A Ruling Passion – Chapter 1655

Arianne’s tone was as cold as steel. “ ‘Senior’? You mean the senior of the Tremont family, which by the way, I’m no longer a member of? What’s that got to do with me?” she sneered. “I had respected you and bent over backward for you on so many, many occasions back then that, now, if you’re trying to guilt-trip me on an imaginary inadequacy, you can call that off already. It’s not gonna work. Besides, if we’re tracking records, then you were the one who never cared for me at all, weren’t you? But, of course, we’re not in-laws anymore, so you should probably drop the whole ‘respect your elder!’ angle while we’re in a professional setting. Remember, this is a company gathering, it isn’t a private tea between you and me to air grievances. Let’s have some class, shall we, Mrs. Leigh?”

Arianne was practically expelling breaths when she enunciated “Mrs. Leigh” for emphasis. Shelly had no interest in preserving Arianne’s dignity and reputation, so Arianne had no obligation to hold back punches either. She would love to see if Shelly had the guts to announce herself as Mark’s birth mother right there and then, since Mark’s nature and temperament would definitely not brook a mortifying transgression like that.

In other words, if Shelly was too much of a milquetoast to announce it, then she better be prepared to remain as plain old “Mrs. Leigh” forever.

Mark slapped the surface of the table with just the right amount of force. “That’s enough. Let’s eat.”

Sylvain let out a breath he had been holding and passed Arianne a piece of napkin. Her hand had barely grabbed hold of it when she heard an unambiguously tearful sniffle from Shelly’s direction. Worse, it was so loud that everyone present in the room heard it.