Chapter 353 Being Chased
Isabella limped back to her rental apartment, absolutely furious.
The place she lived in now was a run-down residential building. When you walked in, the hallway didn't even have lights.
The apartment was dilapidated, worlds apart from her life in Novaria.
She had thought following Hayden abroad would lead to a better life, but who would have imagined she'd end up in such a situation.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Isabella grabbed everything within reach and threw it on the floor, venting her emotions.
Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open from outside. A scruffy, thin and hunched man walked in.
Seeing the mess scattered all over the floor, Hayden immediately roared in anger, "Isabella, why did you make such a mess at home? Clean it up right now!"
Isabella was reluctant, but thinking of Hayden's violent temper, she obediently got up from the sofa.
She felt so wronged. In the past, cleaning the house was done by maids, but now they were too poor to even afford one.
After she finished tidying up, Hayden asked again, "Where's the money? Give me some more money."
Isabella was about to put clothes in the washing machine when she heard this and couldn't help but widen her eyes. "Didn't I just give you two thousand dollars yesterday?"
"Only two thousand dollars? What am I, a beggar? That's not even enough for one meal."
"Did you go gambling again?" Isabella rushed over angrily to question him.
Hayden kept his head down, not looking at her, and said impatiently, "Why all the questions? Just give me the money!"
"Where would I get money? I already gave you everything yesterday!"
Hayden didn't believe her. He spat rudely and pulled Isabella over to search her.
Isabella was thin and frail. When he yanked her like that, she felt dizzy and fell onto the sofa.
She had always known how to use her figure to her advantage, so almost all her clothes were white or light-colored.
Now with Hayden's dirty hands groping all over her, she couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Ever since Hayden got hooked on gambling, he had lost all the money he had painstakingly transferred from the Brown Group.
Finally, with no other options, he made her use her pretty face to scam rich men.
Before she could even use the money she scammed, he would snatch it away.
She had lived like this for two whole years.
Hayden eventually found a stack of bills in her bag—it was exactly the breakup money Atlas had given her.
Watching Hayden count the money, Isabella frantically reached out to grab it back. "Dad, we still need that money for rent and utilities. You can't take it all."
But Hayden shoved her away and sneered, "I raised you for over twenty years, and you won't even give me this little bit of money?"
"Dad..."
"Is this all you got? How are you doing your job? Didn't I tell you to be nice to them? When those rich people are happy, they'll naturally give you more. Don't think you're still the young lady of the Brown family. Without me, you're nothing."
With that, Hayden took the money and left without looking back.
Isabella slumped on the sofa, weakly clutching her chest, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.
She stared at the ceiling where the paint was peeling off, her heart full of despair, tears streaming down from the corners of her eyes.
The next evening, Hayden came back covered in injuries, limping as he walked, looking panicked.
Isabella looked at him in confusion. "What happened?"
"Isabella, you have to save me. Someone's trying to kill me." Hayden locked the door and grabbed her hand in panic.
"Kill you? Who did you offend?" Isabella had a bad feeling. Soon, footsteps echoed in the hallway.
She instinctively held her breath and looked through the peephole. She saw several fierce-looking men in black T-shirts walking over.
She turned her head and found that Hayden had already disappeared.
Before she could think further, there was knocking at the door.
Isabella's heart jumped. She slowly crouched down, hoping they would leave.
But they were persistent, and the knocking got louder and louder.
Finally, she had no choice but to open the door.
"Who are you looking for?" Isabella had learned Celestria's language before, so communicating with them wasn't a problem.
Several tall, burly men scanned her up and down, then looked inside. "Have you seen an injured middle-aged man?"
Isabella's heart tightened. "No, I've been home the whole time. I haven't seen anyone come in."
The lead man waved to the others behind him, and they pushed Isabella aside and barged in.
The rental apartment wasn't big, almost everything was visible at a glance. They searched every place someone could hide but found nothing.
The men returned to the doorway and shook their heads at their leader.
The man glanced coldly at the pale-faced Isabella, said "excuse us," and left.
Watching them leave, Isabella breathed a huge sigh of relief, as if she had just survived a disaster.
After closing the door, her legs gave out and she slid down the wall to the floor, gasping for breath.
Those people... were terrifying.
Just then, there was a noise from the room, and Hayden came out.
He had calmed down and helped Isabella up from the floor. "Isabella, you did well this time."
"What exactly did you do? How did you offend these people?" Isabella asked with a dark expression.
Originally, she had followed Hayden abroad hoping for a better life, but now, every day was filled with fear.
She'd had enough of this life!
Hayden looked away guiltily, not answering her question.
Yesterday he had taken the money to the gambling table. At first he won several rounds, but then he kept losing.
He couldn't take it anymore and was about to leave when he overheard someone in the bathroom discussing other ways to win—by cheating.
What he hadn't counted on was that he simply didn't have the skills to pull it off seamlessly.
Plus, it was his first time trying, so he was nervous, and the people there quickly noticed something was wrong.
They took all his money and sent a group of people to beat him up badly.
He managed to escape, but those people wouldn't let it go and kept coming after him.
He wouldn't say, but Isabella could guess what happened. It was like someone had poured cold water over her, chilling her to the bone.
"Dad, please don't go to those places anymore, okay? Can't we just live a normal life?" She crouched down and gripped Hayden's hands tightly.
But Hayden violently shook her off, his expression twisted. "I won't accept this! Heaven has been unfair to me, so I have to fight for myself! I believe that one day, everything I lost will come back!"
"I'm in this situation now all because of Sophia and Benjamin! When I become strong enough, I'll definitely settle this score with them!"
Isabella fell silent, clenching her fists, her eyes full of resentment.
Yes, she had fallen to this point all because of Sophia!
If she ever got the chance to return home, she definitely wouldn't let Sophia off easily!