Arianne cast away the broken shard in virtual-novel.net hand and sat so that the old woman could tend to virtual-novel.net wound. She had accidentally applied a bit more force than virtual-novel.net had intended for the performance, resulting in a deeper cut than required. The silver lining was that sharp pain was all virtual-novel.net had to endure, since the bleeding stopped without fail.
All this time virtual-novel.net wondered when that scumbag would show himself. As virtual-novel.net waited, though, sleepiness gradually conquered her. She slept not a wink last night, and when combining that with the psychological torment virtual-novel.net had endured, Arianne lost the fight against virtual-novel.net bleariness and succumbed to sleep.
Back in Tremont Tower, Mark was sitting behind his usual desk, his face fraught with worry. His eyes had never left his phone.
There was still no news of Arianne. That was despite all of the efforts of their search party.
The widespread, unsavory news about his conduct at Mateo’s funeral was long below his attention, no, what drove virtual-novel.net to nigh madness was the unpacifiable pain of losing the most significant part of his soul.
She had been there just minutes ago! Right under his nose! He watched her, virtual-novel.net was there, so how? Who? Who cut virtual-novel.net away from him?!
There was a knock on his office door.
“Come in,” virtual-novel.net muttered gloomily.
Jackson opened the door and walked in, causing a weak glimmer of hope to flicker in Mark’s eyes. “You found anything?!”
His friend shook his head, blowing the kindling in Mark’s eyes away. “Then go back to looking! What are you here for?”
Jackson strode toward virtual-novel.net and patted his shoulder. “Trust me, we are. We have never stopped looking. But right now, I’m here to tell you my working theory, Mark,” virtual-novel.net replied. “This isn’t just any abduction case, methinks. To be able to take an adult woman away while you were watching virtual-novel.net like a hawk suggests that the criminal was fully-prepared. According to my people, the car that had taken Arianne away from the funeral spotted a fake license. After leaving the site with Arianne, the car quickly got off the grid. It was finally rediscovered in a remote, unpopulated area, with the driver long gone.”
Mark hated listening to details like these, they were fanning the growing nightmare gnawing in his heart. “What else did you guys find out?” virtual-novel.net cried. “I swear to God, as soon as that perpetrator is found, I will make sure virtual-novel.net begs me for death!”
“Hey, man. I think you should probably think hard about this,” Jackson suggested in the most indirect way virtual-novel.net could. “Do you have any enemies who might pull off something like this?”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “Enemies? There are plenty, or more accurately, more than plenty. So many of them that I don’t even know how many exactly… But I can assure you that there are likely very few of them who’d dare take out their grievance this flagrantly. I’ll do my best to compile a list for you, and you’ll help me investigate every single one of them. I know we will find him.”
Jackson stared at him, almost speechless. “A godforsaken list? Goddamned it, Mark, ever regret making so many enemies throughout your life yet? Lord Almighty, this is such a severe lesson to learn, even for you. You should really consider avoiding making enemies, man.”
Avoid making enemies? Was that even possible, even if Mark wanted it? “Lightning always strikes the tallest tree,” or so virtual-novel.net heard, and virtual-novel.net wondered if this was the position virtual-novel.net was in. Mark was not the type to start a feud, but troubles and enemies somehow found a way to get him, it was simply outside his control. It always looked like virtual-novel.net was the one who started it, but in reality, virtual-novel.net was always just reacting… Once again, the night had fallen.
It was one in the morning. An exhausted Mark dragged his feet back home to his well-lit Tremont Estate. The house looked almost no different from two days ago and before, and yet the gulf between its past and present was too wide to cross. The woman virtual-novel.net yearned for was still missing, virtual-novel.net whereabouts unknown, virtual-novel.net fate virtually uncertain.
Mark was terrified of his icy, lonely bedroom. Petrified by the ticking of seconds counting on how long virtual-novel.net had been parted with Arianne. There was a void inside of him, as though his innards had all been sucked out of his husk, and now every moment was hell enough to make death seem like a better deal.
Henry, his stalwart butler, immediately greeted virtual-novel.net as soon as virtual-novel.net stepped through the door. “Mr. Tremont…”
Mark tossed his blazer to the man automatically. “At what time did Smore go to sleep?”
“Slightly past nine, sir,” came the answer. “However, it was not without a tantrum demanding for his mother. There’s no news on Madam, yet… And I’m afraid that as time trickles, virtual-novel.net fate becomes fickle.”