Staring at the words "irreconcilable differences," he pondered repeatedly—had there ever been feelings between them?
Had she perhaps loved him once?
Was it because he was still lost in his obsession with Emily that he gradually broke her heart, disappointed her, until finally she stopped loving him?
Stopped loving him...
Thinking of this reality, a dull pain struck his heart. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, his brow deeply furrowed.