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
When Mark spoke, his voice was quaking as much as he was. “M-Must continue searching… T-Tell all of our people that we’ll… We’ll find her no matter how difficult it is, no matter the cost, no matter life or d-d-death… I want her found!”How close to the truth the parcel implied was already beyond his care, for the note and the earring had defeated his mental fortress. It had been days since anxiety became his companion in the dark, denying him his nightly reprieve and forcing him to turn to medication just to emulate some form of emotional stability.Home had become the den of his nightmares. He feared stepping inside the Tremont Estate because being in there, with emptiness surrounding him, forced him into confronting Arianne’s absence. Then there was Smore’s questioning; he feared the boy’s endless pelts of “Where is Mom, Dad? Where is my mom?”Deep down inside, he had become just a mortified man who wanted to run away from everything.Mark had not told Jackson nor Tiffany about
Tiffany was roused from her slumber by the commotion. “Mm? News of Ari? Oh, uh, wait! I’m—yawn—coming with, um, you...?”Jackson took one glance at her eyelids, which refused to open, and tucked her back under the sheet. “It’s all right, honey. Go back to bed,” he cooed. “I can go there alone; I’m only heading to Mark’s place, anyway. But you, sweetheart? You better get enough sleep. Remember, we’ve got our brats to take care of during the day. Better not worry yourself dead over Arianne, okay?”Without further ado, Jackson rushed to the Tremont Tower after the call. Turned out, a short drive was enough to make a man perk up and feel refreshed.“Is Mateo really, well... not-dead?” he asked straight off the bat.Mark passed the earring to him. “An anonymous sender delivered this to our doorstep today. It was one half of the pair Arianne was wearing on the day she went missing. I bought it for her, so I distinctly remember that there was no strange four-letter word on it during purch
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