The Queen Back From Hell - Chapter 44: Chapter 44

'Forget it. Not worth dirtying my hands,' Arielle thought.
"Vicious?" Arielle laughed. "You're calling me vicious? When you are stirring up drama with Perla and the others, you should've thought about the fact that some things don't go unpunished—they're just waiting for the right moment."
Arielle shoved past her and walked on, and as they brushed shoulders, she leaned close and whispered, "Fake will always be fake. It can't become real."
Meredith's eyes flew wide open, her fists clenched in rage. 'She actually dares to mock me? That bitch!! I'm never going to let her go!'
Fuming, Meredith stormed back to her room and kicked the chair in her way across the floor.
She clawed at the blankets with both hands, furious.
Meredith had only gone to confront Arielle because she saw the news about the real Bradford daughter blowing up online.
After more than ten years in the Bradford family, Meredith had never felt this humiliated.
In that moment, it felt like her whole world dropped into an ice pit. Shame and helplessness rushed over her like a flood.
Curled up in the corner with her arms around her head, Meredith wished she could just disappear.
Meredith snapped, 'I'm always the high-and-mighty Bradford heiress. How can I be fake? I don't want to face the mocking, the disdain, the pity in other people's eyes.
'Everyone in Theoria City knows now. I'm supposed to be the noble princess. I can't be some adopted girl they brought back by mistake.
'Arielle, why did you come back? Why couldn't you have just died out there?
'No one in this house likes you. You're just clinging to everything that should've been mine. You bitch. I'll make sure you pay.'
"Arielle!" Meredith screamed, her face twisted with hatred and rage filling her eyes.
Meanwhile, Henry and Sharon were busy trying to suppress the trending list and manage the PR mess.
Arielle looked at the online buzz and smiled as she shut her phone. 'Time to sleep,' she thought.
On the other hand, Meredith couldn't sleep at all.
The next morning, Meredith looked exhausted, with massive dark circles under her eyes that even heavy foundation couldn't hide.
Henry and Sharon didn't sleep well either.
So when Sharon dragged herself downstairs for breakfast and saw Arielle sitting there calm as ever, eating with zero stress, that wave of pent-up frustration came roaring back.
Arielle's calm and ease felt like a slap to Sharon's face.
Sharon muttered, 'With everything that had happened, she still has the nerve to eat breakfast?'
Sharon walked right over and slammed the food off the table. "Eat, eat, eat. That's all you care about. Because of you, the Sidel family's stock dropped.
"Your dad's out of his mind with stress. Your sister got hurt and you haven't even checked on her. What's wrong with you? Do you even have a conscience? And you still have the nerve to eat?"
Sharon pointed at Arielle's face and yelled, hand on her hip like some street shrew having a meltdown.
Arielle looked down at the mess on the floor, a flicker of sorrow in her eyes.
Arielle muttered, 'Henry doesn't sleep well, and that's my fault?
'What, am I supposed to sing him a lullaby and tuck him in?
'Meredith gets hurt—isn't that her own doing? Everything was made clear yesterday, and now they're dumping all the blame back on me?
'Jesus, what a joke. All they ever cared about is them. What about me?'
In Arielle's old life, Meredith had deliberately sent the driver away so no one came to pick her up from school. Then she walked home in the rain for two hours.
When Arielle got back, no one cared. All she got was yelled at—why didn't she just walk home like everyone else?
Arielle knew Meredith always twisted the story in front of them, and honestly, she didn't even feel like explaining anymore.
No one ever believed her anyway.
That time, Arielle ended up with a fever for three whole days.
And Sharon? What was she doing then?