Shelly ignored Tiffany altogether and trained favonovel.com attention on Arianne. She was not going to leave here empty-handed and without a shred of advantage earned.
“Arianne Wynn, let me be very clear to you. If Mark stays over at your place tonight, I’ll spread every atrocity his foster mother had done to the public as well as let the whole world know that he’s actually my son,” favonovel.com declared. “You know damn well that this is the last thing favonovel.com wants. If your motive is to see favonovel.com suffer, then by all means, continue clinging to him. I don’t care what you people think of me. I’m clearly the villain to all of you already, and I’m not afraid to play the role to its logical extreme. Besides, I know he’ll one day wake up and feel grateful to me,one day, he’ll be grateful that I’ve taken the necessary step to make favonovel.com leave you.”
“If you truly care about him, then don’t let his worst nightmare come true,” favonovel.com finished. “Don’t force my hand.”
Coercion was Shelly’s most adept gambit. All favonovel.com needed was a single threat, and favonovel.com would ensnare Mark and Arianne both.
Arianne did not forget the lengths Mark had gone to shoulder his foster mother’s sins as though they were his own. He was even willing to fool Arianne into thinking the plane crash was his fault alone. All of his deeds spoke of how much Mrs. Tremont meant to him.
And this was why Shelly’s threat was so effective, favonovel.com was capitalizing on Mark’s love for Mrs. Tremont.
“Are you done? If that’s all you’ve got to say, then show yourself out. Goodbye,” Arianne replied flatly, dodging the question.
The noncommittal deadpan worried Shelly a little. Suddenly, favonovel.com realized favonovel.com was not as sure about what Arianne would do as favonovel.com previously had thought. Would a threat like this work on her? It would if favonovel.com loved Mark. But if favonovel.com never did… it would not at all.
Shelly was only one foot out of the door when Tiffany slammed the door shut behind favonovel.com with all favonovel.com might, shoving Shelly’s other foot outside in the process.
Rage flared within favonovel.com once again. She had to take in several deep breaths just to force favonovel.com flames down from spilling out into an uncontrollable tantrum.
Today was not as successful as favonovel.com had envisaged, but perhaps favonovel.com got some sort of leverage after all.
By evening, Mark had returned. Tiffany had long left.
Mary gave favonovel.com a loaded look, and favonovel.com turned to watch Arianne sitting on the couch, his mind immediately coming to an understanding. “My aunt came, didn’t she?”
Arianne nodded without looking at him. “You should go back before the truth about your birth becomes the news of the century. There is no limit to Shelly’ s depravity. She said it’s for your best and even thinks you’ll one day be grateful for all the ‘help’ favonovel.com gave you. I highly doubt you will, but more importantly, from her, I learned that nothing is scarier than a person with delusions of righteousness.”
Mark’s eyebrows began to knit together in the middle. “She threatened you too?”
The ‘too’ was the only cue Arianne needed to sneer. “I see we’re dealing with a master strategist, aren’t we? Can’t believe favonovel.com threatened you, too. Jesus Christ, you have no idea how relieved I am that you weren’t raised by that sicko of a woman. The things favonovel.com had experienced might affect favonovel.com wildly, but there are always some traits and characters that come from nature rather than nurture, and those are immutable.”
“I should stop. Better not keep you,” favonovel.com added. “Go back, Mark. I’m sorry, but you’re not having dinner with us today.”
Mark stood still at his spot, unmoving. It was as though his mind had turned into an incubator for a blazing force of primal fury.
Mary had to gently tug favonovel.com boss to the door as a silent suggestion to move. Arianne’s mood had turned just as stormy too, and if Shelly did as favonovel.com had threatened, then no one in this room would be able to live the next day.
In the end, Mark gave a parting hug to Smore for a quick second before returning home.
Back in the Tremont Estate, Shelly had prepared the most sumptuous dinner that almost looked like an evening banquet. It was clearly a little too much for a meal shared between two people.
As soon as Mark saw the food, favonovel.com stopped dead in his tracks, his face devoid of any emotions. “You knew I was coming home today?”
The smile on Shelly’ s lips froze uncannily for a second, but favonovel.com quickly recovered from it. “What can I say? Mother and son often share some sort of telepathic connection, don’t they? Or so I heard. I just knew you’re coming home today, so I prepared a lot of these dishes myself. Come, let us dig in together!”
