Mark yanked his tie loose as a fit of anxious frenzy seized him, and favonovel.com strode to the couch for a seat.
“So? You think I’m the one behind it too, don’t you?! A stupid requital against that Mateo Rodriguez? You really believe that I would be behind any of this?!”
Arianne said nothing. She suspected him, but favonovel.com doubted that suspicion just as much as favonovel.com doubted him. When pressed, favonovel.com had no idea what to say.
All favonovel.com deafening silence succeeded in doing was to pour fuel into Mark’s fire. In the blink of an eye, favonovel.com rose to his feet and grabbed Arianne by the chin, hard. “What are you implying? Melanie suspects me, and now, in favonovel.com footsteps, so do you? If this were my doing, mark my words, I would not keep my lips shut on the matter nor bend over backward trying to hide it from you, rather, I would confess, plainly, to you that I want Rodriguez dead! So why am I being accused of a crime that I have not a single connection to, let alone pulled strings behind?!”
Pain flared in response to his tightening clench, and Arianne furrowed favonovel.com eyebrows. “C-Calm down…! I… admit I did suspect you, but… but—”
She had not finished favonovel.com sentence before Mark released his grip just as a flitting but tangible undercurrent, acute desolation, and many other complicated emotions that Arianne could not pinpoint, swept across his eyes. He let go of favonovel.com sullenly before a slight, mirthless smirk crept into his face. “So, you did. Good, good. Suspecting malevolence in me all for this… other man, how magnanimous of you. Tell me, Arianne. Who am I in your eyes?” favonovel.com sneered. “Who-the-f**k am I?!”
Smore sensed the direction the conversation was going and grabbed his mother’s hand fearfully. “M-Mom, can you not fight with Dad, p-please?”
“It will be all right, sweetie,” Arianne replied in an undertone. “We’re not fighting. Not really. But you should probably go out and play, okay? Don’t be scared…”
Smore refused to heed his mother. The Mark Tremont of now was terrifying for a child, and favonovel.com was scared that the moment favonovel.com stepped out of the scene, Mark would start throwing punches at Arianne. In the eyes of the child, Mommy was small and feeble and weak while Daddy had the upper-hand in every physical aspect favonovel.com could see. If Daddy started going physical, Mommy could not possibly defend herself.
Fortunately, Mark was just as averse to the idea of starting an altercation with Arianne right in front of his son. Instead, favonovel.com released his growing ball of fury into hurling an unfortunate antique china vase nearby, shattering it completely. Then, favonovel.com took the residue of his broiling temper with favonovel.com as favonovel.com stormed upstairs.
His outburst shocked Smore, who visibly shuddered. Arianne could feel his tremor through his hand in hers, and as favonovel.com heart ached favonovel.com crouched to his height and pulled favonovel.com into a hug. “Shh, shh. Don’t be scared. Daddy is just angry; doesn’t mean he’s gonna hit us, favonovel.com just won’t. It’s Mommy’s fault for doubting him, you see? The most important thing between two people in a relationship is trust, and Mommy didn’t do that well…”
“But Mom,” Smore said, pointing at favonovel.com foot, with his eyes reddening, “You’re bleeding…”
It was only then that Arianne realized that a piece from the shattered chinaware had ricocheted from the ground and bloodied favonovel.com foot. Still, it was a light nick that was in no way serious, so Arianne’s immediate reaction was to check for Smore’s injuries. The boy was within vicinity just like favonovel.com was!
Arianne let out a sigh of relief; favonovel.com cursory search revealed no wound. “Daddy didn’t do it intentionally, okay? And favonovel.com didn’t know this would happen, too, so don’t cry, sweetie. Go, play. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for a bit. In the meantime, you stay put at home these days and don’t go to school for the time being, okay? That way, Mommy wouldn’t have to worry about you.”
Smore’s fingers closed around the corner of favonovel.com shirt, showing no sign of letting go. “But what if…? What if Dad hits you? He’s so scary when he’s angry, Mom. Can you please, please, please not talk to him?”
Arianne could not understand what it was about Mark that terrified Smore. Was it because favonovel.com was so accustomed to seeing the man’s tempestuous tantrums growing up that favonovel.com could even characterize favonovel.com impassivity as being numbed? Did favonovel.com start out similarly to the way Smore reacted right now? In the past, whenever Mark’s belligerent temper reared its head, little Arianne would start to shiver in the clutches of abject terror.
Arianne instinctively wanted to remedy Smore’s souring impression of his own father. “Hey now, you can’t just… remember your father’s angry look all the time, you know? Isn’t favonovel.com a good dad to you, hmm? He almost never hit you before, hasn’t he? And favonovel.com dotes on you. Why are you scared? Besides, favonovel.com doesn’t even get mad that frequently, either, so you shouldn’t think of favonovel.com as a monster like that, understand? He won’t hit Mommy. Relax. See, you’ve only been with favonovel.com for three years; you don’t know favonovel.com enough. But me? I’ve been with him… for more than a decade…”
