Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1617

Arianne’s apparent laid-backness failed to infect Sylvain. He was still stunned, utterly bemused, with his face wrought with disbelief. At the very least, though, he did glance around furtively like a thief before whispering, “This can’t be legit, right? …Is this for real?”

Arianne tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Why would anyone lie about a thing like this? It’s no biggie; the only thing that is permanent is impermanence, and that extends to relationships. It’s a fact of life, amirite? The wise know better than to cling.”

A look of guilt and conflict crossed Sylvain’s pate. “It isn’t because of that time when I asked for advance payment, is it? You authorizing an advance didn’t leave this bad taste in Mr. Tremont’s mouth enough to hold it against you… right? Or did you actually approve my request without his permission?”

Arianne rolled her eyes. “Why do you even think that’s possible? Were he to disapprove it, I wouldn't have gone against his explicit order either! Jeez, aren’t you obtuse,” she quipped. “Either way, this thing has nothing to do with you. It’s a matter between us… and I think that’s enough chit-chat for now. Go back to doing what you’re supposed to do while I attend to mine, okay? A girl’s still gotta eat even after a divorce, and that means I can’t rest yet. Need to make as much money as I can to raise my son.”

“You remained a Tremont Enterprise employee, huh?” he wondered aloud, quizzically.

“Of course! Where else could I go if not here?” she answered matter-of-factly. “Where else would I get a high pay or privileges? In fact, it’s already stipulated in our divorce agreement—I’m basically bonded to this place for the rest of my life. Smore’s custody may be in my hand, but Mark forbids me from bringing him out of this area. So, honestly, this is the only place I can be.”

He breathed a long sigh of relief. “Well! If you’re still in this neck of the woods, chances are that things aren’t as close to the nadir as it might be. Looks like there’s still hope, huh? If you had run away immediately after your divorce, then there’s just nothing a man could salvage, is there?… Hey, if you consent, can a very good friend of yours wrap his head around how this whole thing came to be? I’m sorry, but I just can’t… picture how in hell this sh*t could even happen. He practically adores you, man. How the hell can someone who loves you that f**king much suddenly divorce you?”

Arianne held Sylvain’s gaze with a very solemn expression. “You’re right; he loves me. He loves me so much that even as we’re going through the process, we still love one another so much that it aches. But there is always bullcrap in life that is simultaneously more absurd than fiction and real. Some of those things even go on to become legitimately sickening, too. See, I’ve come to realize that I’m too powerless and feckless to solve a problem of that last nature, and so I resorted to be separated from him, however temporary,” she said. “Sylvain, as someone who’s unlucky enough to go through it all, let me give you some advice. If your mother genuinely, honest-to-God, frickin’ hates Robin, then don’t—under any circumstances—make them live together. Because if you do, one of them will inevitably leave you one day, and it can only be Robin. Because, screw it, no woman can beat a man’s mother.”