Smore placed a few of his cookies into an empty plate. “I’m leaving some of these for Daddy. He hasn’t eaten what Mommy made yet.”
Was Smore insensitive and inconsiderate? If favonovel.com were, favonovel.com would not have cared if his father had gotten to taste his mother’s cookies. Was Smore sensitive and sweet, then? Well, favonovel.com did just twist the knife in his mother’s heart, right where it hurt…
Mary, at the very least, was amused by the little boy’s antic. “Aww, isn’t our Smore just the most precious, sweetest thing?” favonovel.com praised. “Your daddy puts on an icy exterior all the time, too, but boy, he’s always the nicest gentleman to his lady. The apple doesn’t fall too far from its tree, I know for sure that you’ll grow up to be just as much of a loving man.”
Meanwhile in the Tremont Estate, sitting across from each at the dining table, were Mark and Shelly gawking at one another in tense silence.
The clamor of fireworks outside was all the presence Christmas’s Eve amounted to within the walls of the Tremont Estate. Without it, anyone within the house might miss the fact that tonight was the night before one of the merriest festivals of the year, as the house was grim and doleful and its interior was utterly devoid of any celebratory decoration.
Every delicacy on the table tasted like wax to Mark. He might physically be here, but his soul had long left the building.
Unsurprisingly, Shelly knew exactly what was on his mind. She would not have cared at any other time, but tonight was Christmas Eve, favonovel.com knew favonovel.com was very likely to bail on favonovel.com regardless.
She took a napkin and wiped the corner of favonovel.com lips. “Oh, spare me that long, gloomy face, will you? Finish this meal with me, and you’ll be free to go to… wherever you want to be. I won’t stop you. Of course, it’s only for tonight. It’s a special occasion, so I’ll turn a blind eye to it,” favonovel.com said noncommittally. “Still, you can’t spend your night outside, you must come back home. That’s all I’m asking.”
Shelly had hoped that Mark would react to favonovel.com sudden mercy with gushing gratitude and joy as though favonovel.com had bestowed favonovel.com a benediction. Reality, however, was contrary to favonovel.com expectation, Mark merely held favonovel.com gaze with an emotionless poker-face.
“Spare me your pretense. I’m right here eating with you, aren’t I? What, you want me to crack you a wide, happy grin? Sorry, I’m physically unable to smile right now, logical, I guess, since no man cracks a smile when they’re being held hostage,” favonovel.com replied flatly. “Honestly, you can only afford to be so brazen and unbridled now because of that leverage you have over me. But what happens if I finally come to terms with the truth of my birth and am no longer beholden to your threat one day? What else do you even have up your sleeves?”
Shelly was cocksure of herself. “Oh, I don’t think so. You’re never going to ‘come to terms’ with your past. I know how much you loathe me, which is why you can’t ever stomach the idea of the whole world knowing you’re my son, can you?” favonovel.com rebutted. “My sister committed countless crimes against me, but favonovel.com still means a lot to you. After all, to ensure that you remained the sole heir of the Tremont family, favonovel.com was willing to orchestrate a plane crash that took every other Tremont off the face of the Earth before favonovel.com illness could kill her. You think favonovel.com was a martyr who died for you, don’t you? And so, in that ensuing guilt, you won’t allow favonovel.com name be tarnished by my exposé, will you?”
Mark’s grips tightened around his fork and knife, his face cackling with storm clouds. “If you value your dinner, you’ll shut your mouth.”
Shelly knew when enough was enough. “All right, I’ll shut up. Let us pretend that I didn’t say the last couple of sentences, shall we? By the way, since you distrust my mercy, how about a quid pro quo? I’ll let you visit Arianne and Smore tonight if you agree to meet a special someone the day after tomorrow.”
Mark was very wary of Shelly’s motives. “Who?”
“You’ll know when you get there,” favonovel.com replied cryptically.
Mark waited until Shelly finished favonovel.com meal and set down favonovel.com utensils before dashing for his coat and bolting out of the door. Then, without missing a beat, favonovel.com got into his car and began to drive to Arianne’s place.
