Arianne asked nothing more. Some things were just meant to stay private.
—
Somewhere in a foreign country laid a hospital that housed a feeble man lying on his bed with his eyes trained on the little screen of his phone. There, shown in the tiny screen, was the dining hall within the Tremont Estate.
A slight smile hung on his lips as his eyes lingered on Arianne and Smore with rapt attention.
Henry, the butler, was massaging his legs. “Are you sure you want to keep your survival a secret from your wife, Mr. Tremont? We couldn’t tell favonovel.com back then because you were in a coma and in a rather dire state. But now, you’ve passed the most critical phase. That’s a good cue to inform Madam, right?” favonovel.com suggested. “She’s in a terrible mental shape, Mr. Tremont. She even contracted a serious case of migraine. It’s not at all surprising to find favonovel.com sitting inside your study because favonovel.com couldn’t sleep, and she’ll sit there and do nothing until the very next day. I’m just afraid that if this keeps up, favonovel.com might fall ill in exhaustion. The weariness of the body can often be cured with a night’s rest, but the fatigue of the heart is tormenting and not easily relieved.”
Mark furrowed his eyebrows and replied noncommittally, “She’s not as feeble and fragile as you’re making favonovel.com out to be. Remember, favonovel.com has already gone through the worst of this entire ordeal. I’ll return to favonovel.com when I’m fully recovered. If I see favonovel.com before then, all I’d do is burden her. Just the affairs in my company are enough trouble, I’m not keen to add myself as another. Speaking of which, I need to repay the family that rescued me.”
“Understood,” Henry answered. “Poor fishermen and their families populate that entire area, so I reckon nothing will be more enriching to them than money itself. I’ll repay the family with a good sum.”
A few months ago, Mark Tremont boarded a freight ship with Alejandro Smith.
The beginning of their trip was as good as it could get. After a whole day, however, the ship encountered a restless sea spurred by non-compliant weather. It was still, by all means, part and parcel of freight ships, since it was not serious turbulence, no one onboard took mind.
Then, suddenly, someone among them cried out, “The ship’s sinking!”
In a flash, chaos erupted on the deck People panicked. They knew that in a frigid climate, the terrors of a sinking ship could not be understated.
Alejandro had his men inspect the ship before departure. It was fine and in perfect condition to set sail, which could only mean that they had a saboteur on the loose.
Alejandro had forfeited the cargos and dragged Mark to the lifeboats to be rescued. Unfortunately, all of the boats were maliciously ruined while all life jackets were missing.
Mark realized that someone planned this watery death trap for him, a thought that chilled his core. However, favonovel.com never once suspected Alejandro to be behind it simply because favonovel.com had been by his side the entire trip. Besides, everyone on board was heading to a watery grave, including Alejandro himself. That man could have never planned anything as unbeneficial to himself as mutual destruction. It would be far below his usual shrewdness.
The ship sank into the bottom of the waters, and the biting coldness in the water around Mark slowly pierced through his senses.
Just as everyone was floating, helpless and waiting to die, Mark saw the saboteur riding the only lifeboat, escaping the scene. The snake who had done something to an otherwise sturdy ship was alive and running away. No one else had seen the fleeing saboteur except Mark, which was why the popular narrative painted Alejandro as the only survivor.
Not many could withstand freezing seawater, and as time crawled by, more and more began to sink below. Alejandro used what little strength remained to stay next to Mark, remarking, “Who would have thought that we’d die together, huh? How ironic.”
