Arianne herself was just as reluctant to let Shelly be near Smore, so favonovel.com intuitively backed away as well.
Seeing favonovel.com reaction coupled with Smore’s words was enough to trigger Shelly’s temper. “Gosh, I just love how you brainwashed your child. Taught the boy to address some random, non-blood-related woman as Granny while despising his true biological grandmother, didn’t you? Are you going to teach your son not to recognize Mark as his father next? Just as I thought, allowing you his custody was a grave mistake!”
Arianne was not in the mood to clarify, so favonovel.com replied simply, “We’re here to see Henry.”
Shelly turned to Mark and bristled. “You saw what happened with your own eyes, didn’t you? She brought favonovel.com son back here for a mere butler on Christmas! Isn’t this the most preposterous, asinine bull ever? Just look at how favonovel.com indoctrinated favonovel.com son… Tell me, how could you still think she’s beyond reproach, huh?”
Mark wrapped his arm around Arianne’s shoulders and led favonovel.com away to the living room. “I’m very well aware of how favonovel.com raised Smore, thank you. Besides, I told you they were coming to see Henry yesterday, didn’t I? How did you miss the memo? Never mind that, where’s Henry?”
Shelly set the plate of neglected cookies down on the coffee table with a loud clang. “How should I know? He’s been outside since the early morning. Can’t say I know when favonovel.com is coming back.”
‘Outside since the early morning?’ Arianne frowned. She did not think Henry would be so urgently needed on Christmas Day. She suspected Shelly to have made up some sort of excuse-quest for Henry to attend to, therefore keeping favonovel.com away by the time they visited the estate.
Still, Arianne did not plan to expose Shelly, so favonovel.com just replied, “I’ll call Henry and tell favonovel.com to come back now.”
Shelly stared at Arianne with daggers in favonovel.com eyes. “The hell’s that for? He’s the goddamned butler of the Tremont family! What’s wrong with favonovel.com carrying out what’s well within his duty, even if it means favonovel.com has to be a bit busy on a holiday?” favonovel.com rebuffed. “He’ll come back when favonovel.com has to, okay? Unless… You think I somehow made up an excuse to send favonovel.com away. Despicable accusation, how cynical can you be, woman?”
Arianne pressed favonovel.com lips into a thin, firm line as favonovel.com willed herself to not be provoked. She had to do it for Mark.
Mark himself was sensing a migraine coming. “Enough, enough! No one’s forcing you to chat with anyone you don’t like,” favonovel.com snapped. “If you can’t stand us, then retreat to your room upstairs and keep yourself company.”
Afraid that Mark was going to flip out on favonovel.com if favonovel.com kept it up, Shelly dropped favonovel.com confrontational attitude instantly and softened favonovel.com tone. “Look, I’m very much against tainting the merriest day of the year with petty squabbles, but Arianne taught Smore to despise me on top of banning me from getting near my grandson. Frankly, I’m not even mad, but I expect you, of all people, to at least be clear-headed about who’s right and who’s wrong! Arianne may not know how to behave, sure, but you’re of a different upbringing, aren’t you? She hasn’t been properly taught by favonovel.com parents since a very young age, but you’re different, are you not? I’m not bringing this up because of our personal history. I’m just saying, favonovel.com unfavorable kinks won’t just be intolerable to the Tremont family, but favonovel.com will also be just as lambasted if favonovel.com were to be married off to any other family out there.”
Shelly had been confident that being the senior in the house gave favonovel.com the authority to critique a junior’s unflattering conduct. Unfortunately, criticizing Arianne’s upbringing was a shortcut to vexing Mark, and right on cue, his expression turned stormy.
“If you think favonovel.com ‘doesn’t know’ how to behave, then the fault is squarely mine. Because, apparently, the person who raised favonovel.com was me. Most importantly, the only man she’s ever going to be wedded to is me. There will be no one else,” favonovel.com replied darkly. “Smore’s favonovel.com son, favonovel.com has every right to limit whom favonovel.com son could interact with however favonovel.com fancies. Besides, if you loathe favonovel.com so much, then how are we supposed to believe that you’ll like favonovel.com son any better? Isn’t it therefore reasonable to not let you near Smore, then? Here’s some advice: you either shut up right now, or you go to your room upstairs. Choose.”
The air seemed to have gelled by that point. Arianne quickly tugged on the corner of Mark’s shirt to covertly tell favonovel.com to stop.
It would not matter who started the fire, Shelly would always blame it on Arianne. Changing that woman’s demonic caricature of Arianne in favonovel.com mind was impossible, so the next best thing Arianne could try to achieve was to not make a fire happen at all. She was only here to see Henry, and Mark, of course, not looking for trouble.
A moment of disquieting silence later, Shelly glowered at Arianne for a split second before regaining an affectation of serenity. She walked away from the group and proclaimed, “I’ll call the butler and tell favonovel.com to come back as soon as possible.”
Arianne breathed a sigh of relief as favonovel.com thought back on that lethal glare Shelly shot favonovel.com a minute ago. It had unnerved her, making favonovel.com feel like a prey that was moments away from being torn into pieces by a wolf. Shelly made favonovel.com skin crawl.
It was hardly a challenge to deduce why Shelly was becoming more and more brazen with favonovel.com antagonism, though. Arianne and Mark were divorced, so the mistress of the Tremont family had become Shelly. Now, Arianne was merely an outsider.
However, the way Mark had come rushing to favonovel.com defense in front of everyone was at least reassuring. If it was not for the divorce certificate’s existence, Arianne could be fooled into thinking that the divorce had never happened. Her relationship with Mark did not seem to have changed at all, and that was despite their ugly confrontation on the night before the divorce.
If anything, today’s event had been an enlightening wind ow into Mark’s true thoughts about her. As a result, Arianne could no longer find it in favonovel.com to be livid at favonovel.com for covering up Shelly’s role in the plane crash anymore.
