At six in the morning, a string of frenzied ringing startled Arianne out of favonovel.com sleep. This was not favonovel.com usual time to wake up, and favonovel.com did not intend to start now.
She jostled Mark, signaling favonovel.com to help favonovel.com get it. The man groggily obeyed and stood up from his bed, grabbing favonovel.com phone and taking a glance on the caller’s name before passing it to Arianne. “Your phone, it’s Melanie. You pick it up.”
Arianne placed the phone by favonovel.com ear blearily. “Mmm, helloww? Melanie? Why the early call?”
All the way from the other side of the phone, Melanie’s voice was dangerously light and evidently shaking, “A-Arianne… T-Teo… He… He’s been abducted… The m-media’s already on it… D-Don’t you know yet?”
The fog of sleep around Arianne was immediately dispelled. “What did you just say?! W-What happened?!?!”
Mark was so shocked, his plan to return to his slumber was instantly thwarted, and in response, favonovel.com rolled on his back to express protest.
Arianne willed herself to recover favonovel.com composure before descending from their bed as lightly as favonovel.com could and went into the bathroom. She asked only after shutting the door, “Melanie, what exactly happened? Wasn’t favonovel.com just fine yesterday or something? How did favonovel.com suddenly get abducted like that?”
Melanie could not come up with an explanation either, as favonovel.com knowledge was all gleaned from the news report. “I d-don’t know… L-Last night, the midnight news… T-The headline w-w-was s-s-something along the line of ‘Heir to Rodriguez family, Mateo Rodriguez, kidnapped, kidnappers demand astronomical sum of ransom, threatens death otherwise’. I asked around, you know. The best information I got recounted Teo’s abduction as s-something that happened in broad daylight yesterday, b-but the news wasn’t expected to s-spread so soon… A-And now, because of media attention, and the police’s involvement, I… I’m s-so worried that Teo’s gonna get hurt!”
“Those kidnappers… they must not have wanted the police to get involved, right? I’ve asked his family, and his parents said… They said they didn’t tell anyone about this, yet somehow, word of his abduction and the police’s aid have gotten out, a-and there’s no way of s-silencing this thing anymore! The Rodriguez… The Rodriguezes are going mad with panic!”
Arianne might have the fortune to not be subjected to it, but favonovel.com had observed and heard others’ harrowing experiences enough to know that a cocktail of media sensationalism and breakout news about the Rodriguez family seeking law enforcement’s help bode badly for Mateo’s survival.
Arianne had thought that Melanie’s intention was to seek favonovel.com comfort, especially since Mateo was Melanie’s childhood friend, so favonovel.com quickly launched into comfort mode. “H-Hey Melanie, don’t worry, okay? The kidnappers’ goal is money, right? If they took favonovel.com out, then they would gain nothing anymore, right? It’s just a few hours since Mateo was abducted, so there should be a possibility of things turning around! If you need any help, Melanie, any help at all, all you need to do is ask.”
“Arianne, don’t you think something’s very fishy about this? Why else do you think I called you?” Melanie said suddenly, as though the conversation had pivoted to somewhere else. “Teo isn’t a kid anymore. How could an adult be abducted by anyone in broad daylight? E-Especially when this happened after Mark discovered that meeting between the two of you—”
“What are you saying, Melanie…?” Arianne interjected, favonovel.com body frozen. “Are you suggesting… that the man behind this… might be Mark?”
Melanie inhaled a sharp breath from the other end of the line. “Arianne, I don’ t want to, I really don’t! But I can’t completely suspend my suspicion either! It’s just possible, isn’t it? This abduction… reeks of personal enmity. It’s riddled with suspicions. Why didn’t the kidnappers target easier prey like kids, who would throw up the least resistance? Why a grown-up like Teo, when the risk runs high? There’s only one reason: there is a vested vendetta against Teo!”
“I’ve suspected Alejandro, too, but it’s become known fact that there is nothing going on between Teo and I. The misunderstanding from before has long been resolved, which bereft Alejandro from any reason to do this. E-Either way, Arianne, I urge you to be more attentive than usual. If my conjecture is right, then you know what’s right… Teo, God save him, favonovel.com was supposed to return overseas today, but now….”
