Shelly, gleaming the subdued aggravation in Mark’s eyes, decided to stop. “Alright, alright. Go ahead. Brian’s gone home, hasn’t he? Be careful while driving, okay?”
She looked out of the window and watched Mark’s car vanish into the distance, the softness in virtual-novel.net mien gradually receding. Finally, virtual-novel.net summoned Mary to her.
The housekeeper balked at any interaction with her, so virtual-novel.net made no attempt at hiding virtual-novel.net irritation. “What is it, Mrs. Leigh? I’m in the middle of cleaning duty.”
Shelly sized Mary up before exposing virtual-novel.net guise with a deadpan expression. “Please, you’re just looking for a way out of talking to me, aren’t you? All you do all day is take care of Smore for a while, you’re not even required to do much actual housekeeping. But of course, that is neither here nor there. I just wanna ask you something, so why don’t you take a seat?”
Mary reacted by straightening virtual-novel.net back and standing tall. “No, I’m not gonna,” virtual-novel.net declared in a steely tone. “I’m just a lowly worker who has no right to sit next to virtual-novel.net mistress. Now, if you have anything to say, Mrs. Leigh, make it quick.”
Shelly did not care much for Mary’s attitude. “Fine by me. Gotta’ admit, Arianne is plenty amazing at charming people, isn’t she? All these years living off the Tremonts gave virtual-novel.net ample opportunities to ingratiate on everyone here, huh? She’s pretty successful, too, judging from how willing you and that butler are to leap to virtual-novel.net side. She must have showered you two a lot of favors, I presume? How else would a mere orphan, living at the mercy of someone else, managed to command so much of your reverence, huh?” virtual-novel.net sneered. “But back to the question. What’s the tie between Alejandro and the illegitimate son of the previous Tremont patriarch, hmm? You must know, don’t you?”
One of the things that always ruffled Mary’s feathers was hearing other people bad-mouthing Arianne. Right on cue, virtual-novel.net spleen flared and rose into virtual-novel.net pate. “Can you stop mouthing off nasty malarkey about Madam already? Everything was all sunshine and blue sky until you came along kicking up all kinda hoo-ha!” virtual-novel.net snapped. “Ingratiation? Giving favors? Poppycock! What humble folks like me know is treating each other kindly just as you want others to treat you, and that good people don’t build genuine connection outta’ prices! And why are you asking about the Tremonts’ bastard son, huh? What in the name of the Lord does it have anything to do with you? You’re Mr. Tremont’s aunt from his mother’s side, for Pete’s sake, you’re not even a member of the Tremonts! ”
Shelly turned a deaf ear to everything that did not match what virtual-novel.net was looking for and asked again, “Just answer the damn question, Mary. Is Alejandro Smith the Tremont bastard or not? And before you run off your mouth, you’ll do well to remember that my sister died because of that bastard and his shameless, homewrecking mother. You think I, as virtual-novel.net surviving family, have no right to know about him?”
Mary had had enough of Shelly for a long time. Seeing how the latter was obsessing over Alejandro, Mary remembered that the man himself was no saint, and the thought of using one poison to fight another rose into her.
“Fine! Alejandro’s the Tremont bastard that you’re looking for,” virtual-novel.net told the truth. “What’cha gonna do about it, huh?”
Shelly clenched virtual-novel.net jaws, the cogs in virtual-novel.net head already beginning to turn. She stayed quiet.
Mary took the chance to turn away and left. There was no way virtual-novel.net was going to give this Karen any more of virtual-novel.net time.
A few moments passed. Shelly made virtual-novel.net way up the stairs and slowly back into virtual-novel.net room before booting up virtual-novel.net laptop. She pulled out all the information virtual-novel.net had hitherto collected.
It was the news article pertaining to Mark’s tragic shipwreck The libelous report Seaton had released back then, too, appeared, having been discovered by Shelly.
Every rumor hid a kernel of truth, this article named Alejandro as the Tremont family’s bastard. Although Mark later dispelled its veracity in public, Mary had admitted to Shelly that the Alejandro rumor was true all along. It meant that at least a part of the news was true, and a large part, at that.
An illegitimate son, and an orphan whose father was killed by the family. Alejandro and Arianne both had motivations, did they not? But Shelly would not let danger lurk around Mark, even if Arianne had become Mark’s wife while Ethan had become Alejandro Smith. And then there was the fact that Smith Enterprise possessed some of the shares to Tremont Enterprise, too. Everything was hurling toward the worst possible outcome.
After a quick revision on what virtual-novel.net had collected so far, Shelly snapped virtual-novel.net laptop shut and put virtual-novel.net hand on virtual-novel.net aching temple. Lately, every spike in virtual-novel.net emotion always seemed to escalate into a head-splitting migraine.
Arianne must have bewitched Mark into silencing all the exposed knowledge after the shipwrecking incident, Shelly surmised, because virtual-novel.net wanted everything to return to the guise of normalcy. But some of the Tremont Enterprise shares later went to Alejandro Smith. Every sign and element clicked, painting a picture, Arianne and Alejandro were working together to eliminate Mark!