Both sides were at their coldest, least cooperative attitudes, and it was fanning the growing frustration within Mark’s chest.“This restoration project is going to cost at least $100,000 just for the most basic repairs, and this is only the gross estimates! For a house like that, a house worth around $1.5 million, it will demand even more money. It could literally cost millions!” he said.Arianne understood the reasoning behind mentioning the money. He was trying to make her bend under his will! But she would not yield, so she countered, “Oh, I see. Well, I have a couple of hundred thousand with me, so I’ll withdraw all of them for this and borrow the rest of the amount from you. Don’t worry, I’ll repay you. I may not be working, but I have a side income from my café. One day, I’ll return all of my dues.”Mark drew in a deep breath before fuming. “Must you insist on talking to me like this? Who says anything about wanting you to return that money?”“If that’s not the issue, then w
A while later, Mary returned with bad news. “I tried calling her, but it didn’t go through! She mentioned that she was looking forward to several days of unfettered revelries, so maybe she’s planning to keep her phone offline throughout so that no one can disturb her…? B-B-But what do we do, then?”Mark’s lips quivered as raw emotions slowly took control of his features. “Oh, alright… Brava, brava… But two can play that game! Stay out there! Stay out there and don’t come back! I can take care of my son, no problem! I’ll bring him to my company! I don’t, for one, believe that she’s capable of not coming back to see her baby for a month! This time, I’m not going to plead with her to come back!”Mary had the foresight to duck as far away as possible to save herself. She could see it, as clear as day. The war had begun because both sides refused to concede.It was eight in the morning. As planned, Jackson West appeared before the main entrance of the Smith Enterprise.Alejandro’s was a
Jett had to admit that Alejandro thought ahead. He might have given up on removing Tiffany’s baby himself, but he knew what to say to fool Jackson into doing the dirty for him. That little conversation just now was enough to plant the idea in Jackson’s head that the baby wasn’t his, therefore playing on the man’s insecurities and banes.Regardless, the scene from before had made Jett very worried. He had always been Don Smith’s subject, for starters, and though he now answered to Alejandro, he was still expected to work for Don. What would happen to him when the truth of his work was out? Don could want him dead, or Alejandro could make him die. Either way, the only fate that awaited him was death. That was how much of a nightmare both sides were.The worst of all was that Don had been contacting him more and more often lately. This would not bode well.Jett continued to push Alejandro into the building and took notice that the anxiety level within the building seemed to have dialed
“You never thought of me, your disgusting little bastard grandson, as someone who would one day be by your side as you die, anyway, “ Alejandro said steelily. “What, have you forgotten the crap you’ve done, huh? Now you want to enjoy the life of a grandfather surrounded by his grandchildren? Give me a break. None of your sons are alive, and the only heir you have is a lame grandson who is too busy to be playing balls with Grandpa. Have your bodyguards be your playmate, old man. If you’re done lecturing me, get out of my way. I’ve got business.”Don turned crimson with rage. “Why you son of a—”Jett stepped out and stopped him. “Master Don, Mr. Smith is doing fine. The company is well, too. He has made quite an achievement since he arrived at the Capital. You should relax.”Don stared straight at Jett for a few seconds before replying, “Alright, then. You take good care of him. I’ll be off.”Jett answered him with a hum and hung his head, afraid that Don might find incriminating sig
Tiffany’s head was thrown into a knot. She could not fathom whatever was in Jackson’s mind. Sure, she wanted to be successful in her career, but she never thought of giving up her baby for that. When she heard about her pregnancy, the emotion that overwhelmed her was genuine, surprised jubilance. Ever since she saw how adorable Smore was, she had wanted a child of her own.Tiffany planned to request maternity leave when she was near her delivery date, then resume working after that leave expired. Never had the thought of abortion crossed her mind.“No. I’m not giving up on the baby. I don’t even think its gonna affect my work in any way, either,” she said.Jackson was quiet for a beat before replying, “Listen to me. Get an abortion.”That was when Tiffany understood that her perspective was never included in Jackson’s consideration.The realization chilled her. “Why? Just, why? Can you at least give me a reason? You can’t—you can’t just tell me to let go of a kid for no frickin’ r
“What are you doing here alone?” Tiffany asked, sobbing intermittently when they met. “Where’s Smore? Can you really leave him at home?”Although Arianne felt uncomfortable, she did not show it. “Don’t worry, his daddy is with him. What’s there to worry about? I’ve decided to come here for a few days to have fun and keep you company. How are things between you and Jackson?”“He thinks that Alejandro is the father of the baby.” Tiffany sobbed. “He wants me to abort it. I hung up on him angrily, and he hasn’t called me back since. He’s going to drive me crazy…”Arianne wiped her tears off. “Alright, don’t cry. Pregnant women shouldn’t cry. The baby can feel it whenever you’re sad. It’s not a myth, it’s true. Suspicion is one’s greatest enemy. It can destroy trust between two people. There are two ways to solve this now; either you and Jackson have a nice chat and convince him that the baby is his, or you take a paternity test and show him the proof. I don’t recommend you aborting the
Mark pulled out his phone countless times, feeling the urge to call Arianne. However, he was afraid she would reject his calls again. That, in turn, would only upset him. He had to endure this. He needed to stop spoiling her so much and that included Aristotle. They were both too spoiled.Suddenly, someone gently pushed the office door open. A tall, slender, and pretty young woman dressed in office wear with her hair tied back into a loose ponytail glided into the room. “Mr. Tremont,” she said in a soft voice, “The director has asked me to bring these documents over. I didn’t knock as I was afraid of disturbing the baby. Should I leave these on your desk?”Mark nodded. “Put them down,” he softly replied, “I’ll look at them when I have the time.” As he spoke, he noticed that the woman had taken off her high heels and carried them in her hands when she entered. She did not use the readily-available disposable slippers. “There’s a shoe cabinet at the door with disposable slippers readil
The meeting did not take too long since Mark could not stop worrying about Aristotle. The meeting that would have taken at least two hours was promptly shortened to one hour because of his son. He skipped through everything that was not important.He returned to the office and found that Aristotle had stopped crying. Thanks to Janice’s extensive efforts in cheering him up, the little man was staring up at her blankly. He did not seem happy, but at least he had stopped crying. Mark heaved a sigh of relief, walked up to her, and said, “You’re certainly good with children. No one could soothe Smore except for his mother.”Janice became slightly more reserved when he returned. She stepped aside. “Smore? Little Smore? What a cute nickname!”Mark gazed at his son and smiled. “That’s right, his mother gave it to him. We’ve gotten used to calling him by that name. His real name is Aristotle Tremont.”Janice stared dazedly at Mark for a few seconds. Everyone in the office had mentioned that
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