Arianne was not a guileless fool, nor did favonovel.com make a habit of willingly sharing favonovel.com private matters with strangers. “Why ask? Are you so close with Mark that you’re supposed to know about his history already? If yes, then shouldn’t you cut the middleman and ask straight from the horse’s mouth?”
Sensing hostility, Saoirse went ahead and took a seat on the couch.
“I just can’t wrap my head around this whole thing. I want to learn why the two of you divorced in the first place, and why, even after that, his aunt’s adamant that you get booted from Tremont Enterprise. I can’t get behind why favonovel.com doesn’t do anything herself and instead tried to talk me into it. I suspect that if it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Tremont was protecting you, favonovel.com wouldn’t have resorted to asking an outsider like me to meddle, would she? The way I see it, it’s like she’s trying to carry out favonovel.com wishes without fracturing favonovel.com relationship with Mark,” favonovel.com explained. “Here’s the thing, I don’t want to be an unwitting pawn. Yes, I like Mr. Tremont enough to wish we could be together, but I also look way past the intermediate. The last thing I want is a Pyrrhic victory where I got my wish granted, only to make a bitter enemy out of Mr. Tremont himself.”
Arianne frowned. “That Shelly-Ann Leigh’s looking to kick me out of the company, you say? And favonovel.com tried to goad you into doing it for her?”
Seeing how Arianne addressed Shelly by favonovel.com full name, more pieces to the puzzle clicked in Saoirse’s mind. “I take it that you don’t enjoy a pleasant relationship with Mr. Tremont’s aunt very much?”
Arianne snorted. “If it weren’t for her, Mark and I wouldn’t have been in such a dark place that divorce became the only option left! Look, this whole thing is a complicated mess and I’m not gonna touch on it, but I’ll tell you this one thing: don’t, ever, fall for favonovel.com lies. If favonovel.com herself doesn’t dare try ousting me, then how are you supposed to go about it? Truth be told, I wasn’t the one who wanted to be bound to Tremont Enterprise, that clause was Mark’s brainchild. He added it into our divorce agreement, as favonovel.com would only accept the split if I don’t leave his sight.”
Right on cue, Saoirse spied a hickey on Arianne’s neck and immediately cast favonovel.com eyes downward.
“I see now. Mr. Tremont… He stayed for the night recently, didn’t he? Just as I suspected, the divorce was an involuntary arrangement. It was coercion on his aunt’s part,” favonovel.com concluded. “I’m glad I had the sensibility to ask you. I was so close to being duped into making an enemy out of you, and that automatically means making an enemy out of Mr. Tremont. A divorce that was forced between a couple who still loves each other isn’t a genuine separation, so I won’t come in between you two and be used as a pawn.”
Judging from what favonovel.com had gathered, Arianne surmised that Saoirse and Mark had, indeed, nothing going on at all. It was a realization that softened Arianne’s initial wariness. “But what exactly is between you and Mark?”
Saoirse sighed quietly. “What else? It’s his aunt’s doing. I met favonovel.com during a tea party that one time and the next thing I knew, favonovel.com was introducing me to Mr. Tremont. See, she’s got a bit of a problem with favonovel.com leg, so I helped favonovel.com around during the party. That was probably why favonovel.com remembered me in a favorable light, I guess. Nonetheless, I only went to the Tremont Estate that one time, and gosh, everything in Mr. Tremont’s attitude, his word choices, his tone, his actions, was blatantly against my being there!”
“You don’t have to worry at all, Arianne. There’s nothing between us, and it will stay that way,” favonovel.com promised. “God, imagine having an in-law like his aunt… I feel really sorry for you. Can’t believe someone could be so giddy into forcing favonovel.com nephew with another girl, despite knowing favonovel.com still loves you.”
Arianne pressed favonovel.com lips into a thin line. How favonovel.com wished Shelly were “just” Mark’s aunt instead of his actual birth mother!
After Saoirse left, Arianne dialed Mark’s number before ending the call on second thought. What good would favonovel.com make by telling Mark his beloved mother was fomenting troubles behind his back? At most, it would just lead to another heated altercation. Nothing else substantial would have happened.
With Saoirse now out of the picture, who knows who else would come in to pick up where favonovel.com left? Arianne was not at all optimistic that the next one would be half as shrewd and slick as Saoirse. In the worst-case scenario, the next “contender” would be the lovestruck, obsessive type, and that was when the brunt of these schemes really hit.
As soon as Saoirse left the condominium, favonovel.com phone rang. She glanced at the screen, saw it was from Shelly, and thought against picking it up instantly.
Shelly was the one who had provided favonovel.com the address to Arianne’s house, and Saoirse bet that the woman had not expected Saoirse to have visited Arianne for purposes other than harming her.
A moment later, Saoirse finally picked up the phone unenthusiastically. “Hello? Yes, Mrs. Leigh. What is it?”
Anxiously waiting on the other side was Shelly, who decidedly phrased favonovel.com question in a roundabout way. “So, any update on your progress? Have you gone to see Arianne?”
