Jackson rubbed the side of his aching temples before grumbling, “Jesus Christ, I really think you and I aren’t exactly on the same IQ; discussing this with you is like discussing policies with a toddler. Look, I’m only telling you this to stop you before you double-back on the wrong idea; I’m not asking you to intervene. You do what you always do, and let me handle it, okay? The last thing I want is to drag you along into this sickening sh*tshow.”Tiffany rolled her eyes at him and retorted, “Gee, thanks for pointing out how dumb I am. Sure, throw up buckets on your own, but don’t ignore the fact that I’m just as sickened by this whole thing already, ok? Like, just the thought of my man currently spending money on other women makes me hurl! If Bernadette were, say, my daughter, fine; parents lavishing their children is the right thing to do. But who the eff does Bernadette think she is?! Urgh!!!“But okay, I’m not gonna tell anyone about this. You, oh-so-clever boy, better work up your
Arianne’s expression was the phrase “you serious, bruh?” coming to life.“Uh, Granny? You do know that Tiffie has a fiancé, right? And he’s not just any random guy — he’s Mark’s best friend. Besides, Tiffie isn’t that kind of person at all,” she rebutted. “Seriously, Granny, don’t you ever insinuate something like that about her character again, okay? You don’t know the depth of our relationship; Tiffie and I have a long intertwining history. There would be no me today without her.”The old woman remained obstinately cynical. “Honey, everyone wears a mask. We don’t know her true face! Besides, who cares? Being alone with your man in a room itself is a red flag!”Failing at another attempt to convince her grandmother, Arianne gave up. “Okay, fine, whatever. Why don’t you go take a stroll in the backyard or make yourself a cuppa instead of cooking up conspiracy theories about my friend, eh? I don’t want you scaring Tiffie away from visiting me in the future…”After her short-lived visit
Aye spotted Bernadette and Jackson sitting by the window when they walked in. Her expression changed instantly, “Tiffany, I think we should leave…”Tiffany shot Bernadette a look then nonchalantly strolled to find a table and sat down, “Why? I’m not doing anything wrong. They can have their dinner, we’ll have ours. It’s fine.”Tanya noticed that something wasn’t right, “Who is that woman?”“A flirtatious sl*t!” Tiffany replied, shooting Bernadette a glare, “I’ve never seen anyone more shameless in my entire life! Ignore her.”Aye looked at her admiringly, “You’re still able to muster your appetite, after this? By the way… doesn’t it feel awkward at all?”Tiffany flipped her hair, “The sl*t isn’t embarrassed. Why should I be?”Bernadette noticed Tiffany’s unfriendly gaze and smiled at Jackson as she said, “I think your fianceé has a problem with me.”“She’s not the only one,” Jackson calmly replied, “I have a problem with you too. Next time, if money is what you want, just say it. I don
Tiffany was close to having a stroke. She was no match for Bernadette. This woman was too high ranked. She had never met anyone who acted out such a shameless schtick in such an outstanding manner. That explained why Jackson, who was used to dealing with women, had no way of getting rid of her. She was too terrifying!Bernadette walked out of the bathroom and went back to her table, as usual, “I just had a chat with your fianceé. I think she’s pretty mad at me. I’ll let you off for today. Go and keep her company. I have something to attend to. Goodbye.”Jackson watched her icily as she walked away. Then, he immediately got up and walked towards Tiffany, who was shaking with anger, “F*ck. She wants a villa too! I’ll build her a gravestone instead!”Aye and Tanya were too afraid to speak. Both had no idea of the situation.Jackson wore a complicated look on his face, “I’m going back home for a while. Keep yourself out of this.”Tiffany grabbed his wrist in panic when she heard that he wa
“So, you were involved with her. And produced a b*stard too!” Jackson snapped through gritted teeth.“What? She has a kid? That’s not possible!” Atticus’s face changed as fast as a horse race lamp. “Are you really unaware of the disgusting sins you’ve committed? And you have the nerve to come home. I wish you died long ago, away from this home! If my mother ever finds out about this, I will kill you!” Jackson growled. Then, he turned around and left the West residence, bringing his fiery rage along with him. He had long been fed up with this issue and no longer wanted to care. Since Atticus was willing to take care of it on his own, he was happy to leave him to it.Atticus slumped down into his chair in a decrepit manner as he listened to Jackson’s car drive away. He went into a momentary daze then pulled out his phone and dialed a number, “Bernadette Legrand’s contact details, please. Thank you.”… At 8PM, Atticus and Bernadette met up at a French restaurant. It was a reunion betwee
Setting aside the fact that he wasn’t even drinking alcohol, even if he was, he would never have collapsed after just one glass. Everyone knew what happened. Bernadette made no effort to hide it at all, “If I hadn’t resorted to this, how could I expect to be with you? You kept refusing to cooperate, so I had to go through such painstaking efforts. It’s so exhausting. I don’t care if you’re married. Your marriage is only a place card anyway. I don’t really need an official title.”Atticus knew that nothing could have happened between him and Bernadette while he was unconscious, so he was very calm about it, “Please have some dignity. Nothing happened between us. You’re still young. Don’t soil your own reputation.”Bernadette smiled silently. Then, they heard a knock on the door. She opened the door, dressed in a half transparent nightie. Outside the door was a group of teachers and students. At that very moment, Atticus knew that this woman had trapped him.After that incident, he left
Tiffany still didn’t quite understand. She finally understood that something had happened after listening to her colleagues’ gossip. She checked the news and glanced through the articles. Her mind immediately went numb. By the time she recollected herself, Jackson had disappeared.She had arrived at the office in Jackson’s car today. By the time she rushed out, Jackson had already driven away. She knew that he was going back to the West residence to confront Atticus. Despite her fear, she couldn’t ignore him at a time like this. Jackson could beat a man to death when he lost control!By the time she arrived at the West residence in a cab, Jackson and Atticus were nowhere to be found. Only Summer was pacing around nervously in the living room. “Where’s Jackson? Is he here?” She asked.Summer nodded, teary-eyed, “He’s here. In the study upstairs. He’s locked himself in with his father. I can’t go in. I’m afraid that something might happen, but I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry, Tiffie,
Jackson’s sudden roar frightened Tiffany into dropping the tissue in her hand. This was the first time he had ever yelled at her. She felt aggrieved.Atticus steadied himself by holding onto a table and forced a smile, “I’m fine, Tiffany. He’s not wrong. I don’t deserve it. I shouldn’t have dragged the Wests into this. This is my problem. I’m a steady man; I will deal with this properly. I haven’t done anything wrong…”Tiffany believed that Atticus was telling the truth. She simply couldn’t relate the man in front of her with the word ‘unbearable.’ “I believe you… Shall we go to the hospital? Please don’t be angry at Jackson. He loses control of his strength when he’s mad…”Atticus shook his head, “I’m fine. He did control his strength. I’m alright. I won’t die. Stay with your mother-in-law. Tell her that I’ve never done anything to betray her. My only mistake was in managing this and causing everyone in the city to find out.”He had just spoken when Jackson lunged at Tiffany, dragging
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