Hatred.
Repulsion.
Disgust.
Anger.
That was all he felt from this woman whose eyes resembled thunderbolts aiming to kill him where he sat.
When he had seen her in the newspapers, magazines and even on the television, he didn't have a clue that someone with such Angelic features who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly would be capable of something as monstrous as this.
She hadn't done any physical damage. At least not yet- She looked like she wanted to rake her expensive, new looking cuticles over his eyes and render him blind forever.
Her stare was murderous and hateful.
"No." He said with a tone of finality and pushed the cheque forward- towards her- where It had come from.
Ariana didn't even spare the cheque a glance and was still glaring at him like a mother wondering what to do with a stubborn child.
"Mr Hallman... "
"I believe there's no need for formalities between us, step mother," He smiled inwardly on seeing the sneer on her face at the endearment. "Call me Steven."
"Mr Hallman," She said- this time with a little more edge to her voice than usual, the sides of her lips twitching into a smile before she pushed the cheque back to him. "I just wrote you a cheque of a hundred thousand dollars."
"And I rejected It." He shrugged for some reason, enjoying the conflicted expression on her face.
It's like she was deciding between shooting him right between his eyes or stabbing him multiple times on his chest till he stopped moving. Either way, If that was supposed to scare him, then It did the complete opposite.
He was amused.
"You said your mother didn't have a job, she has debts to pay off and your sister is yet to resume school due to the expenses which you can't afford." Ariana crossed her hands over her desk formally, the chandelier in the room reflecting over the diamonds encrusted in her gold wristwatch through the help of the sunlight travelling into the office in thin light rays.
"Yes. That's correct." He nodded briefly, leaning into his chair like It was luxury and he owned the office, just to get the joy out of seeing Ariana look like a rumbling volcano about to explode.
"And I wrote you a cheque of a Hundred. Thousand. Dollars... " Seeing as he was about to speak, she suddenly grabbed the cheque and pulled a pen from her pen stand before crossing a line over the amount in words she had written.
She raised her eyes to stare into his cerulean blue ones which stared right back at her in anticipation- clearly enjoying the show she was putting on.
"Maybe that's too small? How about five hundred?" She attempted to write it, but she suddenly changed her mind. "One million." She snapped her head to look at him and the sides of his lips twitched.
"One Million?" He suddenly chuckled and leaned over the table before grabbing hold of the cheque. The chair made a sharp sound as It was scraped backwards just as he tore the cheque into little pieces and flung It in the air right at Ariana's face.
The woman didn't even flinch as she directed her hard, cold gaze at him the entire time the small pieces of paper floated down from the air.
"Well," He sat down and pulled the blazer of his suit over his shoulders properly before rubbing his hands and crossing them over the table Infront of her formally. "Since that's all taken care off... Let's get back to business. Because I felt you have just been playing around or practicing to advertise a really useless product which no one would ever buy... just like I won't buy the idea of selling my birthright for a stupid cheque. " His gaze suddenly so cold and friendless that Ariana who wanted to lash out at him froze, feeling her stomach get twisted into knots.
His eyes were so blue It was like a frozen castle was being built in there. The chivalry and amusement were all gone, and what replaced them were the eyes of an exasperated young man who would ruin her life In a second If he wanted to.
And It's not like he couldn't If he did. Steven Hallman was capable of ruin all 12 years of hardwork and dedication by just going out there and letting the world know that Henry Torres was his father.
All the properties would rightfully be conveyed to his name using his legal birth certificate- showing that he truly is the birth son of late Mr. Torres. And while she? She would be left with nothing unless Steven decides otherwise.
But as they sat facing each other with their eyes deeply glaring into each other's with masked hate, they both knew that wasn't happening.
Ariana Torres was a nobody when she married Henry, and even with her mother's advice, she preferred being a housewife; wallowing in her husband's wealth and having servants to even the littlest of things for her at her every beck and call.
Thus, she depended on her husband's wealth. So If all 'her' properties were conveyed to the rightful (Illegal) heir, she would be left with nothing.
Nothing at all.
She would be done for. Her name would be dragged across the mud and she would return back to being a nobody who people looked down on, but this time it would be worse- they would mock her for falling from grace to grass rather than climbing another level on her path to being the first female self made trillionaire in the world as she had said In an interview once.
Steven had watched that interview. He had laughed. She was planning on being a trillionaire with HIS father's business? Was this some kind of a joke.
It was last year, when he had found out that he was infact, not just some kid living in a small town in Australia who had an abusive alcoholic for a father that died while drunk driving.
No. That was Amanda's father- his step sister, and that was infact his mother's first husband. But, Adrien wasn't her first love.
She had loved someone else- eighteen years ago.