Mrs Blackwell felt her heartache,
"Ariella, don't say that. Why would you say that? Just calm down. I really need you to calm down," she pleaded.
"I'm acting hysterical?" Ariella shouted. "Asher just left me. Why am I still here? I'm going back home. He's going to take my kids away from me. I won't allow him to take my kids away from me and give them to Scarlett. That will never happen."
"Okay, we'll talk about that. I will talk to Asher about the kids," Mrs Blackwell tried to soothe her.
"I can't believe I signed that marriage contract. I was just desperate and didn't think I would still be married or trying to have a family right now.
Ariella's voice broke as she revealed the truth.
"I signed that contract when I was desperate. I was trying to save my mother's company, Summer's Investment Co., from bankruptcy. I was going to lose it, and my stepmom was doing everything she could to destroy the company. Asher was my last resort, and I held on to him. I regret agreeing to his evil contract." She wiped her tears and continued,
"Once we got married, we were happy and I thought we were in love, but he lied to me. I'm leaving, I can't continue staying here." She started pulling her bags, but Mrs Blackwell tried to stop her.
"Ariella, please listen to me. You're going to cause more trouble than what has already happened."
Just then, they heard Mr. Blackwell coming into the room. "What's going on? What's this shouting all about?"
"Ariella wants to go back to her family," Mrs. Blackwell said.
"What? Why?" Mr. Blackwell asked, confused.
"It's a long story. Your grandson just said he's getting back together with Scarlett. It's a mess." Mrs Blackwell sighed tiredly.
"I thought you were going to the checkup. I don't understand." Mr Blackwell said, clearly confused.
Ariella interjected, "I'm going to leave now."
"No, you wait here until I talk to Asher," Mr Blackwell commanded, taking control of the situation as he left the room and dialled Asher on his phone.
Mr. Blackwell returned, his expression hard. "Asher is on his way. We will sort this out right now."
An hour later, Asher arrived, furious. His face was full of anger. He stormed into the family room where his grandparents and Ariella sat.
"You! I am so tired of everything you have been doing. How dare you do this in my grandparents' house?" he yelled at Ariella.
"Asher, sit down," Mr. Blackwell commanded.
Asher took a deep breath, trying to collect himself, and then greeted his grandparents, who remained unimpressed by his behaviour.
"Asher, please sit down," Mrs. Blackwell insisted.
Asher reluctantly took a seat, positioning himself as far away from Ariella as possible. Ariella remained silent, avoiding eye contact and looking down at her legs and fingers. She felt that this meeting was a waste of time; Asher was direct and rarely went back on his word. If he said he was done with her, he was done with her. This meeting wasn't going to change anything.
"Okay, I need to know what happened," Mr. Blackwell said, his voice steady. "I talked to your grandmother and your wife, but I need to hear your side of the story. What is going on?"
Asher sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Grandfather, Grandmother, you know ever since I was a small boy, Scarlett and I were friends. In time, that friendship turned to love. We dated for a long time until we got engaged. I was going to marry her. My heart has always belonged to her, and that has not changed."
"And what about Ariella? She is your wife, the woman you're married to." Mr. Blackwell asked, his voice hard.
"I know that, Grandfather. But that's why there are divorces," Asher responded.
"A divorce?" Mrs. Blackwell asked, clearly scandalized. "There cannot be a divorce in the Blackwell family. When I told you not to marry Ariella, and you insisted on marrying her, I reminded you that there is no divorce in the Blackwell family."
"There you go," Asher said, his voice edged with frustration. "Isn't that just being hypocritical? I mean, your daughter Lily is divorced, isn't she? She divorced my father and married Duncan's father. So saying divorce does not exist in the Blackwell family is like trying to erase my father from this family, like he never married my mother and gave birth to me. I am divorcing Ariella and getting married to Scarlett and that's final."
Mrs. Blackwell's face turned pale. "And what about the children? They can't be born out of wedlock."
"We already spoke with Ariella about this," Asher said, his tone cold. "I told her that as soon as she gives birth, I'm going to divorce her. She already knows this. Also, in our agreement, I told her I would give back her mother's company and provide her with $1 billion as a divorce settlement. She signed the marriage contract. She knows the rules."
Ariella's voice trembled with anger and pain. "What about the children? Are you seriously going to take them away from me and give them to Scarlett?"
Asher's expression looked indifferent. "I'm not giving them to Scarlett. I am going to marry Scarlett. She's going to be my wife. She's going to help me raise our children, my children, the Blackwell children."
Ariella turned toward Mr. and Mrs. Blackwell, her eyes pleading. "These are my kids. I can't give them to Asher and Scarlett. They are my children. I carried them; I will raise them. Please don't take my children from me, no one can take my place in their lives"
Mr. Blackwell's face hardened as he turned to Asher. "This is unacceptable. You cannot just discard Ariella and take the children from her. Those children need their mother."
Mrs Blackwell nodded in agreement as she pleaded, "Asher, you can't possibly do this to the poor woman. I mean, you married her. Please don't do this to the poor girl."
Asher stood up from his seat, his expression hard as he looked at his grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa, are you seriously telling me that you're going to let Ariella take your grandkids, to take care of them somewhere else? probably with another man, probably her ex-boyfriend, and cut us out of those kids' lives? Is that what you're telling me?"
His grandparents looked down, avoiding Ariella's gaze. Asher smiled, knowing he was right.
"You know I'm right." Asher said, " Everyone in this room knows that Ariella signed a marriage contract. Everybody here knows the context of that contract. She knew what giving birth to the Blackwell kids would mean. I don't get what all of this is about," he said.
Ariella answered, her voice rising, "The only reason I stopped taking the birth control pills was because I thought we had fallen in love and that we were going to start a family together. Not because you were going to take my children away from me. If I knew that's what was going to happen, I never would have gotten pregnant in the first place."
"Now let's not go there," Mrs. Blackwell said, stopping Ariella from saying more.
She knew Ariella was going through a lot and could say things she didn't mean. She didn't want to anger Asher more. She wanted to take control of the situation and didn't want it to get any worse.
"I just want to go home," Ariella declared. "That's the only thing I want. It's okay if you don't love me anymore, Asher. But I won't let you take my kids. That I will not allow. And since you're already with Scarlett right now, I have no reason to stay in your grandparents' house. I'm going back to my father's house. If you are so eager to raise kids with Scarlett, then get her pregnant too. Let her give birth to her own kids" she told him, mastering confidence she didn't have.
Asher looked at her for a few minutes, calculating, before he nodded his head.
"Fine. You want to go to your father's house? Fine. Go take your bags. I'll take you there."
"No, you don't have to. I'll go there by myself, I still remember the way." Ariella insisted defiantly.
"When we got married, I came to get you from your father's house and helped you with your bags when we came from the honeymoon. And I would also like to see your father and talk to him. Exchange a few words. I hope that's not too much of a bother for you," Asher answered sarcastically
They stared at each other as the grandparents looked on, knowing there was nothing they could do to change the situation. Mrs. Blackwell sighed deeply.
"Fine," Ariella said, resigned.
Mrs Blackwell turned to the door and called out, "Seraphine!"
Seraphine knocked and entered the room. "Yes, Mrs. Blackwell?"
"Bring out Ariella's luggage. She's going back to her father's house."