After listening to that, Arianne felt her heart becoming tighter. She did not even dare to think of how the kidnappers had tortured Mateo to death before chopping off his finger.When she saw how bold Geralt was as he walked past the cordon to enter the bloody crime scene, Arianne was slightly worried. “Wouldn’t you contaminate the crime scene?”Geralt stopped in his tracks to look at her before gesturing her forward. “Don’t worry, the investigation here is done. The cordon will be removed at any moment. The thing that I wanted to show you is here.”Arianne frowned as she hesitantly walked a few steps forward; within the cordoned area was a wooden chair that was filled with dust. There were also some pieces of rope scattered and blood splatters that had already begun to turn black. The scene before her was extremely chilling to the bone.Then, Geralt bent down as he slowly pulled away a piece of rock that was as big as his fist. “Look here.”Arianne went forward and saw some scrat

Mark’s gentle look made Arianne recall Geralt’s words. ‘Would Mark really kill me? Would he be as cruel as he is to others…’Then, Arianne unexpectedly asked, “If I were to do something you find intolerable, would you want me dead?”Mark was slightly startled before he answered. “No, if I couldn't tolerate it anymore, I’d just get a divorce. Why would I need to take your life? Get some rest, I’ll take a shower now.”‘A divorce you say…‘If it really comes to that, would he really be able to divorce so easily?’As she heard the sound of rushing water, Arianne laid in bed and raised her hand. Then, she followed the messy markings that Mateo left as she drew in the air. ‘It would really be hard to carve out the word “Mark” if a person was dying, so is that why only an “M” was left behind?’…Mateo’s body still had yet to be found, so the Rodriguezes could not wait any longer. A month later after the incident, they announced that they would conduct a funeral for him. Arianne found

A child about seven to eight years old had led Arianne away to a place where no other person was in sight. Noticing the kid’s full black getup, she asked, “So, you’re a relative of the Rodriguez family?”“Yeah,” the child nodded. “Um, you know, they told me Mat’s dead, but I’m not very sure about it? Do you think they are being serious? ‘Cause if he’s dead... doesn’t that mean Mat’s never coming back?”Arianne found herself too hard-pressed to answer him. She could not bear to cut into a child’s hope with a blade as cruel and blunt as reality.The duo continued forward until the funeral almost faded out of sight. Arianne stopped in midtrack in confusion and took off her mask. “Where are we going, honey? You told me someone’s looking for me, yeah? Where’s that person now?”The child looked around them, his head swinging wildly. “Hey... wait a minute! This is the place, though! OK, is that guy ditching us?”Arianne was just about to say something when a pair of hands suddenly reache

Words of Arianne’s disappearance quickly reached Tiffany and Jackson. Then, with help from Alejandro, three powerful families launched into a massive, city-wide search together.All through his life, Mark Tremont had never known true fear as he was experiencing now. For once, he was terrified of vengeance against him—in the form of Arianne, who would die like Mateo did!He could not live without her!The day quickly died into the night, but the things that had happened in the former did not end in the latter. In fact, the night only seemed to have pushed outward frenzy into inward anxiety.Mark was chain-smoking in his study while he held his phone with his other hand. All to make sure that he would not miss any new development about Arianne’s whereabouts.Smore pushed open his door fearfully and poked his head out from behind. “Dad? Um, when is Mom coming home?”Mark froze in mid-action. Then, came his croak, “Soon, little man. Very soon… She’ll be back… You just have to be a go

Any less desperate than she was right now would have made harming an old lady a gigantic “no!” to Arianne—but desperate times call for desperate measures. Who could tell the motives behind whoever her mysterious captor was at this point? Arianne was not going to just twiddle her thumb and wait!At that thought, she scanned her surroundings to locate the perfect weapon. Ideally, it would be something that could bludgeon someone unconscious rather than outright fatal; even now, Arianne was not ready to have someone’s life on her hand.Before she could even make her first move, however, the old woman suddenly spoke, “Miss Wynn, I can see what’s brewing in your head, and you’re spot on: I’m just an old, powerless granny you can easily take on. But my master apparently doesn’t want to see you as of now. He ain’t gonna just show himself to you just because a senior citizen died here. On the other hand, he will come to you when the time is right, guaranteed,” she intoned. “You have fresh, c