The old woman followed her out of the room a while later. “Miss Wynn, when you’re finally hungry, just tell me and I’ll make you something nice for that empty stomach. House rules, sweetie: you can move around and do whatever you like within this house, but you should give up on getting outside, you know? You ain’t gonna leave the house.”“Are you a member of the Rodriguez family?” Arianne asked tentatively. “Is Mateo’s family the people behind this?”Never mind how Geralt had promised Arianne that Mrs. Rodriguez would never trouble her again…The old woman’s answer sounded as canned as it could get. “Sorry, sweetie, but I’m just an old woman who’s doing the job she’s been asked to do for money. I have no idea about this whole thing so you’re not gonna get anything of worth from asking me. Oh, but I’m handy with housekeeping duties—meals, cleaning, you name ‘em. Anytime you need me, just give a holler.”Arianne was clearly not going to extract any information from her, so she gave
Any less desperate than she was right now would have made harming an old lady a gigantic “no!” to Arianne—but desperate times call for desperate measures. Who could tell the motives behind whoever her mysterious captor was at this point? Arianne was not going to just twiddle her thumb and wait!At that thought, she scanned her surroundings to locate the perfect weapon. Ideally, it would be something that could bludgeon someone unconscious rather than outright fatal; even now, Arianne was not ready to have someone’s life on her hand.Before she could even make her first move, however, the old woman suddenly spoke, “Miss Wynn, I can see what’s brewing in your head, and you’re spot on: I’m just an old, powerless granny you can easily take on. But my master apparently doesn’t want to see you as of now. He ain’t gonna just show himself to you just because a senior citizen died here. On the other hand, he will come to you when the time is right, guaranteed,” she intoned. “You have fresh, c
Arianne cast away the broken shard in her hand and sat so that the old woman could tend to her wound. She had accidentally applied a bit more force than she had intended for the performance, resulting in a deeper cut than required. The silver lining was that sharp pain was all she had to endure, since the bleeding stopped without fail.All this time she wondered when that scumbag would show himself. As she waited, though, sleepiness gradually conquered her. She slept not a wink last night, and when combining that with the psychological torment she had endured, Arianne lost the fight against her bleariness and succumbed to sleep.Back in Tremont Tower, Mark was sitting behind his usual desk, his face fraught with worry. His eyes had never left his phone.There was still no news of Arianne. That was despite all of the efforts of their search party.The widespread, unsavory news about his conduct at Mateo's funeral was long below his attention; no, what drove him to nigh madness was t
Mark could feel his chest tightening until even breathing itself had become difficult. “Have any questionable people contacted us over these two days? There’s bound to be a phone call or something for ransom in a typical abduction, right?”By this point, he wished this was about money, because at least he could have her back through an exchange of money. At the very least, that would be miles better than not knowing where Arianne was, or how she was at all.Henry shook his head. “I’m afraid there is none. I’ve paid my utmost attention, and there hasn’t been any strange number ringing us. If I may, Mr. Tremont—you overtax yourself. You need respite; leave this to me,” he admonished. “I may be old, but something like this is still well within my capabilities. As long as Madam has a sliver of chance of being alive, I won’t even hesitate to trade my life to save her.”Mark said nothing.Any news would be good. Just any news, however small.But there was none for him. All there was lef
Mateo’s eyes were bright—almost dazzling—when he looked at her. “Because… you.“I thought that I would finally be able to move on after a hug from you. But when your body collapsed into my arms, I had a revelation—I can never move on; it’s impossible. At that moment, I felt as though my one true dream had finally come true,” he explained. “I demand more. There is no way I can let you go like this… So, I want to take you with me, to a place where no one knows us, and I will use the rest of my life to make you love me. I’ve already spent so many years bound to you; adding the rest of my life into it is a small feat.”Arianne’s mind was a mess, but as she worked hard to connect the dots, the truth slowly reared its head in her own. “And Geralt Bernard knew about this all along, didn’t he? He helped you fake your death. He then came to save me from your mother when she abducted me, because he was privy to your scheme. The things he said to me—and that time he brought me to that so-called
Shock stimulated her memory, and Arianne remembered losing her handbag when Mrs. Rodriguez abducted her. All of her identification documents had been inside. But later, Geralt told her he had gotten those things all “cleaned up”, which was why she had not……That was a lie too, wasn’t it? Arianne was only stymied from replacing her lost ID and whatnot because this debacle had been developing at breakneck speed since then.Damn Mateo and his watertight scheme! Just the suggestion—that she might never see Mark and Smore ever again in her life—coursed into her chest before sharpening into an acute agony mangling her heart.“No! Never—! I’ll never leave with you unless I’m dead! Noooo!”Mateo let her hysterics roll past him without effect. He announced calmly, “You should rest; I have something to attend to, so please excuse me. Friendly reminder: don’t waste time and effort trying to escape this place, fair lady; it’s futile. When we’re finally abroad, I’ll help you reinvent a new iden
Geralt took a deep breath. “You’re right. I’ve lost the credibility to remain in this profession, which is why I submitted my resignation letter just yesterday. Even before you attended that funeral, I thought about rattling the truth out to you, yet… I cannot find it in me to betray Teo. For that, I’m truly, deeply sorry,” he explained. “I know your hatred is directed at me just as much as at him, so I won’t denigrate us both by trying to appeal to some sort of favorable impression in your mind. Instead, what do you say about a parley? You’ll begin to eat something, and I’ll help you pass a thing to Mark to let him know that you’re still alive.”Arianne reeled back in shock. Was he not the least bit worried that she might seize this chance to inform him her location?Of course, it did not take her long to realize how impossible it was to relay any useful information—even Arianne herself had no idea where this place was, let alone tell Mark anything concrete. One look outside the win
Silence befell Geralt. Was this how it needed to be? Had all that had happened to Arianne not been sadistic enough already?His lack of words, to Mateo, spoke volumes about his conviction—or rather, its faltering.“Ralt, there is no turning back for me,” Mateo said. “This is the only time I stopped being a nice guy; you understand why, don’t you? I just want it to be her and me. Us, together. But I can’t make that happen any other way. It’s she who didn’t want to leave Mark! After all that I’ve done for her, she just keeps clinging to this… faith in him! I have no other way! There’s only one way to resolve this, Ralt, and it’s to rescue her from here!”Geralt drew a sharp inhale of breath. “The fact that she never thought of leaving Mark Tremont despite everything is a solid, irrevocable testimonial of her love for him, don’t you see? What good do you think dragging her away from him is going to do? You will never possess her heart, Teo. The two of you will be doomed to grind out th