Husband With Benefits
Chapter 105: A Pretense

Chapter 105: A Pretense

Arabelle’s heels clicked with a pronounced rhythm on the marble floor, her unspoken anger clear in it. Gabe, on the other hand, walked calmly beside her, showing no sign of agitation or anger.

The hotel room door swung open, revealing a room adorned with rose petals, champagne on ice, and a card that read, "Congratulations on your engagement!" Arabelle’s anger, suppressed during the ceremony, now bubbled to the surface.

"This is ridiculous!" she spat, her voice sharp. She swept her hand across the table, sending champagne flutes and petals flying. The crash echoed in the room. However, it was not enough to satisfy her. Another glass flew past his face, crashing against the wall with a loud sound.

Grabbing the ice bucket from the table, she hurled it towards the floor, letting out a guttural scream. Gabe, maintaining his calm demeanor, watched as the room transformed into a battlefield of broken fragments.

"Arabelle, please," Gabe urged, attempting to approach her cautiously. She spun around, her eyes ablaze with a fiery intensity that made him doubt if she could even hear him.

"Don’t ’please’ me, Gabe! None of this makes any sense!" She reached for a vase of flowers, sending it crashing to the floor. Petals scattered like a surreal, fleeting storm.

Gabe winced at the destruction but held back from intervening. Arabelle needed an outlet for her pent-up emotions, and the inanimate objects in the room bore the brunt of her turmoil.

She stormed towards the bed, tearing at the pristine white sheets. The fabric gave way under the force of her frustration, and she flung a pillow across the room.

He attempted to call out to her once again but she simply screamed and sent a small lamp flying his way. Thankfully Gabe stepped aside in time so that the lamp only nicked his face before falling with another loud crash.

Gabe felt the slight sting of the cut but his entire being was focused on calming Arabelle. This small hurt did not matter when she had been dealt two strong blows in a single evening.

First, she had to endure seeing Demetri with another woman throughout the evening. And then her engagement was announced to him without her consent. It was a wonder she had not stormed out of the celebration when Grandfather pulled that trick.

Finally, the storm seemed to have calm down and Gabe took a chance, carefully stepping over the fragments to stand close to her. He sighed and choosing his words carefully spoke, "Arabelle, I know this is overwhelming, but breaking things won’t change our situation. We need to figure out how to handle this together."

Arabelle, her chest heaving with exertion, shot him an incredulous look. "Handle this together? Why would I need to handle it with you who is actually responsible for ruining everything? I would have rather stood on that stage and been humiliated than become engaged to you!"

Another wave of anger surged through her, and she swiped a stack of papers off the table.

Gabe, sensing the futility of trying to stop her, retreated a few steps. "I get it, Arabelle. It’s unfair to you that you have to pretend an engagement... to me. However, please think well, did you really want to be humiliated like that? You are a prideful woman. Could you have been able to accept the people making fun of you or looking down on you?"

"Ha! You are trying to tell me that you saved me from ruin? Do you want me to be thankful to you? That will happen when hell freezes over! Because I will never be grateful to you, do you understand?"

"I am not asking you to be grateful. I understand that you do not want to marry me. We can break off the engagement."

"Of course, we are going to break up the engagement! As if I would want to be with you! In fact, announce it now that the engagement stands cancelled."

"That would be sheer stupidity. If we announce this now, it would only instigate people more to speak ill of you. Let’s pretend for a while, pacify everyone, and when the time is right, we’ll end this engagement. You can simply dump me in front of the entire world."

"Fine." A bitter smile played on her lips as she agreed to his proposal and sank onto the bed, physically and mentally exhausted.

As she lay there with her eyes closed, Gabriel tucked her into the bed and slowly cleared up the mess himself, careful not to disturb her. And finally, when all the debris had been cleared, the man stepped out of the room, ready to treat the small cuts and scratches on his face and his hands.

However, he felt no pain as he thought that he had finally accomplished the mission. She had agreed to his proposal. Unknown to him, Arabelle Winthrop’s mind was brewing something so sinister that he could not have imagined.

As Arabelle lay staring up at the ceiling, her hands clenched into fists, her mind only had one loop ongoing in her mind. Demetri had chosen that woman. She needed to get rid of that woman. She needed to get rid of her like the one she had gotten rid of the other woman. No, she needed to be more careful about how she went about this.

Already her mind had given her the answer. She was going to use this engagement with Gabe to handle Nora Williams. Tomorrow, the woman will know what it means to take something that belonged to Arabelle. But it won’t be easy on her. She was going to be slowly tortured. She will make sure that the woman ends up in a mental asylum and remembers what she is being punished for... and then when Demetri falls to his knees and apologizes to her, she would help Nora have a peaceful end...

And then she would teach Gabe a lesson. He really did have the audacity to think that he could be with her. How dare he try to link his dirty name with hers?

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com