Chapter 49 He Hurt Me First

Chapter 49 He Hurt Me First
Ariella’s POV

The anger had drained away, leaving something far worse. His features had crumpled. 

The hard lines around his mouth softened into something broken. His eyes…usually so sharp, so unyielding…looked glassy, as if tears were only a breath away. 

He looked pained… Hurt in a way I had never seen before after mom died. Like I had reached into his chest and torn something vital out with my bare hands. He stood there, shoulders slightly slumped, staring at me as though the words I had thrown had landed like blades that pierced his soul.

For a long moment he said nothing. Then his voice came out low, rough, almost trembling.

“I loved your mother,” The words cracked. “I still love her. So much. I never… I never dared have anything with anyone while she was alive. Or after…until Regina.” His breath shuddered. “How dare you accuse me of such a vile thing? How dare you, Alina?”

The way he said my name…soft, wounded and slightly devastated…cut deeper than any slap could have.

Regret crashed through me again like a wave and my arms loosened. My hands fell to my sides, fingers curling uselessly against the fabric of my dress. 

I remembered, suddenly and vividly, the way he used to look at my mother. The way they used to chase each other through the halls of this house when they thought no one was watching, her laughter bright, his eyes soft only for her. 

I remembered the weeks after she died…how he had drowned himself in work and endless meetings, how the house had gone quiet and cold. How he would sometimes stand in the doorway of her old study late at night, staring at the empty chair. How he had told me, more than once, voice thick with grief, that he had to raise me into the best young woman possible… so that when he met her again in the afterlife, he wouldn’t be embarrassed. 

So he could look her in the eyes and say he had done right by the daughter she left behind.

The memories pressed against my ribs until it hurt to breathe.

Okay…I think I messed up this time.

I didn’t want to admit defeat. Not here. Not in front of the Harringtons. Not while Dorothy’s name still hung between us like a loaded gun. 

So even as my hands hung limp at my sides, I kept my shoulders high and my spine straight. My chin lifted just enough to pretend the words hadn’t gutted me.

Father’s expression shifted again. The pain remained, but the anger returned…hot, controlled, final. His voice, when it came, was low and hard.

“We will discuss this later, Alina. Just me and you.” His eyes locked onto mine with a cold finality, leaving no room for argument, no space for the apology already forming on my tongue. “But for now… you will marry Blake Harrington or you lose everything that was meant to be yours, and you will apologize to him for your behavior.”

I wanted to apologize to him… But the weight of his cold stare pressed down on me like invisible chains wrapping slowly around my throat as I heard him mention apologizing. I could feel them tightening with every heartbeat, squeezing the air from my lungs. 

Fuck apology. He hurt me first. He started it!

Regina was still trying to handle the situation, her voice soft but urgent as she reasoned with him. “Frederick, think about this. She’s your only daughter. The boy saved her life tonight. Public humiliation isn’t the answer. How does it even make sense? What exactly is she apologizing for? If you ask me, this young man should be the one apologizing to my daughter!”

“Absolutely ridiculous!” Mrs Harrington said immediately. “My son will not be apologizing for doing what he thought was best!” She said, folding her arms in front of her.

“And my daughter will not be apologizing for standing up for herself!” Regina barked back defensively.

Again…hearing her stand up for me filled me with warmth and love. But I knew it was pointless. Her words bounced off him like rain on marble. 

My fists, clenched so tight my nails bit into my palms and slowly loosened. Helplessness washed over me in a cold wave. No matter how hard I fought, the cage was still there…polished, gilded, and closing in.

My father stepped closer, voice low and measured as he ignored everything Regina just said and the tension in the air. 

“Are you ready to lose everything to Dorothy, Alina? Or will you apologize and let this be in the past where it belongs?”

I met his eyes without blinking, my voice coming out flat and icy. “This has nothing to do with an apology. I didn’t do anything wrong that needs an apology. I will marry Blake… but no one should expect me to do so with a pretty little smile on my face like a dog.”

The silence that followed was deafening. I turned on my heel and walked out, the hem of my ruined dress whispering against the floor. 

Behind me, my father called sharply, “Alina, get back here right now!” 

I didn’t stop. My footsteps carried me up the grand staircase, past family portraits that watched me with indifferent eyes, all the way to my bedroom at the end of the east wing.

I pushed the door open, ready to slam it shut and collapse against it. But something blocked the motion…a polished dress shoe wedged firmly in the gap. My stomach dropped as I looked up.

Blake stood there, that smug smile plastered across his face like he’d already won. He pushed the door wider and stepped inside, closing it behind him with a soft click that sounded far too final.

“What do you want?” I asked coldly, backing up a step. “Why are you in my room?”

He chuckled, circling me slowly like a predator. “Come on, princess, drop the act. You know this is inevitable. Why are you making everything so difficult for everyone? That scholarship rat, Kai…he doesn’t even compare to me. I don’t know why you keep taking his side. What does he have that I don’t? Money? Status? Power? Nothing.”

I laughed bitterly, crossing my arms over my chest. “He has decency, Blake. Something you wouldn’t recognize even if it slapped you across the face. Again. He actually cares about people instead of treating them like toys for his amusement. That’s why I take his side. Because unlike you, he’s not a pathetic excuse for a man who needs to humiliate others to feel tall.”

Blake’s smirk faltered for a second, but he recovered quickly, stepping closer. “You think he’s some hero while I’m the villain? He’s nothing! He’s a nobody who exists to serve people like us and that’s what he will be till he dies. You belong with me, princess. You belong in my world. Stop fighting it…”