Mark sneered. “Hah, only friends? Friends can sleep together as they wish?”Arianne’s breath caught in her throat. “Please don’t say that. Whatever it is, it has passed. There’s no need to dwell on it. I didn’t even make a fuss about you sleeping with Aery Kinsey.”He chuckled aloud before he said coldly. “How do you know if I’ve slept with her? However, everyone knows about you and Will Sivan. If I truly intend to dwell on it, you wouldn’t have been able to see him a long time ago. It’s because I don’t care that you’re able to visit him in the hospital, understand? Besides, you don’t care who I sleep with anyway, right?”Don’t care and don’t mind.Arianne pondered over his words and wondered if she cared. When she heard the amorous sounds he and Aery made in the hotel, she had fled in panic. She felt empty, and her emotions went through a rollercoaster ride for no reason. Did she mind? She did not love him but betrayal was betrayal. No one could tolerate a betrayal, neither him nor he
Mark’s hand with prominent joints pinched Arianne’s chin as he stepped forward and looked at her with an expression of ridicule.“I’ve... never seen you as family. Even when you were a kid, I’ve not forgotten about my revenge. Each time I saw you, I felt like killing you. When you reached puberty, I suddenly realized that you’ve grown up, growing easier on my eyes. Do you understand what I mean? I waited for you to reach eighteen before I had you, but Will Sivan took you from me. What belonged to me was sullied. What do you think I’ll do?” He continued to say, “How can you be so foolish to think of me as family? I’m someone who’s waiting to take your life. I’m only keeping you now as my plaything. Why do you think I forbid you from interacting with other men? It’s because, like an object, you’re my possession. I don’t like others touching you. I don’t love you, and I never will. I don’t care either if you don’t love me. Stop talking about how I took care of you for ten years. It’s no fu
Arianne smiled self-deprecatingly. “He has always been like that to me. I envy the rest of you sometimes, being at the receiving end of his gentleness. I’ve been with him for more than ten years, but I’ve never...”Nina did not have any intention to tease her. Instead, she felt rather sympathetic. “Based on my past understanding of him, I think he only said those words out of anger. I don’t know what has happened between both of you. However, based on my womanly instincts, I don’t think he’s being honest. Initially, I didn’t believe he likes you. I even thought you forced him to marry you by faking a pregnancy and using whatever tricks people used in dramas. However, I believe it now. Didn’t he insist on marrying you?”Arianne did not understand Nina’s words. “What do you mean? After hearing what he said, you still think we have some sort of relationship?”Nina looked up at the sky that was dotted with stars. She mulled over her words before she finally said, “Don’t tell me you think h
Nina shrugged. “If I didn’t hear his words earlier and see him going berserk because of you today, I wouldn’t have believed that he likes you. If he doesn’t, I’ll definitely fight for a chance. However, it’s different now. I’ve never liked stealing another person’s partner. You’re quite amazing, being able to turn a gentle and angelic man into a devil. I’ll give you two thumbs up.”At this moment, Mary suddenly appeared, “Oh, you girls are chatting here! Come, have some fruits.” Since she had heard Nina’s words, it seemed like her prejudice toward Nina had disappeared as well.Nina could feel the change in Mary’s behavior as well and gracefully accepted the fruits. “Sure, leave them here, Mary.”Mary put the fruits down and looked at Arianne. “Ari, sir is furious. Why don’t you… Never mind, it’s a waste of breath talking to you. Both you and sir are too stubborn. In this regard, you’re both really similar!”Arianne lowered her head, keeping quiet, when she was suddenly fed a piece of p
Arianne pretended like she heard nothing and went in. “Mr. Nathaniel, what’s the matter?”Although Eric had reined in his emotions, he did not smile and was unable to conceal how upset he was. “Uh… Please go to Mark’s office. There are a few contracts that need his signature. We need the agreements urgently. We’ll have to work overtime these coming days. However, since your health is poor, you don’t need to stay overtime. This sudden decision is made due to an emergency. Who knows, I probably won’t be in charge of this company soon. I’ll have to make sure everything is done before that happens.”Arianne nodded and took the documents before she returned to her desk. After packing up, she headed downstairs to hail a cab to the Tremont Tower.Smoothly entering the building and reaching the forty-sixth floor, she took the initiative to remove her shoes and stepped on the floor barefooted. Mark’s secretary, Ellie, stopped her outside. “Please hold on. I’ll report your arrival.”Ellie receiv
Arianne called home and informed Mary that she would not come home for dinner since she was working overtime.Mary nagged at her, worried that her body could not endure hard work, but she did not say anything else.When Eric exited his office to make himself a cup of tea around eight at night, he was taken aback when he saw Arianne was still around. “Why haven’t you gone home?”Arianne replied nonchalantly, “I sit here all day, it’s not like my work is physically arduous. It’s not tiring at all. I can handle this. If I feel unwell, I’ll leave early. Don’t worry about me.”Eric was still concerned. “It’s already past eight. We’ll stay till half-past nine latest. So you can leave now. It’s fine.”Arianne glanced at him before she finally turned off her computer and packed her things up without saying anything. Being a man, Eric had more pride. Although she had overheard his conversation earlier, she could not directly comfort him. Moreover, it was his family’s problem. It was not her pla
Tiffany looked a little self-conscious as she touched her cheek in a daze. “Really? I can’t help it… If I don’t work part-time, I won’t be able to support my mom with that meager salary. Alright, let’s not talk about that. It’s making me sad.”As soon as it was eight, Eric entered the office. Tiffany quickly greeted him with the contract in hand. “Help me sign this quickly! I need to send it back to Jackson in the office before nine!”Eric was clearly startled by Tiffany’s sudden appearance. He fumbled in his pocket but was unable to find a pen.Upon seeing this, Tiffany conveniently handed him a pen from Arianne’s desk. “Hurry, hurry!”As soon as the contract was signed, Tiffany disappeared like a gust of wind.Eric was still in a daze. “Arianne… What contract did she ask me to sign? I didn’t even have the time to read it. I hope it won’t come back to bite me in the butt…”Arianne burst out laughing. “Come on, is that even possible? That’s from Jackson West. You can find him if
Tiffany lowered her head in fear of being noticed. “No need. I’m going the other way since I still have something to do. You can go on ahead.”Jackson was not blind nor was he a fool. Girls, generally, only carried handbags that were huge enough to hold a phone and some cosmetics to work. However, Tiffany had been bringing a black garment bag to work lately, and it was obviously not something she had just bought. He was quite curious about where she went in a rush after work. He complied but asked the driver to stop the car at the intersection. He watched as Tiffany entered a cab and ordered the driver to tail them. The driver was a little confused. “Sir, aren’t you going back to dine with madam today? Where are you going? We’re running late...”Jackson frowned. “Inform my mom that I won’t be back for dinner today. I’ve got something else to do.” He followed Tiffany all the way until he saw the taxi stop in front of a nightclub. After hesitating for a moment, he asked the driver to s
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