Chapter 4

In the room next door, Selena had finished three bottles of liquor and was singing a song at the top of her voice.

Ariana noticed something strange with the news online as she scrolled through them. She tugged at Selena's sleeve. "When have I ever said that Brian Lodge has sexual dysfunction?"

"Ha! I wrote that! Since it's a news article, it needs to be shocking to catch the readers' attention."

Ariana's expression hardened. "Have you thought about the consequences, though?"

Selena's cheeks were flushed. She held the microphone and shouted, "Consequences? What consequences would there be? It's not like Brian Lodge is going to hold a knife to my neck and force me to take down all the news on the Internet?"

Bang!

Suddenly, someone kicked the door open. The song that was playing in the room came to an abrupt stop.

Ariana's heart missed a beat when she saw a stony-faced Brian standing at the door. She knew he would come looking for her, but Ariana never expected him to show up so quickly.

"Did you release the news article?" Brian's voice was cold and monotonous.

Selena hid behind Ariana in fear. Ariana tried to maintain her composure. "I did."

"It was you?" Brian scoffed. He strode forward and grabbed hold of Selena's arm. Then, he pushed her toward Isaac.

"Get out!"

Selena's legs had gone limp the moment she spotted Brian. She tried to rush back to Ariana's side to help her, but Isaac quickly dragged her out of the room. "We're going! We're leaving right away!"

As he closed the door behind him, Ariana and Brian were the only ones left in the room.

Brian stepped closer toward Ariana and said frigidly, "You broke off the engagement last night and came to a club to have fun the next day. I underestimated you, Ariana."

When Ariana looked at Brian, what came into her mind were the ugly faces of the abductors who forced themselves onto her in her previous life. It made her stomach turn. Ariana subconsciously took a step back.

"Mr. Lodge, you've left me behind during the engagement party to see Evelyn. Also, the Torrey family couldn't possibly become in-laws with the Lodge family with your social status being much higher than ours. Let's just call off the engagement and end things amicably."

"End things amicably?" Brian repeated inwardly.

He snickered, "The way you end things amicably is by slandering me on the Internet?"

"That was an accident!"

"Ariana, I'll admit the way you're trying to get my attention is quite unique. However, I've warned you before to stop playing tricks with me!"

Brian had Ariana pressed against the wall. There was a fierce look in his eyes.

Ariana directed her gaze to her wrist, which was held in Brian's iron grip. She suddenly recalled what happened in her previous life on this day, the day after the engagement party.

Belinda had told Brian to send Ariana home. Yet, he left her somewhere along the way to brace the cold wind alone.

Brian said monotonously, "I've only gotten engaged to you because I have use for the Torrey family. There's not a chance I'll fall for you, Ariana Torrey."

As she had flashbacks of her previous life, Ariana yanked her hand free and threw a slap across Brian's left cheek forcefully.

Slap!

The loud noise was amplified several times by the microphone nearby. Isaac and Selena, who were waiting outside, pushed the door open immediately.

"Ariana, are you alright?"

"Brian, you're in the wrong this time! You shouldn't have hit a lady no matter how angry you were!"

Isaac and Selena hurried over to the pair. To their surprise, they found that the person who was struck speechless was Brian instead of Ariana.

Ariana said icily, "Brian Lodge, do you not understand what I'm saying? The Lodge family isn't the only one who can call off the engagement. It's happening if I say so!"

"Why you!"

Brian was burning with rage. As he lifted his gaze, he noticed there was barely disguised contempt in Ariana's eyes.

Brian was momentarily stunned. Ariana had not once looked at him this way. It was as though this woman, who had tried so eagerly to earn his favor and affection previously, had changed overnight.

"Let's go, Selena."

As if looking at him would make her gag, Ariana walked away without sparing Brian another glance.

Selena did not fully understand what had happened since she was quite tipsy. Yet, Isaac was feeling even more confused than she was.

He could not fathom how he was seeing things when he had not had a drop of liquor.

"Ariana, who would speak to Brian softly just like how the caring and gentle Evelyn would, actually hit him? What's more, she had hit Brian's face?" Isaac pondered.

"Brian… Brian Lodge…"

Isaac waved his hand before Brian's face. "Did she hit him so hard that it gave him a concussion?"

Brian seemed like he had not recovered from being slapped earlier. With a frown on his forehead, he pointed at the door. "She dared to hit me?"

"...Yeah, she did. I can still see the red marks on your face."

Brian's face darkened.

As he remembered those final remarks Ariana made so confidently earlier, Brian chuckled sinisterly. "Tell the Torrey family that I'm not calling off the engagement just because Ariana wants it!"

The next day, at the Torrey residence…

"What? He's not calling off the engagement?"

Ariana, who sat on a couch in the living room, furrowed her brows.

Brian hated her to the core in her previous life. He never would have compromised in the first place if it were not because Belinda had insisted on choosing Ariana to be his future wife.

Last night, Ariana announced that she was breaking off their engagement. She even slapped Brian after that. She had clearly hurt Brian's pride and dignity, so there was no way he would still want to proceed with the engagement.

"Thank goodness! That's wonderful news!"

Gwen appeared extremely relieved as she patted her chest.

"I thought Mr. Lodge would be angry about it. Thankfully, he's going to overlook it. Ari, you should head over to the Lodge residence now and apologize to Mr. Lodge. I'm sure he'll let it pass this time."

"You should go and apologize to him yourself if you want, Ms. Lambert. I'm not getting engaged to him."

Gwen was very displeased with Ariana's attitude of indifference. "Why are you being so immature? With your father gone now, how are we going to make sure the Torrey family will continue to prosper if we don't rely on the Lodge family?"

Ariana's expression hardened.

During her previous life, Ariana was in her weakest, most vulnerable mental state when her father passed away. It was also at that time Brian had lent the Torrey family a helping hand.

Using that as an excuse, Gwen kept telling Ariana over and over again that Brian was interested in her. Slowly, Ariana fell for Brian.

It was only later on Ariana found out that Brian had helped their family because she had some resemblance to Evelyn.

Unfortunately, Ariana was already so deeply in love with Brian at that point. She even believed Gwen's words and tried to please Brian by becoming a substitute for Evelyn.

Back then, she had a naive belief that she could someday win Brian's heart. Ariana found herself hilarious and pathetic as she thought about it now.

"Don't worry, Ms. Lambert. My father had worked hard to build this legacy for the Torrey family. I won't allow it to be met with its downfall. If you still think we need the Lodge family, you can try giving it a shot yourself."

Ariana went upstairs after saying that.

"You! How could you say something like that? I was only saying these things for our family's sake! You're just a young woman. How would you know how to manage a company? It would be better for you to marry a wealthy husband and be a stay-at-home wife!"

Ariana ignored Gwen's angry shouts coming from behind her.

Gwen wanted her to marry Brian so that her son could become the Torrey family's successor. Moreover, Ariana's status as the future Mrs. Lodge would be very useful to them.

However, Torrey Co. was the legacy Ariana's father had left for her.

Ariana would not be as dumb as she was in her past life and hand over Torrey Co. to the ungrateful, unscrupulous mother and son duo!