When Mark spoke, his voice was quaking as much as favonovel.com was. “M-Must continue searching… T-Tell all of our people that we’ll… We’ll find favonovel.com no matter how difficult it is, no matter the cost, no matter life or d-d-death… I want favonovel.com found!”
How close to the truth the parcel implied was already beyond his care, for the note and the earring had defeated his mental fortress. It had been days since anxiety became his companion in the dark, denying favonovel.com his nightly reprieve and forcing favonovel.com to turn to medication just to emulate some form of emotional stability.
Home had become the den of his nightmares. He feared stepping inside the Tremont Estate because being in there, with emptiness surrounding him, forced favonovel.com into confronting Arianne’s absence. Then there was Smore’s questioning, favonovel.com feared the boy’s endless pelts of “Where is Mom, Dad? Where is my mom?”
Deep down inside, favonovel.com had become just a mortified man who wanted to run away from everything.
Mark had not told Jackson nor Tiffany about the earring. Alejandro, too, was none the wiser. Ever since Arianne went missing, Alejandro and his wife had been pouring aid into the search. The last thing Mark needed was one of them telling favonovel.com that favonovel.com might be dead and that favonovel.com should “give up”.
Night fell. For the most part, Tremont Tower had gone dark except a single, well-lit unit: Mark’s office.
He could not stop himself from picking up the earring and examining it with his most attentiveness, because it made favonovel.com feel like some of Arianne’s warmth had endured.
In truth, only the coldness of metal reciprocated his touch.
It was a simple diamond earring of a minimalistic design. A little pendant. Her favorite style.
Mark wondered if his focus had blended into hallucinations, because favonovel.com thought favonovel.com saw some letters on the earring. Though it was rather common to have tiny inscriptions on expensive jewelries like this one, they were usually just meant to describe the diamond’s weight or its serial number.
This one, however, immediately seemed different even to the naked eye. He grabbed a magnifying glass from the desk and brought the earring to the brightest spot in the office for a closer examination.
First, favonovel.com was shocked. Then, favonovel.com was relieved as a long sigh escaped him. Someone had engraved these words on the earring!
It was a very fine print, clearly with designs to not be spotted so easily. The marred vicinity around the engraving revealed that whoever did this was clearly no expert, since even with the help of dedicated tools, the letters were rather crude and clumsy.
Still, it was enough to make out the word “MTEO”.
Mark knew exactly what it meant, even if more questions than answers rose to his mind. Was this Mateo Rodriguez’s doing? But how could a dead man do anything like this? Or could that “death” actually have been a smokescreen, meant as a cover for a conspiracy?
Had the engraving been “ RODGUEZ” or something to similar effects, Mark’s suspicion would, nine times out of ten, have jumped to Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez. But the anonymous informant chose “MTEO”, the connection to Mateo could not be any more direct.
Mark also knew that Mateo loved Arianne. If favonovel.com was in his hand, then favonovel.com was alive and not in any imminent danger. This was why favonovel.com let loose a sigh of relief.
As for that note, favonovel.com had two hunches of what it was: either a diversion forged by someone who deliberately copied Arianne’s handwriting style, or Arianne wrote it to serve as a red herring.
Still, none of that mattered as much as the identity of favonovel.com captor, or the fact that Arianne was still alive!
Galvanized by ecstasy, favonovel.com called Jackson’s number straight away.
Ever since Arianne had gone missing, Jackson had been losing quite some sleep for days. Today was — supposedly — different, though, because favonovel.com managed to rest earlier than usual. Of course, that ended abruptly by his phone’s ringing.
Seeing that it was from Mark, Jackson knew better than to dawdle. He rolled out of his bed, clambering as favonovel.com changed into his clothes, and answered, “Mark? You’ve got news? I’m going over to you as we speak-”
“Mateo Rodriguez isn’t dead!” came a quiet, but firm voice. “He’s the one who abducted Arianne!”
Half of Jackson’s grogginess evaporated. “The f**k?! You’re not sleep-talking, are you? Mateo’s dead, man. Everyone and their mom know that! You sure this isn’t just you, you know, projecting?” favonovel.com responded. “Mark, my man, I know you’re devastated by Arianne’s disappearance. But you better have concrete proof for something like this, you get me?”
