Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1590

Thirst roused Arianne from her sleep. She went downstairs to grab some water and chanced upon Mark walking through the main door.

“What kept you till this late at night, hmm?” she asked from her spot by the stairs with the cup in her hand. “Look at the time, Mark. Even club-goers would have been home by now, I’m sure.”

Abject exhaustion shadowed his mien. “As it turned out, the wound on her leg hadn’t fully recovered yet when she decided to run away and kicked up a world of troubles,” he explained. “A minor surgery had to be performed today in the hospital to prevent sequelae. But, of course, that’s neither here nor there. Are you up because you haven’t slept yet, or did you just wake up?”

By “she” and “her, Mark obviously meant Shelly. It made Arianne wonder why he could not just refer to her as “Aunt Shelly” like he used to, though it was an inquiry she decided not to voice. The last thing she wanted was for Mark to think she was spoiling for a fight.

“Of course, I woke up from sleep. What, you think I put on my beauty sleep just to wait for your return? Not happening,” she quipped. “Anyway, have you hired anyone to look after Aunt Shelly? I’d imagine that after the surgery, she’s gonna be very much inconvenienced in her daily life.”

Mark seemed to balk at mentioning anything about Shelly. “Look, that’s already within my consideration, okay? Just go back to sleep, Ari. I’m heading for a shower,” he said. “Oh, and one other thing. You don’t need to look after her or visit her from now on, alright? Just pretend… Just pretend that she doesn’t exist.”

That stunned Arianne. “What… what’s that supposed to mean? How—uh, why are we pretending that? She’s your aunt! Unless… you think if I see her enough, she’s gonna tell me something big—something you don’t want me to know?”

Mark offered no rebuttals, only silence. It was the kind that implied consent.

What Arianne described was exactly what he feared the most right now. He could not bear the idea of a single soul knowing anything about his truth...

Arianne pressed her lips into a thin, quiet line and watched Mark stride past her. She had to will herself to press back the furor his silence had spurred in her mind.

She was dangerously tempted to ask him why whatever-this-news-was had to be forbidden to her, and yet the other part of her worried that she would accidentally push his button if she hounded him, causing a war to break out.