POV Arrabella
Chapter 5
My trembling feet descended the staircase one step at a time, ignoring the pain radiating throughout my entire body. I hugged my sling bag tightly against my chest while my right hand firmly gripped the handle of my fabric suitcase, which suddenly felt several times heavier than before. The bedroom upstairs that I had just left behind felt like a cage that had run out of air.
At the foot of the staircase, Donna Cooper and Felix Siauw Cooper were still standing there. They stood upright, watching me with eyes filled with profound concern.
"Arrabella, sweetheart? Where are you going now?" Donna asked, her voice trembling as she hurried over to block my path. Her cold fingers immediately wrapped around my wrist, stopping the suitcase I was about to drag toward the front door.
"I have to leave, Mom," I replied, my voice hoarse, nearly gone from all the tears I had been holding back.
"Why are you being so stubborn, Arrabella?" Felix interrupted in his deep baritone voice as he stepped forward with a deeply furrowed brow. "Isn't it already obvious? Michael tore up those papers. He's not going to divorce you. He's keeping you here because he wants you to remain his wife!"
A faint smile tugged at my lips, a bitter smile that hurt far more than crying ever could.
I wanted to scream right in front of them, to repeat every single word Sophia had said over the phone just a few minutes ago. I wanted to tell them that their beloved son wasn't keeping me here because he loved me, but because of the deep resentment he wanted to use to slowly destroy me from the inside.
But my tongue suddenly refused to move.
What was the point?
Even if I told them everything, it would only drag this exhausting drama on even longer.
"My decision is final, Mom... Dad," I said quietly, slowly shaking my head as I tried to free my arm from Donna's grip. "This marriage is no longer healthy. I can't stay here any longer."
"Arrabella, for your father and me, please think this through—" Donna pleaded, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The sound of hurried footsteps coming down the staircase abruptly cut Donna's words short.
I instinctively turned around.
Michael descended the stairs wearing a black shirt with the top buttons undone. His hair was slightly disheveled, and his bloodshot eyes locked onto me like a predator that had caught its prey trying to escape its cage.
"Where do you think you're going, Arrabella?!" Michael roared, his voice echoing throughout the spacious living room.
"Let me go, Michael! Don't touch me!" I screamed hysterically as he reached me in an instant, snatched the suitcase from my hand, and threw it aside so carelessly that it slammed into a decorative vase.
"Michael! Stop!" Felix shouted, trying to grab his son's shoulder.
But Michael seemed to have completely lost his reason.
Before I could even take a step back, his strong arm slid beneath my body once again. He lifted me off the ground by force and threw me over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing at all.
"Michael! Put me down! I hate you! Put me down!" I cried, pounding my fists against his back with every ounce of strength I had left. Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face, soaking the fabric of his shirt.
"Michael Cooper! What are you doing to your wife?! Put her down!" Donna shouted as she tried to chase after us, but Michael's strides were far too fast.
He carried me back upstairs with steady, unwavering footsteps, completely ignoring my screams and the curses echoing throughout the hallway.
Bang!
For the second time, he kicked open the master bedroom door before locking it from the inside with a sharp click that extinguished every last bit of hope I had left.
Michael dropped me onto the long sofa in the corner of the room.
I immediately got to my feet, breathing heavily as I glared at him, my chest rising and falling with overwhelming anger.
"Why, Michael?! Why are you doing this to me?!" I shouted, my voice piercing through the silence of the bedroom. "Tell me! Why are you keeping me here when you've never wanted me?! What have I ever done to you?!"
Michael stood motionless in front of the locked door.
He calmly straightened his wrinkled shirt collar before looking at me with eyes that were unimaginably cold, flat, and empty.
There wasn't the slightest trace of guilt.
Nor was there any warmth left in those eyes.
"Be the obedient Young Mrs. Cooper, Arrabella," Michael said in a low, emotionless voice that was intimidating down to the bone. "That's all you need to do."
"That's all?!" I let out a hollow laugh as tears streamed freely down my numb cheeks. "You lock me in here, treat me like a prisoner, and that's all you have to say? I'm sick of this, Michael! I'm sick of all your madness! I want to leave!"
Michael didn't answer.
He walked toward the bed and picked up the phone lying on top of the mattress, completely ignoring my outburst. Just then, the phone vibrated once again. The screen lit up, displaying the same name.
Sophia.
Michael swiped across the screen, answered the call, and held the phone to his ear. Since we were standing only a short distance apart in the silent bedroom, I could faintly hear Sophia's voice through the receiver.
"Michael... why did you suddenly hang up on me earlier?" Sophia asked from the other end of the line, her voice sounding both confused and slightly pouty.
Michael frowned, his eyes briefly flickering toward me before lowering to the floor.
"What do you mean?" he asked flatly.
"Hic... Michael..."
Suddenly, Sophia broke down into tears. Her sobs sounded so fragile, so desperately in need of protection.
"Could you come to my apartment right now? I... I'm scared to be alone, Michael. My head hurts so much... hic... I don't know who else I can ask for help in this city except you..."
I squeezed my eyes shut the moment I heard her words.
It felt as though an invisible sledgehammer had slammed into my chest, leaving behind an unbearable ache that made it difficult to breathe.
Michael let out a short sigh, his jaw tightening for a brief moment.
His gaze shifted back to me—a look that seemed to be weighing something I couldn't possibly understand.
But only a second later, he spoke into the phone again.
"Okay. I'll be there," Michael said firmly, putting an end to his own hesitation.
Beep.
The call ended.
Michael slipped his phone into his trouser pocket before walking toward the bedroom door without saying a single word to me.
He unlocked the door, opened it, and walked out just like that, leaving me trapped once again in a silence that crushed my soul.
My body slowly collapsed onto the cold marble floor.
I buried my face between my knees as the sobs I had been holding back finally burst free, echoing mournfully throughout the corner of the room.
I closed my eyes, allowing the heartbreak to seep into the deepest corners of my soul.
Sophia's words from the earlier phone call began replaying over and over in my mind like a broken record.
"You're keeping her in that house on purpose just to torment her... She deserves every bit of that pain."
I clutched my chest as an unbearable ache spread through it.
Now, every suspicion I had was completely confirmed.
There was no room left for denial.
Michael was keeping me here and refusing to sign the divorce papers for one reason alone—he wanted revenge.
He wanted to turn me into an invisible prisoner inside this house, torturing my mind day after day with Sophia's presence as punishment for a past that had never even been my fault.
His rough touch just a few hours ago...
His refusal to let me go in front of his parents...
Every single one of those actions was part of the carefully designed maze of revenge he had built.
And I...
I had been foolish enough to believe there was still a trace of love left in his heart.
I roughly wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand.
My sobs gradually subsided, replaced by an icy emptiness reflected in my eyes.
"So... you want to play with my heart and my mind, Michael?" I murmured, my voice hoarse and trembling in the suffocating silence of the room.
I slowly lifted my head and stared at the tightly closed bedroom door with eyes as cold as ice.
"Then let's see... who will be the one to break inside the prison you've created."
