Daughter-in-law Strikes Harder

Ariana was sprawled comfortably early in the morning of the next day on the bed, drowning in a mess of white sheets that had intertwined her body. She closed her eyes after she had opened it for a while, and pulled in a long relaxing breath before she opened it again.

Her eyes traced slowly from the transparent glass walls of the underwater bedroom that they had slept in, and then to Dalton who was still sleeping on the bed by her side. She watched the underground ocean sight that was before her, and the sea animals that swam above their heads like it was going to peek through any minute.

She turned to stare at Dalton in complete awe again, as she breathed slowly in and out trying to contain the feeling that was beginning to overwhelm her. Her eyes were almost brimming with tears as her throat parched in pain at what would soon be their reality. The thought of it was too sad for her to bear.

Pulling herself together, Ariana stood up from the bed and walked to the floor of the nearest mirror to look at her body. It was hard for her to believe that she was the same curvy lady from months, as her eyes rested on the parts of her body which were now with lean flesh. Even her face was not left out.

‘It is over for you, Ari,’ she said in her mind as she touched the parts of her face gently.

The hair tie she had on her head since the day before was still intact, and she couldn’t even bring herself to unloose it to see what was happening there.

“You are so beautiful,” she heard the voice behind her compliment, and she turned to see that Dalton was awake already.

“Thank you,” she responded with a smile. A forceful cough erupted in her throat as she tried to walk back to the bed, and a red liquid splattered on the floor as Dalton watched in horror the reality of what she had been going through.

“Aria!” He screamed in shock when he realized what had happened, and ran to grab her by the body before she fell to the floor.

Dalton carried her limp body up from the ground in his arms and wept bitterly, as he got his phone immediately to call Alex to send a private jet as soon as possible with well-trained doctors.

He flew her back to California in no time back to the specialist he had made before, and they began every necessary treatment to help her come back while Dalton looked like a lost puppy as he watched them connect to her body, life machines. He cried bitterly as he watched her in a helpless state. It reminded him of his father too before he died.

‘Please she cannot die. Please, she cannot,’ Dalton repeated in his mind over and over again with so much fear. He could never lose someone he so much cared about any longer.

With the life machines beeping through the entire day till night, Dalton didn’t leave her side and continued to look at her face hoping that she would wake up. Alex’s efforts to convince him that they could leave and come back to see her went futile, and left alone by himself to get the necessary things that both of them would need.

She asked to see Collin when she woke up the third day, after she and Dalton had wept together, and she promised that it was something that was going to be very brief.

Dalton allowed her to do whatever she wanted and stepped outside when Collin finally arrived, as he got his phone to make calls to different top-ranking hospitals in and out of the city for a consultant.

“Ari. Is this really you?” Collin asked with barely a whisper as he made his way into the VIP room, still transfixed by the sight of her on the bed.

He had been informed that she wanted to see him by Dalton’s men, which surprised him to know that Dalton would have permitted such. However, seeing her in a hospital probably made him understand why. She had finally given in.

“Good to see you,” Ariana replied softly, as he took the seat beside her, still shocked by how he was looking at her.

He had so many questions to ask, so many things to say, with so much burden in his heart. Nevertheless, he was happy that he was still able to see her and even touch her.

“I think I know everything now,” he assured her so that she would not talk too much, concerning the fact that she was not the person whom everyone thought she was.

However, he noticed that she still addressed herself as Aria, and talked about how she had been able to get every piece of evidence against her wicked sister-in-law.

She also gave him every important information about the steps she had taken till the present, and told him to get the rest information from Emma who would be willing to help. And she also informed him of her sister’s whereabouts in Italy, and the people he could contact if anything happened to her.

She also informed him about her personal assistant who still worked at the department store on her behalf, hand-in-hand with the legal management board that had been put in charge. The many things that she felt were also necessary, she told him everything.

Collin couldn’t understand why she seemed to still mix up herself with her sister including names, which had him confused about what could be going on with her. He was willing to help her regardless even till the very end, if that was the only way that he could remain within the boundary.

It was extremely hard for Dalton to watch Aria in her terribleness, as he tried every best he could to make sure she was happy at all costs. Bearing the sight of the shaving off her hair for the surgery was worse, and the chemotherapy treatment that she was made to go through. It broke him. Scarred him.

~•~

The day for the Millers anniversary came and it was a loud issue among the elites and socialites of the city, and there were quite a number of them trying to get a free pass or invitation to the party.

Eleanor was feeling the best because of the big news that she had planned to reveal that morning, so as to be able to gain the favor of her son that she was trying to do everything for his sake.

She had returned back to the mansion two days before the anniversary to finalize the party arrangements with Dalton, so that no one would know that the family was having a glitch somewhere.

The party was being hosted at one of the most luxurious banquet halls, and it was going to be so extravagant with everything that the matriarch of the family had out in place.

The anniversary party was also going to continue overnight at the huge yacht owned by the family, and it was going to be strictly based on invitations. Eleanor wanted everything to be perfect.

She assumed that Dalton was still pissed with her because he never came back home since she had been there, but was positive that everything would return to normal by the time she revealed who the real imposter in the family was.

The Miller daughters were oblivious to what had been going on in their brother’s life, because he always told Alex to send them back anytime they came to curry his favor. The only person no one knew her whereabouts was Eva, except her mother whom she visited once after the family splitted from the Millers mansion.

And a night before the party, the sisters had returned back to the mansion except for Eva, and they were all together the next morning fully dressed in their beautiful glamorous dresses and shiny heels.

“Do you think Dalton is going to come? I have not seen either him or his wife anywhere at all. It is like they are off the surface of the earth,” Emma asked her sister who was eating the bread she made herself the next morning, because there were barely any cooking maids or chefs to do that for them.

She had gotten a call from Collin the previous day about what Ariana told him, and it really surprised her to know that her brother’s supposed wife was not off her neck yet. It was now worse that she had not even seen her anywhere.

“I hope he does. If he doesn’t attend the banquet, he should attend the one at the yacht, so that it would not give those filthy reporters speculations and news to write about us. Mum said that he is going to make an appearance today no matter what,” Ellen assured her sister.

“What about Eva?” Emma’s voice portrayed fear when she asked, hoping that their elder sister would not come anything soon and just appear for the party. She was still so scared of her and what she was capable of doing.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Someone who doesn’t care about us or bothered to call shouldn’t be cared about too,” Ellen muttered in spite as she continued eating the pale bread she had in her hand.

Later on before noon, Dalton made his appearance in the house without saying anything to anyone to get some important files in his safe. He couldn’t tell his family that his wife was dying on the sick bed, and he knew that she couldn’t make it to the party either.

Eleanor Miller was informed already about her son’s presence in the house, and decided to divulge the news about Aria’s truth in the most natural way like she was just finding out through a text message.

She was a step ahead to reveal the truth about Ariana to everyone before the real party started, but soon realized that her son had left the premises when she thought that he was still in his room.

Her mission to tell Dalton the truth failed, but it didn’t stop her daughters from asking her in great shock if what she said was true. Ellen even promised never to see her again, if she discovered that she was telling a lie.

On his way back to the hospital shortly after making an appearance at the banquet, Dalton received a call from Alex which was so abrupt, about the information he just got from the hospital. “Sir. They say that your wife is missing.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.