It had been more than a decade since she was bound to him.Whether Mark would ever begin the spiral into domestic abuse—Arianne knew from the bottom of her heart.Comforting Smore later, she started toward the stairs to where Mark was.The shut door had become less of an entrance to the study, and more an impenetrable stone wall forced between the two of them, separating them—plunging them into oppressive gloom.Downtrodden, she pushed it open. Her arrival was greeted by a pungent stench of cigarettes. It choked her so hard a fit of coughs began to seize her.Hearing her sputters, Mark furtively crushed the ember on his cigarette to snuff it out. “Why are you here?” he bristled. “Leave me alone.”Arianne willed herself to acclimate to the mire without letting out another sputter. “I’m… sorry… I admit… I suspected you… B-But I just want to be… honest with you! I’ve hoped against hope that it isn’t you, and c-compared to my suspicion… the amount of my faith in you is more!” she pro
One look at Mark’s stormy expression prompted Jackson to quickly cup his hand over Tiffany’s mouth. “—I mean, people say the sh*ttiest things everywhere on the internet, riiiiight? Who needs you to remind us all about it? So how about we zip our lips on this one, honey, and move on to discussing the solution,” he quickly chimed in. “We didn’t wanna intervene at first, but Mark’s gotten dragged into it. It’s in all of our best interest to solve this as soon as possible, because as it stands, this is seriously staining Tremont Enterprise too much.”Mark let out a steely sneer. “And the world never changes. Who cares about evidence or proof? All it takes to damn anyone to death is a someone’s piehole. But I’m not just any weakling who can be taken down by some unfounded rumor, and good luck on getting me to care about Rodriguez’s abduction,” he bristled. “Why should I squander my effort in saving him—what, just to prove that I’m innocent? I’m already innocent, for God’s sake, whether I h
Arianne pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “What do you think I can do? What can I even say at this point? You saw Mark’s attitude—he’s not gonna help, ‘period.’ Even if the consensus is literally pulling his reputation apart, he’s basically ossified into this goddamned attitude. At this point, I can only hope that Mateo’s abduction genuinely has zero connection to him.”If Mark was the mastermind… Then Arianne would be exactly as guilty as the talking heads online painted her to be.She would be the bane whose existence sealed Mateo’s fate.She should not have met Mateo.Tiffany widened her eyes. “Ari! No frickin’ way—you can’t really think Mark’s behind this, right? What the hell even makes you think that?!”“It’s just! It’s, well, I… I mean…! I don’t think it’s him from the way he reacts?” Pressed and bedeviled, Arianne’s answer had turned into a disheveled meandering. “I pray it’s not him, I really do, and I don’t think it’s him! I just… I just want Mateo’s abduction’s timi
Arianne’s denial was intuitive. “No! It wasn’t him, it’s got nothing to do with him! If mob consensus is enough to proclaim anyone as guilty or not, then what do we need the law for?! Look, I get that you’re his friend and this is something you must do, but Mateo’s fate saddens me too…”Geralt scanned her quickly. “Hmm, I can tell. The case is weighing you down, which begs the question: why? Is it only because Teo liked you? Deep down inside, you must be afraid as well, aren’t you? Afraid of the possibility that Mr. Tremont was the one behind it?” he said. “You’re on a spiraling track into the eye of the storm, aren’t you? You feel guilty… thinking that Teo’s death is related to you.”Was Geralt trying to bait her?The realization of his intention propelled Arianne to recover her composure. Deadpanned, she replied, “You people of forensic science have quite a unique way of expressing yourself, don’t you? And you guys are really adept at holding yourself together without a crack on y
Arianne’s heart thumped against her chest. The approaching figure was none other than Mateo’s mother herself?!The same woman who had appeared in the Tremont Tower, scraping her knees as she bawled and begged for her son’s life, was now inching toward Arianne with malefic flames in her eyes. It was as though Mrs. Rodriguez could not wait to skin Arianne alive before severing every single tendon in her body!Only God knows what sort of plan was nestling inside the skull of a mother who just lost her son. Frightened, Arianne began to wriggle backward as hard as she could—until a wall cut off her retreating path.She was cornered.In panic, Arianne’s squirming body knocked a shelf behind her, causing a red toy car to fall from its perch. The toy, after years of storage, had been reduced by time to become easily dismantled; it instantly smashed into a mess of disassembled parts.Mrs. Rodriguez lunged forward like a woman possessed, scrambling for the remnants and salvaging them into h
Arianne was in so much pain that she couldn’t but grimace; she could feel her warm blood flowing downwards from her cheek. Soon, a red “flower” bloomed on the front part of her shirt, near her chest.Then, Arianne realized that her handbag was nowhere to be seen. ‘My phone’s in there, so it seems that I won’t even be able to call for help. Also, the acoustics in this basement must be very good based on its structure, so nobody will probably be able to hear me even if I shout as loud as I can. Furthermore, even if the Rodriguezes do hear me, I doubt anyone’s going to save me. They’re probably only going to torture me even more.’ Mrs. Rodriguez was in a crazed state when she found a fruit knife and forcefully pressed Arianne against the floor. Then, she gritted her teeth as she said, “My Teo’s thumb has been chopped off, so you’re going to suffer the same as him!”Arianne’s forehead broke into beads of cold sweat. ‘Mrs. Rodriguez is so strong, I can’t seem to wring free no matter how
Mrs. Rodriguez waited until both Geralt and Arianne had left before she opened up the personal letter that Mateo had left her. After she read it, Mrs. Rodriguez’s mouth gaped open. By the time she regained her senses and wanted to ask Geralt some questions to clear some things up, his car had already driven away.…During the journey, Arianne was shivering non-stop. She was not sure why she was shivering as well; all she knew was that she was very cold despite the sun shining outside. In this kind of weather, it would be extremely dry and hot if the air-conditioner was not on in the car.Geralt seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with Arianne, so he asked worriedly, “What’s the matter? Are you cold?”Arianne nodded her head. “Yes… a little… Could you increase the temperature of the air conditioner please?”Geralt adjusted the temperature of the air-conditioner with one hand while holding the steering wheel with the other. “Done… But how could you be feeling cold in thi
Mark frowned when he saw the shocking wound on Arianne’s face. His tone also became panicked as he said, “What happened to you?! Where did you go? What happened?”Arianne did not dare to meet his gaze and could only lower her head as she calmly said, “I fell, hence the wound. I didn’t ignore your call on purpose. I lost my handbag, including my phone, wallet, and some other stuff. I’m sorry… for making you worry, but I’m fine.”Mark was no fool. He could tell whether or not the wound on Arianne’s face was due to a fall after looking a little more closely. “Tell me the truth, don’t lie to me. I’m very clear with your character. Who else would be more clear than me about your tells when you lie?”Arianne had expected Mark not to believe her, so she pretended to be calm as she dragged Mark back to the bedroom. Then, she whispered in his ear as she said, “I said that because I was afraid that Mary would be worried. Truth is, my handbag wasn’t stolen. Actually, I was robbed, and the woun