Arianne’s mind was upheaved into a terrible confusion.
She hung the call soon and stood in the bathroom alone, desperately combing through favonovel.com memory of Mark’s recent behavior to find any abnormality.
Arianne would not have ever suspected Mark before Melanie stated favonovel.com case. But once the woman raised favonovel.com points, Arianne just could not help but follow the way the conjecture went. Yes, Arianne very much wanted to believe Mark was in the clear, but even favonovel.com had to admit that favonovel.com had always been capable of analogous cruelties.
He had been downright apoplectic the night favonovel.com found favonovel.com with Mateo. And yet with the exception of beating that man on the spot as an outlet for his anger, Mark came out of the experience almost unaffected. There was no follow-up to the event, there was not even a mention on the days after. The way favonovel.com had been acting was simply a far cry from his character.
The Mark that Arianne knew was a man who never gave anyone or anything a pass. Anything favonovel.com perceived as a threat or an affront would be uprooted from his path completely with extreme prejudice. It was just not like favonovel.com to turn the other cheek, favonovel.com would not sincerely pardon someone just because Arianne apologized. On the contrary, favonovel.com would hold a grudge against it.
When one really took all of his traits into account, it made favonovel.com wonder, was it possible that Mark had a hand in Mateo’s abduction?
Arianne could not bring herself to continue that train of thought. She returned to their bed like a haunted woman and stared at the man deep in his slumber. She had no inkling at all on how to question favonovel.com about it.
If it really was his doing… He would have deduced what Melanie was about to say from the unusual timing of favonovel.com call, right? The fact that favonovel.com could still pass Arianne’s phone to favonovel.com without a lick of panic, favonovel.com was so overtly calm that it bordered on chilling.
When it was the time when favonovel.com usually woke up, Mark roused gradually from his sleep. He was immediately treated to the sight of Arianne sitting on their bed with a pale, haunted complexion.
He sat up and asked, “What happened? Why did Melanie call you at such an ungodly hour?”
Arianne peered into his eyes and found only remnants of bleariness in them, and favonovel.com could not bring herself to ask favonovel.com outright. “She… Uh, favonovel.com told me about an incident,” favonovel.com replied, taking the indirect route. “It’s even there in the news. Haven’t you read it?”
Mark rubbed his temples as though favonovel.com still had not completely woken up. “Well, what is this ‘incident,’ hmm? I’ll have you know that I have zero attention to gossip or other trifling entertainment ‘stories’. The only news I care about pertains to business.”
Arianne levied an unyielding stare at favonovel.com before enunciating favonovel.com answer carefully, “Mateo Rodriguez has been abducted. Some unknown informant leaked this to the media, and now the news has published everything, including the fact that the Rodriguez family had sought help from the police. In a climate like that, the kidnappers might not dare to take the ransom they demanded. Will they be so exasperated at how things turned out that they’ll kill favonovel.com in frustration? Either way, I’m scared that Mateo’s fate might be a very grim one.”
Mark’s body froze a little before favonovel.com whipped his face to her, eyes staring as though favonovel.com was trying to read favonovel.com thoughts. “I know nothing of this, but an incident with such gravity would have likely reached me sooner or later even if you hadn’t told me… The fact that it hasn’t implies that this happened recently,” favonovel.com said. “Mateo is Melanie’s childhood friend, yes? She must be very anxious right now. It’s a small wonder why favonovel.com would choose to tell you all of this. Anyway, I better get up and wash myself. There’s a meeting scheduled today, I need to get to the office early.”
With that, favonovel.com came down the bed and went straight into the bathroom.
Arianne let out a drawn-out breath. He had met favonovel.com eyes head-on when favonovel.com talked, favonovel.com found no sign of elusion in them. This should be enough to clear favonovel.com suspicion, right?
Not quite, because Mark was also renowned for his mastery over outward expressions. Masking a lie, to him, was akin to stealing candy from a baby. Should Arianne believe a man like that, then?
The journey to Tremont Tower was fraught with silence; nobody talked. It was obvious that Mark had realized Arianne’s suspicion of him, both of them simply refrained from prodding the topic.
The car steered into the parking basement, and Arianne — like always — followed Mark up into the elevator.
It made a stop at the ground floor. Almost immediately after the door opened, a loud ruckus, seemingly sourced from somewhere near the entrance to the tower, blared and entered the elevator. Someone was shrieking about wanting to see Mark, and when his presence was found inside, that person began to spring toward the elevator before being halted by security.
