A Ruling Passion – Chapter 1462

Aery put just as much force in her voice when she rebuffed, “No! I’m not going! You wanna leave? Leave on your own!”

Exasperated, Helen grabbed the closest clothing article her hand could reach and hurl it at Aery’s face. “Goddamn it, Aery, I’m telling Ariane and Mark about everything you have done!”

“You know what? I don’t think you will,” the girl mustered enough bravado and defied. “To rat me out is to implicate yourself as guilty by association, which means you’ll lose what little dignity you have left to see Arianne. Isn’t your dream to have Arianne forgive you for abandoning her in the past? You’ll have no chance to make that dream come true if you tell her what I did. She’ll hate you just as much as she hates me.”

Helen drew a deep breath and scoffed scornfully. “Well, well, you’re at least spot-on about that. Yes, I’m scared. But it doesn’t mean I don’t know how some people commit the same sin over and over again, Aery. Nor am I stupid enough to sabotage my reconciliation with Arianne just because I want to protect you from your well-deserved comeuppance. If I let you get away with this, I’ll feel so ashamed of myself that I could never look at Arianne for the rest of my life,” she declared. “Leaving here right now is the morally superior thing to do, Aery, which means I don’t care if you don’t want to go. You will eventually, and I’ll see to that. You either choose to leave with me right now and preserve what little dignity you have left, or you could get personally kicked out by Mark himself. Your choice.”

Aery was not at all unfamiliar with Helen’s character, so she knew when she had lost. Reluctantly, she dragged her bandaged foot off the bed and began to pack. “Alright, Morn. You win. I get it, I’ve done wrong, okay? I know I can’t ever win you, but I really want to stay home and not live abroad! Look. I was joking about starting over with Mark just now, okay? The truth is, I’m just happy to see him every day. Can we please not go abroad? Please, please—”