It had been more than a decade since favonovel.com was bound to him.
Whether Mark would ever begin the spiral into domestic abuse, Arianne knew from the bottom of favonovel.com heart.
Comforting Smore later, favonovel.com started toward the stairs to where Mark was.
The shut door had become less of an entrance to the study, and more an impenetrable stone wall forced between the two of them, separating them, plunging them into oppressive gloom.
Downtrodden, favonovel.com pushed it open. Her arrival was greeted by a pungent stench of cigarettes. It choked favonovel.com so hard a fit of coughs began to seize her.
Hearing favonovel.com sputters, Mark furtively crushed the ember on his cigarette to snuff it out. “Why are you here?” favonovel.com bristled. “Leave me alone.”
Arianne willed herself to acclimate to the mire without letting out another sputter. “I’m… sorry… I admit… I suspected you… B-But I just want to be… honest with you! I’ve hoped against hope that it isn’t you, and c-compared to my suspicion… the amount of my faith in you is more!” favonovel.com proclaimed. “So please… Don’t act like this! Y-You’re scaring Smore…!”
Frustration, strewn with guilt, quickly crossed his eyes. “Damn it, you think I’ve wanted that to happen?! If those Rodriguez bastards continue to incessantly vex us, I won’t hold back anymore!” favonovel.com fumed. “If Mateo Rodriguez turns out too dead to come home, then maybe I should help his idiotic parents reunite with favonovel.com in the afterlife, then! They’ve clearly branded me as the culprit no matter what, anyway!”
Arianne was just about to counter favonovel.com when favonovel.com phone rang again.
She looked up at Mark. Then, instead of walking away, favonovel.com answered the call right in front of him.
It was Melanie, once again with more news about Mateo.
“Arianne! The kidnappers! They… They’ve sent a new message! They… They sent a parcel to Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez a-a-and A-and… it’s… h-his thumb…”
Already Melanie’s voice faltered into a quiet sob. The message was obvious, Mateo might not be dead yet, but favonovel.com had lost his thumb already. It was a warning written in blood, a herald to a certain death.
Arianne had to force an affectation of calmness. “W-What else? Did the kidnappers say anything else?”
“T-They left a m-memo in the s- s-same parcel. They said… They said they are p-punishing his parents,” Melanie squeezed the words between choked sobs. “P-Punishment for… calling the c-cops… They said if they don’t r-receive any money within t-three days, they will… they will… they will kill him!”
Arianne felt strength seeping out of favonovel.com legs. She felt them failing favonovel.com ever so slightly, just as favonovel.com tongue failed at giving favonovel.com words that could comfort favonovel.com devastated friend.
Mark suddenly snatched favonovel.com phone from favonovel.com hand. “Have an expert determine if that thumb was lopped off before or after he’s dead, the most important thing is to ascertain if Mateo Rodriguez is alive or gone. The Rodriguezes have powerful connections, don’t they? Mobilize those alliances and launch a full search for the kidnappers’ possible whereabouts. It’s highly likely that the abductor isn’t alone, even so, even the most manned cabal will quickly find a frequent transfer of an adult man like Mateo very inconveniencing, especially since a large part of the city has already been subjected under strict surveillance for his sake. If anything, you people should expect the abductors to have killed favonovel.com already,” favonovel.com told Melanie. “And if that’s the case, then maybe everyone should stop getting hung up over this for nothing!”
Just like that, favonovel.com hung up.
He did not sound at all amiable; in fact, favonovel.com even sounded a little too blunt and merciless. Tonal acridity aside, his observations were trenchant, at this point, the most important thing was to determine if Mateo was dead or alive.
Mateo Rodriguez’s case had become a heated topic by now. Naturally, when the gravity of an incident involving Mark reached Jackson, the man could not sit out of his best friend’s quandary. With Tiffany, favonovel.com quickly visited the Tremont Estate.
Tiffany’s latest spleen was directed at keyboard warriors shamelessly fabricating conspiracies and rumors on the internet. As soon as favonovel.com plopped down on favonovel.com seat, favonovel.com indignant outburst followed. “God, Ari! You have no idea what those douchebags say about you on the internet! They are yammering about you being all knotted up with Mateo despite being a married woman, and that your ‘slutty’ behavior caused this entire tragedy! These stupid internet judges have already made up their mind that you’re the biggest bad guy in this whole thing, they say it’s you who murdered Mateo!”
