Silence immediately set in. Jackson started to get a headache. Annie didn’t expect this woman to be so ‘daring’ as to not take her seriously! She stared at Tiffany and suddenly recalled meeting her in the restaurant before. Not only that, Jackson even footed a $6,600 bill for her back then!Realizing the tense atmosphere, Tiffany was finally fully awake. Upon seeing the situation at the door, she gulped audibly. “Um… this is a misunderstanding! It’s all a misunderstanding! I’m just a part-time cleaner here. Have fun chatting, I’ll be leaving now.”Naturally, Annie wasn’t buying that. She tried her best to spread her slender arms and blocked the door. “Cleaner? Are you taking me for a fool? How did a cleaner end up on his bed!”Tiffany stopped trying to explain herself. There was no way she could justify the situation with her sleepy face and dishevelled clothing. No one expected Annie to pull out her phone in the next second and snap a photo of her. After that, she barged her way in
Mark thought for a while. “We’ll talk about it later when I’m back. Still busy right now. There are still a lot of things we need to buy for Nina’s new place.”In the afternoon, Arianne met up with Tiffany at the Southern Café. Both of them looked glum. There was no news from Jackson’s side, but Annie was merciless. She immediately found someone to edit the article and posted it on the Internet. The views skyrocketed within a few hours. Tiffany was the only one exposed in the article and there was no sight of Jackson in the photo. Not even his shadow. In the end, this just made Tiffany feel like she was the only one shouldering the blame for everything.Arianne had always despised these condemning news. “I called Mark just now; he will find Jackson. Don't worry, I won't let this news stay on the Internet for more than a day. You’re not to be blamed for this.”Tiffany took a sip of her coffee then curled her lips. “How can I not be blamed? The fact is, I still slept with someone else
Arianne went to work as usual the second day and found out that Mark had not returned home the entire night.It was not that she suspected that something happened between him and Nina. She was just curious as to why he did not inform anyone in advance about not coming home.When she arrived at the office, Eric looked the usual as if nothing happened. His state of ease was supposed to relieve Arianne since the former shared a close relationship with Mark and would know if anything happened to either of them, but it still did not assuage her.Tiffany texted her then. “Ari, I realize that there are people guarding nearby my house and someone painted curses on my door in red. I dare not go out now!”Arianne was close to jumping when she read the text and decided to go to Tiffany’s house. Too afraid to go alone, she thought about it before dragging Eric along.When Eric’s car stopped outside of Tiffany’s house, Arianne took note of several suspicious people roaming the vicinity. Eric knew a
Arianne and Eric exchanged a look while Tiffany grabbed her hair in exasperation. “Put up with it? How? Starve to death at home? Or are you not scared of people breaking in at night? Stay out of this, we’re going to discuss it and solve it.”To alleviate the situation, Eric coughed twice. “Uh… Tiffany, has Jackson contacted you?”Tiffany nodded. “He came to me in the middle of the night last night, said that the articles that the woman posted online have been taken off. He found someone to erase things off the internet too, but I don’t know why it’s grown more serious today. Seems like what he’s done is ineffective.”“Tiffie, are you saying that the man involved in the scandal with you is Jackson West?” Lillian’s eyes shone.Tiffany braced herself and asked, “What are you planning?”Lillian’s eyes were practically turning into dollar signs. “The Wests are rich. They destroyed my daughter’s reputation. They gotta compensate for the mental anguish. Of course, you’ve already slept with hi
Eric was slightly etranced while staring at his phone. He had a feeling that things were starting to get rough recently…In the West Mansion, Jackson and his mother, Summer, sat facing the Norienes. Annie and her parents did not look happy.Jackson did not speak; it was Summer who spoke up. “Mr. and Mrs. Noriene, I casually agreed when you both had the intention to chuck together Jackson and Annie previously. I hadn’t asked my child’s opinion, and that’s my fault. I’ve asked him now and Jackson prefers his freedom. I shouldn’t be interrupting with that. This is my mistake. I’ll surrender 1% profit in our last partnering project as an apology.”Annie was tearful when she heard this. “I don’t want to! Isn’t this taking advantage of me? I adore Jackson! Is this measurable by money? Why didn’t he say so earlier if he doesn’t like me? How could you tell the truth only when I encountered what I did? That’s horrible! You’ve wasted at least two years of my time. Do you see me as a fool?”Summe
Thinking that things had come to an end, they managed to find out that someone had been behind this at this juncture of time. While Jackson had employed public relations to handle Tiffany’s case, someone went against him in secret, which was why nothing seemed to work. Jackson asked for the matter to be investigated and received news that it was actually Aery.Everyone was bewildered when they discovered the culprit, but Arianne knew why. She asked Henry to send her to the Kinseys’ without hesitation. She had not gone in a cab because she was afraid of looking weak. She was there to settle the accounts!Helen was eager to curry favor with her, so she certainly wouldn’t stop her at the door. Arianne took off her high heels once she entered the door lest they get in the way when she moved later. “Where’s Aery?”Helen looked at her lovingly. “Your sister isn’t up yet.”Arianne chuckled icily. “She mustn’t have slept well from doing too many bad things at night huh? Where’s her room? I hav
Jean was still burning with rage. “Fine. Divorce, it is!”…A week after Tiffany’s incident, Mark finally came back to the Tremont Estate. He had returned on a weekend morning. Arianne had just woken up and was having breakfast in the dining hall. She hadn’t seen him for only a week, but he seemed to be a lot more haggard. Although he was still in his suit and kempt hair, the stubble on his chin added some sense of jadedness to him compared to before, brewing a different taste of maturity.Arianne had never asked about his work, having long gotten used to turning a blind eye. She had not planned to ask him now, but Mary gave her a nudge from behind, almost causing her to choke. She understood what the woman meant. Mark was already at the staircase when she collected herself and asked, “Is the company doing alright? Why are you only back now after so long?”Mark looked sideways slightly without halting his steps. “You won’t understand even if I tell you. I’m going to the office again la
After a whirlwind dance between the sheets, Arianne returned into the embrace of the bed that she had just left not too long ago. She shivered as she watched Mark’s every action. It wasn’t a good idea to do it so early in the morning… Right?There wasn’t much foreplay. Or rather, he didn’t have much time for it, so foreplay was cut out of the picture. She wanted to reject him but was too afraid to do so. Her entire body remained in a frigid state.Her burry gaze noticed how the top half of his clothes remained seemingly pristine. From her angle, the most she could see was his chin, his perfect silhouette, and the fresh, energizing scent of his aftershave. His no longer sober and calm vision now stared down at her, sending a shockwave of palpitations throughout her body...Half an hour later, he left the Tremont Estate like a gust of wind. She still hadn’t regained her senses, even after the sound of his car faded off into the distance. She remained nestled in their messy bed, refusi
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