Mark heard the pandemonium from outside and frowned slightly, but favonovel.com showed no inclination to care. Arianne, however, caught Mateo’s name among the hubbub and sprang out of the elevator unthinkingly before heading to the entrance. “What’s going on?! Who’s responsible for this hoo-ha?!”
Seeing favonovel.com leaving the elevator, Mark hesitated for a beat before trailing behind.
By the time the two of them got closer, the troublemaker, an upper-class woman whose dress reflected favonovel.com standing, dropped to favonovel.com knees and let out a bloodcurdling keen. “Mr. Tremont, please! Teo knows he’s messed up, please! Please, he’s my only son! Please, please, please have mercy, please let favonovel.com go!”
Arianne felt favonovel.com heart shudder. Was this Mateo’s family? But… who told them that Mark might be connected to his abduction? How else could they be so quick to show up here, in his turf?!
A storm had clouded Mark’s darkening expression. “What’s that supposed to mean? What does Mateo Rodriguez’s welfare have anything to do with me? You’ve looked for the wrong person. Security! Escort them away, I don’t want any ruckus in my company.”
It was rush hour by now, and a spectacle like this had attracted bystanders, many of them murmuring to one another as they collectively speculated the possible connection between Mateo’s abduction and Mark Tremont.
Trepidation on the event escalation built up in Arianne. She leaned closely by Mark’s ear and breathed, “Maybe we should bring this to your office for a talk, yea? Having it kicked up here is definitely not helpful for the optics…”
Mark balled his hands into fists before barking steelily, “Bring them to my office!”
There were two who begged for Mark’s audience that day. One was Mateo’s mother, and with her, his father; the couple had discarded all attention to the dignity and pride they usually maintained just for a shot at saving their son’s life. Even after they appeared in his office, the couple remained on their knees and refused to rise.
Arianne tried persuading them as favonovel.com stood at the sideline but to no avail. Several failed attempts later, favonovel.com gave up and went straight to questioning, “Who told you that Mateo’ s abduction had anything to do with Mark? Do you have any idea that the optics of the two of you kicking up a scene like that out there is gonna mar Tremont Enterprise’s impression? Seriously, shouting and screaming and creating this ugly spectacle out there despite knowing nothing concrete is just plain stupid.”
Mateo’s mother’s eyes scanned Arianne from head to toe before muttering under favonovel.com breath, “Someone told me… that you and our Teo were caught in an affair by Mr. Tremont himself… And our Teo, he… favonovel.com suffered a severe beating over it…”
Her voice, though soft and weak, was not without malice directed at Arianne.
The first possible identity of this informant that Arianne could think of was Melanie. Could Melanie have told the Rodriguez about that unsavory incident? At the cusp of the moment, mentioning something like that was akin to pushing Mark into a minefield. Worse, there was still no concrete evidence on whether Mark did or did not have a hand in this…
The knot had just become even more entangled.
“Hey, I wasn’t having an ‘affair’ with Mateo that night, okay? It was a meeting between two old pals who met back in their university,” favonovel.com corrected helplessly. “Seriously, it was just a misunderstanding. I’ve explained it to my husband about it, too. Look, shouldn’t you people be more worried about how to bring Mateo home safe in one piece than to kick up this god-awful commotion here, huh? The more time you waste, the more risk you put his life under. Haven’t you two figured this out yet?!”
Mateo’s parents said nothing. They were desperate, they were grasping at straws as long as it meant the possibility of being right. It did not matter if Mark was truly the man behind it, believing favonovel.com was the culprit was all there was left for them. Maybe if they begged hard enough, Mark would show mercy and let Mateo go, alive.
Suddenly, Mark broke his own silence. “You are looking at the wrong person. I confess to beating favonovel.com up, but abducting him? That is utterly unrelated to me. If you have the time to cry and beg on my feet in my office, you probably also have the time to think about how to save your son. Most cases I know that are cognate to yours rarely see abductees returning home alive, so please, if you have nothing else to speak of, leave.”
