The Psycho Is Innocent | ꪜ

Chapter 26: The Devil Is A Liar

Present

          "I'M NOT PLAYING your little riddles anymore, Theo. I want you to tell me everything you know about DOD and how it connects to Maria and Kayla. Too much time has passed and I'm getting impatient here," Theo slapped her hand away from his face and tried to back off but Ariel resumed her former position swiftly with one hand pressed against his neck, pinning him to the wall and the other narrowing towards his nose. "You're one feisty girl, Campbell!" He teased.

          "Keep playing with me and I'll give you the Ariel Campbell deluxe nose job." Theo threw his hands in the air in surrender, a smirk still plastered on his face. When Ariel's hand began to lower from his neck he took this opportunity to overpower her and quickly took a hold of her arm. He twisted her arm so that it was pinned against her back then shoved her into the wall, ignoring the painful grunt that emitted from her lips. "You mother fuc–"

         "You come to my house to threaten me and you think you're gonna get away with it? You have balls but not more than me. I told you that you breaking my nose was a one-time thing now look at you, defenceless, at my house which I'm pretty sure no one knows about. I could easily hurt you, you understand that right?" Ariel didn't fight against him, but instead, she narrowed her eyes in his direction and smirked, "I'd like to see you try." Stunned by her nonchalance and amusement of the situation, he immediately loosened his grip on her arm and sighed.

          "You can't just walk into a gated community and not expect to get hurt, idiot. You're lucky the guards are off today or they would have shot you on sight. How the hell did you even get my address?" He spat as he sauntered away from her. This entire town was flooded with people who had too much money for their own good. It either sprouted from a high-paying job or ancestral riches passed down to the last generation. So it was no surprise that Theo was one of the many people who lived in a house that could accommodate fifty guests.

          Ariel was happy that her parents never showed off their money unlike 95% of the town."You gonna come in or are you gonna stand there like a putz?" He mocked. Ariel ignored him and sauntered into the house, unimpressed by the interior that was as bland as white rice. There was no character in the house, nothing that spoke to her about the people living in it. Yet, she was the least bit surprised. Rich people had no taste unless they didn't have their money speaking on their behalf.

          "Let's cut to the chase. I want you to first tell me what happened when you played DOD." Theo sighed, "didn't Tobias tell you everything?" No. "Yes," she lied through her teeth, "but I wanna hear your side of the story. Why do you think you're in danger and what does it have to do with Maria and Kayla? If you don't tell me, Theo, we're gonna have a problem." He lowered himself down onto the couch opposite her and leaned back as his eyes narrowed to slits.

          "Do you resort to threats by default? You can't have a normal conversation without telling someone you're gonna hurt them?" Ariel shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, wanna find out if I make good on those threats?" Theo pursed his lips in a thin line as his eyes assessed her face carefully. He couldn't pick up on anything that seemed out of the ordinary. She appeared as if she were genuinely interested in hearing his part. All of this for one guy? He thought to himself, his eyes never peeling away from her. "Fine, I'll tell you whatever you want to know." Because there's no way out of it.

Past

          Ariel didn't know what came over her when she finally decided to come back. It had been a week since the incident at Tobias' house. After she fainted, Melissa Aspen rushed her to the hospital for immediate medical attention. The worried mother didn't need to convince Ariel to cover for Tobias in fear that her son's uncontrollable actions would get him thrown in jail for assault. Why? Because she had decided that for herself. She wasn't going to let him go, not when she was a step closer to figuring out who he was.