Melanie instinctively bolted downstairs when she heard the car. She lunged at Alejandro when she saw him and grabbed his shirt. “Give my baby back to me! She’s not used to powdered milk, and she cries whenever she’s away from me! Where did you take her?”Alejandro took a breath. “Why are you always so… emotional? Can you calm down? She’s my daughter too. What can I possibly do to her? Go back to the room, calm down, and I’ll tell the nanny to bring Melissa to you. At this rate… You’ll scare the baby.”Melanie did not notice the gentleness in his tone. She was going crazy. She was afraid that he would imprison her. In fact, he was doing it right now. He would not let her leave, be near her baby, or contact anyone. “Who’s the frightening one? You’re the most frightening one of all!”Alejandro’s body stiffened imperceptibly. “Is that what you think of me? Fine… Since you won’t listen when I’m talking to you nicely, I don’t have to be civil. If you don’t go back into the room and wait l
It took her a long time to calm down. She bit the back of her hand until it bled in order to do so. By the time she got up and went back into the room, Alejandro had already finished with his shower and was sitting by the window, smoking. The grim expression on his face was not very obvious under the warm light. In fact, it softened his face. She gathered her courage and pulled out the letter of divorce. “I drew this up last night at home. I’ve said it before, I just want the baby. Please, I’m begging you, sign this.”Alejandro turned to the side and looked at the agreement in her hand. His gaze trailed up her arm. He was shocked when he saw her bloodied hand. “I’m not the one driving you mad here, you’re driving yourself mad. Put down the paper and bandage wound. I need some time to think.”She let out a sigh of relief when he did not blow up. She placed the paper in a spot nearest to him. Then, she pulled out the first aid kit and sat on the bed, cleaning and bandaging her wound. I
Mark shot him a look and irritably replied, “What do you mean ‘a woman like Arianne’? Watch your words.”Alejandro laughed carelessly. “I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. I just mean she’s not easy to deal with. She’s a woman who’d rather die than give in. How did you convince her to be with you? I’m very curious…”Mark did not answer his question. Instead, he asked another question of his own. “I’ve heard that there have been threats of a divorce on your end. Are you at your wit’s end? Is that why you came to speak to me? The prerequisite to making a woman devote herself to you is for her to love you.”Alejandro was apprehensive. “Then, what if she’s already in love? Why does she suddenly want a divorce? What would one do under these circumstances?” He was confident that Melanie was still in love with him.Mark displayed hints of annoyance on his face. “That’s your problem. Stop bothering me, I’m busy. Don’t you have anything better to do? Did you come all the way here just to f
Melanie was a little taken aback. “How could it be? He wouldn’t even let me go out without a fight. Even if I’m allowed out, Jett has to come along. Do you know why? Because he’s scared that I might bring Melissa back to Ayashe. I… I’ve been discussing the prospect of a divorce with him, but for some reason, he wouldn’t sign the paper.”“It’s obvious he doesn’t want a divorce,” Arianne said, trying to analyze Melanie’s situation. “You two have been married for more than a year now. You even have a daughter together. And a divorce… isn’t something to be taken lightly. Why would you want that? You can share your reasons with me.”Melanie watched the clouds drifting in the sky as she murmured, “Initially, I was truly happy about our marriage. I love him, sincerely and passionately. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him as happily as we could be. But time and time again, he broke my heart. These sorrows and disappointment, they accumulate, you know? Then, one day, you wake up an
The two women only bade each other farewell and went their separate ways when it was almost dusk.Melanie emerged from the conversation a visibly spirited woman. It seemed like this stemmed from having her worries soothed.She returned to Smith Manor and resumed her old ways without mentioning getting a divorce. She told herself that she would give both Alejandro and herself one last chance.Jett had furtively reported Melanie’s new emotional development to Alejandro.Upon hearing that, Alejandro stopped hiding and went home earlier than usual to play with his daughter. He acted as though nothing had happened as well. He only stopped playing with Melissa when she began to bawl and nothing he did could soothe her.No one mentioned the divorce. No one knew if Alejandro had quietly tossed the divorce agreement that Melanie had given him earlier away....Tremont Estate.As soon as Mark stepped through the door, he discovered Arianne was regarding him with a strange expression on h
Arianne nodded. “That’s a pretty good idea. But I thought Alejandro is looking to work with you in the long term? It’s a little bit dishonorable to use him as a learning opportunity and to dump him in the future, right? Suppose Alejandro knows that you’re tagging along only because you’re looking to accumulate experiences for your own transportation business in the future. Won’t this sow a seed of grudge in him?”Mark had, naturally, considered this as well. “Oh, please. Any scenario you come up with, I’ve already thought about it, and so did Alejandro, I bet. He knows I’m reluctant to have a long term partnership or an exclusive contract. However, if he can’t stomach less savory prospects like these, then, he can pack it up and quit being a businessman.”Mark continued to say, “Moreover, I was just casually talking about venturing into the transportation business. I didn’t put any real thought into it yet. After all, Tremont Enterprise has so many ventures that I don’t think I shoul
Alejandro’s voice echoed behind her. “Something terrible has happened to my brother.”Arianne’s legs wobbled. She almost fell walking down the steps. Fortunately, Alejandro caught her hand in the nick of time. However, his grip was a little too tight.She righted herself and willed herself to calm down. “W-w-we should talk in the living room, okay? T-t-tell me what happened?”Alejandro waited until she took a seat on the couch before he recounted what happened. “The freight ship we boarded is wrecked. I don’t understand. I’ve ordered countless inspections and made sure that it had no faults and is in top condition. We encountered mild turbulence at sea, but it shouldn’t pose a problem to a ship like that. It… it doesn’t make sense why it’s so weak. Someone must have sabotaged the ship, someone wants to kill me! Or maybe… maybe the target is Mark. I don’t know. I really don’t know. When we were trying to save ourselves, we discovered the lifeboats have been sabotaged as well. Not eve
Arianne only moved when Henry looked for her. Staying stationary in the same position brought a wave of nausea when she finally moved. However, compared to the agony roiling in her heart and body, it was nothing. She took a few deep breaths and mustered up her courage before she said, “Henry, please bring some people with you and assist them in the search and rescue. As for the company, I’ll handle it. Remember, this piece of news cannot be leaked. No matter what the rumors might be, not a word about Mark’s death is allowed to get out.”Henry nodded. “Understood. I’m on it.”Arianne’s face was as white as a sheet of paper. She was like a husk, as though her spirit had left her body. She went to her dressing table and plastered her ashen face with makeup to look somewhat more presentable before she changed and left the house.Her first destination, she told Brian, was her company. There, she informed Mr. Yaleman that she wanted to quit without giving him any reason. Her poor ex-boss
Arianne had not heard that name for so long, she had to reel back in bemusement for a few seconds before finally remembering her face.Shelly-Ann Leigh… She must have spent all those years in the mental institution, right? God knows if the woman’s hair was now grey and white all over.When someone was near death, one could stand to forgive all of the history between them—even the dark ones, even if the ledger was brimming—for good. So, Arianne replied, “I’ll go with you. No matter what happened, she’s still your mother.”Mark did not expect that answer from her at all. In his surprise, he bent down and left a kiss on her lips. “I knew I picked the right woman as my wife. I thought you wouldn’t agree to let me accompany her for the last of her days…”Arianne replied nothing. She was not so obtuse that she would try to win over a woman whose days were numbered. No matter how much of an a**hole Shelly was, Arianne was still the one who came out on top. That victory was all she needed.
Arianne sneered. “You confused, little thing. I wouldn’t be daft enough to anger the mother of the man I like if I were you, girl. I would especially not say anything as low IQ as that, too. Let me be completely frank with you: no one who bears the surname of Leigh will ever get the better of me—the last one failed. Hard. I can guarantee that you’ll leave us in the span of three days. If I lose, you can stay here forever. Wanna bet? I dare you.”She left her threat hanging at that and turned her wheelchair away, leaving the scorned young woman behind.Rage came out of Raven as waves of quakes all over her body. She was lurching close to hyperventilation, but right before it became impossible to stop, she came around and battled herself to calm down. She had a feeling that even if she fainted right there and then, no one would discover her, would they?Now that Arianne and Mark had returned, the Tremont Estate had recovered its vivacity and life. It had become merry.And Raven Leigh
Melissa was the type who always pushed things to go as festive as logically possible. She leaped to her feet and raised her cup, “Yo, everyone! Let’s toast to Cindy becoming my cousin-in-law!”The crowd answered enthusiastically with their cups in the air and a roar—except Raven, who remained seated. “I have a sickly constitution. I can’t drink. I’m sorry.”Her smile was so mechanical, her face too ashen. Something flickered in Arianne’s eyes before she replied, “Sure.”After the revelry faded, Arianne steered her wheelchair to the courtyard. The outward appearance of the Tremont Estate seemed to have frozen in time, which was why being here made her feel so… safe.Of course, that was despite Henry and Mary’s passing. In the end, time passed and things changed, characters and objects came and went, and all these missing years left lingering regrets in their wake.Arianne espied the silhouette standing alone at a distance and approached her, sighing, “Nothing beats being home.”Ra
Arianne grabbed the two beauties by the hands and smiled. “Thank you! Gosh, to me… it’s like you two have grown older in the blink of an eye! How gorgeous the two of you are! Cindy, where’s your brother? Plato hasn’t come home yet?”Mentioning the name of her dear brother made Cynthia pout. “He said he was coming home half a month ago—that’s what he said. Who knows what he’s actually doing, though? Anyway, who cares about that no-good. He’s always like this anyway. Oh, um, the weather is quite hot. We should probably get inside.”Arianne nodded and shot a brief, uneasy look at Aristotle. Not once did he look like he wanted to talk to her… Could the boy be counting his grievances in his mind? Mark and Arianne had stayed in Switzerland for so long; life must have been hard for him all alone.It took until she reached the living room to finally notice Raven. “Millie, is this your younger sister?”Melissa quickly sprung to correct her. “What? Noooo. This is Ares’ classmate or something
Aristotle’s entire being stilled.He had waited for this news for nineteen years. As time passed, the flames died little by little, the heart grew more numb, until the very thought of it was no different from a pipe dream. But today, news of it coming true reached him and plunged him into a torrent of feelings.A long while later, he finally muttered under his breath, “When… When will they be back?”Jackson closed the distance between them and gave the young man a light, comforting pat on the shoulders. “Not so soon, I bet; not when your mother has just woken up and is in need of some time to recover. She did sleep for nineteen years, you know. So maybe after she’s recuperated enough for a while…” he answered. “We’ve waited for nineteen years for this, right? What’s waiting for just a little bit more compared to that? The most important thing for you to do is to manage the company to the best of your abilities. That’s the way to not disappoint your father’s expectation.”Aristotle
Cynthia had never had a relationship before, so she did not know what love was. However, one thing was for certain. She loved the feeling of being with Aristotle and how he had protected her since they were kids. Even though Aristotle had become a little domineering and “naughty”, she was not taken aback by him. Instead, she even felt a little moved, which was amazing.It wasn’t known how they ended up in bed, with their breaths synchronized. Apart from the final step, they had done just about everything else that could be done.Just as they were about to hit the final step, Aristotle suddenly stopped and helped pull the covers over Cynthia. “Let’s sleep, good night.”Cynthia was still lost in a daze from before. She did not know why Aristotle had suddenly stopped, nor did she have the courage to ask him. She had struggled for so long before having persuaded herself to go with the flow…The next day, when Cynthia woke up, Aristotle had already long gone to his company.She took a
Cynthia heard what Aristotle said, but her hands did not stop doing what they were doing. Her head was in a complete mess. “There’s no… no need. I’ll be able to be done with these now. Go ahead and get some sleep first. By the way, where am I sleeping tonight? There are so many rooms here, I’ll ask Agnes to help me clear one up.”Aristotle walked up to her and squatted. He grabbed onto her arm with one hand while the other closed the luggage. “Just sleep with me here and stop tidying already.”Cynthia suspected that she might have misheard. She took a look at the big bed behind him in a daze and suddenly felt her palm, which was held by him, burning up. “Y… You’re kidding, aren’t you, Ares? Although we used to sleep with each other a lot when we were kids, we’re all grown ups now, so wouldn’t that be a little inappropriate?”Aristotle said with a straight face, “I wasn't joking.”Cynthia panicked a little and recalled Melissa’s words once again. ‘Would Ares, whom I’ve known for so
Melissa knew that Aristotle had kissed Cynthia, so she knew what was going on. Hence, she very naturally boasted, “Of course, they’ve been engaged to each other since they were born. Coincidentally, the both of them felt the same way about each other as they grew up, so wouldn’t this make it even better? From the way I see it, your illness isn’t going to recover for the rest of your life and the both of them are probably going to have to wait until Cindy graduates before they get married. So, you’d be better off moving back to France as early as possible. Don’t worry, you’ve saved Aristotle’s life before, so he wouldn’t be stingy with you financially.”Raven wanted to control the unhappiness she had in her heart very much, but her emotions refused to follow her will. Hence, she fiercely struggled to wring free from Melissa’s grasp. Melissa was startled for a moment. “Are you crazy?”After that, Raven regained her senses and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry… I was a little unwell just n
‘You’re not that worried?’ Melissa was so furious that she laughed. “Am I the only one who’s being worried for nothing? I thought you loved my brother, didn’t you? The man you’ve been dreaming of every day has returned from France but brought a woman with him, yet you’re actually not that worried? Let’s put aside your parents’ intentions for a moment. Do you dare to say that you don’t love him? I’m only helping you because you’re my best friend, so could you not be so relaxed, as if I’m helping you for no reason?”Cynthia shook her head and lowered her volume as she said, “He… might have confessed to me. We also… did that already. So, I think he doesn’t feel that way towards Raven. It’s purely because she saved his life once. I trust that Ares will be able to handle the situation properly.”Melissa’s eyes opened wide. “What? He’s only returned for a few days, yet the two of you have already had sex? That fast?! I never knew it, but you’ve really got it in you!”Cynthia’s face flushe