Dangerous Love: You Are My One and Only Bride novel Chapter 1652

Arianne was not a guileless fool, nor did she make a habit of willingly sharing her private matters with strangers. “Why ask? Are you so close with Mark that you’re supposed to know about his history already? If yes, then shouldn’t you cut the middleman and ask straight from the horse’s mouth?”

Sensing hostility, Saoirse went ahead and took a seat on the couch.

“I just can’t wrap my head around this whole thing. I want to learn why the two of you divorced in the first place, and why, even after that, his aunt’s adamant that you get booted from Tremont Enterprise. I can’t get behind why she doesn’t do anything herself and instead tried to talk me into it. I suspect that if it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Tremont was protecting you, she wouldn’t have resorted to asking an outsider like me to meddle, would she? The way I see it, it’s like she’s trying to carry out her wishes without fracturing her relationship with Mark,” she explained. “Here’s the thing, I don’t want to be an unwitting pawn. Yes, I like Mr. Tremont enough to wish we could be together, but I also look way past the intermediate. The last thing I want is a Pyrrhic victory where I got my wish granted, only to make a bitter enemy out of Mr. Tremont himself.”

Arianne frowned. “That Shelly-Ann Leigh’s looking to kick me out of the company, you say? And she tried to goad you into doing it for her?”

Seeing how Arianne addressed Shelly by her full name, more pieces to the puzzle clicked in Saoirse’s mind. “I take it that you don’t enjoy a pleasant relationship with Mr. Tremont’s aunt very much?”

Arianne snorted. “If it weren’t for her, Mark and I wouldn’t have been in such a dark place that divorce became the only option left! Look, this whole thing is a complicated mess and I’m not gonna touch on it, but I’ll tell you this one thing: don’t, ever, fall for her lies. If she herself doesn’t dare try ousting me, then how are you supposed to go about it? Truth be told, I wasn’t the one who wanted to be bound to Tremont Enterprise; that clause was Mark’s brainchild. He added it into our divorce agreement, as he would only accept the split if I don’t leave his sight.”

Right on cue, Saoirse spied a hickey on Arianne’s neck and immediately cast her eyes downward.

“I see now. Mr. Tremont… He stayed for the night recently, didn’t he? Just as I suspected—the divorce was an involuntary arrangement. It was coercion on his aunt’s part,” she concluded. “I’m glad I had the sensibility to ask you. I was so close to being duped into making an enemy out of you, and that automatically means making an enemy out of Mr. Tremont. A divorce that was forced between a couple who still loves each other isn’t a genuine separation, so I won’t come in between you two and be used as a pawn.”

Judging from what she had gathered, Arianne surmised that Saoirse and Mark had, indeed, nothing going on at all. It was a realization that softened Arianne’s initial wariness. “But what exactly is between you and Mark?”