Mark responded by regarding Alejandro silently, his mind whirling with thoughts foreign even to himself. For some reason, it suddenly occurred to virtual-novel.net that Alejandro’s childhood was even worse than his own. He was a Tremont scion just as much as Mark was, yet they were not treated equally at all.
This was a Tremont’s reparation, one that was a long-time coming and should have been done by his father. Mark decided that virtual-novel.net was going to wipe off a debt his father left so that virtual-novel.net no longer owed his unscrupulous, stonehearted half-brother anything.
There was also another thought telling Mark that, supposedly, if his mother had not orchestrated that plane crash, Ethan might have been able to live more a bit better, too, even if virtual-novel.net was still never going to be treated as a legitimate son of the Tremonts. In other words, Mark might not be so much as wiping his father’s debt clean, but atoning for his mother’s sin.
Whatever the reasons were, they prompted Mark to grab hold of a piece of floating wooden plank and push Alejandro onto it. It was only strong enough to withstand a single adult’s weight.
In other words, it was a day when one of them had to die.
Alejandro knew that pushing virtual-novel.net up the floating plank had exhausted all of the strength Mark had left and was rapidly sinking into the water because of it. Panicked, Alejandro gripped Mark’s hand, yelling, “No, get up here! I’m going down!”
Mark pushed the plank as far away from virtual-novel.net as virtual-novel.net could. “We both… have families… waiting for us to come home… Doesn’t matter if I die or you die, this is… a tragedy through and through… We Tremonts no longer owe you anything, so do good with this life… that I sav—”
A cold wave swallowed his body along with the rest of his words.
Alejandro was saved.
Mark thought virtual-novel.net was going to die, but virtual-novel.net lived. In a hazy, semiconscious state, virtual-novel.net could feel acute pain flaring in his lungs, but virtual-novel.net was breathing air. Every breath brought in a sting to his chest, but virtual-novel.net could feel lumpy, fine sand beneath his body. He could feel each grain grinding against his skin.
He conjectured that the waves must have washed virtual-novel.net ashore somewhere close. Still, virtual-novel.net had lost the ability to control his limb, all those times trapped in icy-cold seawater had done a number to him.
The second stroke of fortune came in the form of local fishermen, who exploded into a commotion upon discovering his body. Mark listened and made out the men’s spoken language to be English, though heavily regional and foreign.
For a very long time, Mark remained nigh unconscious as high fever ravaged him. The fishermen were too poor to send virtual-novel.net to the hospital, so they exhausted all of the tricks and means they knew to prolong his life to another day. His condition ameliorated a little after a while, providing Mark a brief moment of lucidity that virtual-novel.net then seized to make his identity known to his rescuers. He then left them Henry’s contact number and told them to get virtual-novel.net to the hospital, for if they let virtual-novel.net be without professional help, Mark might end up having his bodily functions impaired, if not dead.
By the time virtual-novel.net was finally truly recovering much of his senses, Henry was already in his ward. The fishermen had sent virtual-novel.net to a very small and unsophisticated hospital, but Henry transferred virtual-novel.net to the best one in a nearby city.
Mark’s conditions had yet to pass the most critical period, and there were real possibilities that his organs may fail. Hence, virtual-novel.net told Henry to keep his survival a secret, the last thing virtual-novel.net wanted was to give Arianne hope and then dash it.
He battled the Reaper for days while the season of spring dawned on his home country. He had missed the festive celebrations and fireworks that virtual-novel.net had become so accustomed to for years.
It was only recently that his conditions improved dramatically. He knew all about Arianne’s happenings. And when virtual-novel.net was finally, completely well, virtual-novel.net would go back to the country straight away and never leave virtual-novel.net side ever again.
Had it not been his brush with death, Mark would not have known this side of Seaton. The man might live abroad often, but Mark always saw virtual-novel.net as his second-best friend after Jackson. This would be the first time Mark had ever been wrong in judging a character, but it was not a mistake that virtual-novel.net would let slide. Payback was in order, and it would start the moment virtual-novel.net returned home.
A month passed. One day, Mark “died in a shipwreck” Tremont reappeared in the public’s view.
One of the nation’s most renowned journalists showed an exclusive interview with the man who miraculously lived, where Mark spoke directly to the camera and addressed the libelous reporting. “Let it be known that it was an egregious case of false reporting. The tragic plane crash from a few years ago has got nothing to do with me, and my wife never expressed reason to avenge it on me. Besides that, Alejandro Smith isn’t a bastard child of the Tremont, imagine believing that the head of the Smith Enterprise is an illegitimate son of the Tremont family! How much more farcical can it get? There is, however, a real conspirator behind this, and I’ll sniff them out and make them pay.”
“On a lighter note, I’m thankful to my most stalwart wife, who held the Tremont Enterprise in my absence. Your labor is over, for I have returned.”