Mark was at the verge of a breakdown. “Please, Aunt Shelly, I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry, please stop crying! I shouldn’t have worded it that way, alright? It’s my fault. Stress from work caught up to me, so I sounded harsher than I really meant. But really… I just want you to stop attacking Arianne for once, please?”Everything he said had been for Arianne! The longer Shelly listened to him, the livider she became. She cast her voice as far into the direction of the dining hall as she could, shouting, “You heard that, Arianne Wynn?! You must feel soooo pleased with yourself, don’t you? No matter how much hell you put him through, no matter how much you plot against him, he’s completely head-over-heels for you! Everything he says to me has been nothing but a defense of you! Look at him, tell me you don’t feel a single stab in your conscience!”Mark’s hand shot straight to his forehead, rubbing his temples as the headache assaulted him. Christ, women were a different beast from even the
“Maybe it’s time you get yourself admitted, Aunt Shelly. We’re all very worn out.”Mark's sudden remark hushed Shelly into stunned silence. A few seconds later, she recovered with an indignant murmur. “Wha… What are you saying? You’re… You’re not seriously suggesting institutionalizing me, are you? Are you?! You think I’m mad... You think I’m insane? No, you don’t understand! You don’t know what Arianne’s doing behind your back, do you? What kinda juju did she put in you, my poor Mark. Why can’t you wake up and see the truth? I’ve done everything in my power devoting to the singular goal of coming back to your side—how could I let them harm you under my watch? No! Come hell or high water, I’ll eliminate all of them, all these pesky threats! They will never harm a single hair on your head, never again, never again, never…”Something left Shelly’s eyes, leaving behind two hollow, unfocused pools as she mumbled to no one in particular.Arianne caught the most unnerving part in her mono
“No frickin’ way. Mark’s sweet little aunt again?” Tiffany teased. “Look at the tortured state she has put you under, gal! He’s gotta be blind to not see this!”Arianne’s body sagged like a deflating balloon. “Oh, blind he is not. The problem is, he doesn’t know what to do with his aunt! No normal person would seriously consider reasoning with a psycho, right? —That’s right, I totally agree with you now. She’s a complete fruit loop and an utter nutcase. Doesn’t matter how terrible her transgression is, or how much venom’s in her words; you’re supposed to forgive the insane after she said she’s sorry! So what if I had enough of her? As long as Mark can’t say the word, I still have to put up with her all-day, every single day!“Like what. The. Hell, Tiffie! You should have seen that never-before-seen puppyish docile look on Mark’s face when he’s with his aunt. It was that exact moment when I knew the only way forward for me is to endure her forever! I mean, for crying out loud, she’s h
Looking up at the ceiling stretching way above her head, Arianne imagined the light plummeting from its spot and felt a surge of terror bubbling in her mind. Shelly was lucky that the light did not kill her right there and then.The women took a complete round, strolling within the show hall before heading to the surveillance room.The languid security present had been close to napping, but seeing Arianne shocked him awake. Arianne ignored the question on whether the security was doing his job and went straight to her motive. “The footage for the accident that happened here; do you still have it?”“Y-Yes, you bet!” the security answered hurriedly. “Um, it was quite the accident, and we worried that Mr. Tremont’s gonna ask for it some day or whatever, so we didn’t dare delete footage of it, as well as a day before and after the accident happened. Would you like to take a look, Madam?”Arianne nodded. The security guy began to hammer away on his computer and launched the surveillance
Melanie’s statement was verified. Shelly had indeed been staring at the chandelier for a long time before the incident happened. After realizing this, they rewatched the surveillance recordings and discovered that from the moment Shelly entered the ballroom, she kept on subconsciously glancing at the chandelier. Initially, Mark wasn’t walking under that chandelier, but he only did so after Shelly said something to him, pointing towards the chandelier’s direction while she was at it. Arianne’s entire body shivered down to her spine when she thought of something. However, she could not say too much since the security guard was standing next to her. Instead, she saved a copy of the surveillance recordings and left, but not before she made sure that the security guard had deleted all the surveillance recordings from their servers. The matter was serious; it would be better if less people were to learn about the fact. After they left, Tiffany suggested, “Why don’t we go to my house? The
After that, they focused the recording on the man and found that he had entered the showroom the day before the incident happened. There was no one in the showroom except for the man, so no one knew what he did while he was in there. It’s possible that the man had taken the opportunity while the facility was being renovated and entered the showroom. While he was in there, the power within the showroom was out and even the surveillance cameras were off. Due to the limitations of the surveillance cameras, the trio could not make out the man’s face, so that was as much as they could investigate for the time being. Shelly had most likely orchestrated the entire incident herself, and only she herself knew the motive behind her actions.In order for the trio to investigate further, Arianne decided to locate the man first. She needed to ensure that she had enough evidence before she could confront Shelly. Arianne did not want to hurt Mark by wrongly accusing Shelly if there was even a slit
Mary had a surprised look on her face. “Did she? I have no idea. All I know is that sir suddenly returned home in the afternoon and then brought her out. I didn’t hear anything about her falling down. Doesn’t she know how to call out for help when she falls? There’s so many people at home, and none of them are deaf. Despite my age, I’ve still got perfect hearing, and I’m very sure that she did not call out for help. I would not have known if you hadn’t told me about it.”Realizing that Mary was telling the truth, Arianne became speechless. What kind of scheme was Shelly up to this time? It was obvious that she had not called for help, but in front of Mark, she pretended as though everyone had ignored her. Based on Arianne’s understanding of Mary’s character, there was no way she would ignore Shelly if she fell unless she was truly unaware of the incident.Arianne did not make a fuss about the matter with Mark. If Shelly truly had something to do with the incident at the showroom, Ari
Mark did not say anything, his expression unreadable due to the darkness. There was no moon that night, so the atmosphere was enshrouded with darkness and nothing could be seen.After two seconds, Mark released Arianne’s wrist. However, he immediately picked up Arianne’s slender body and got down to business, with her all the while shrieking. Thunder began to strike all of a sudden, but it was not enough to cover up the sounds inside their room. The thunder strikes were soon replaced by rain and the commotion in the house died out as well. All that was left were the sounds of two slightly breathless people and the rain.Arianne waited for Mark to fall asleep before going to the bathroom. She looked at the mirror, and seeing her slightly tired face, she helplessly sighed.Suddenly, she could hear her phone softly ringing and reflexively darted out of the bathroom. Sure enough, her phone was ringing, and she immediately turned it to silent. She looked at Mark, but he only turned aro