Sentenced to Marriage

Chapter 100

Paranoid

Paranoid “Do you think this earpiece fell out of Lanfen’s ear because she needed to leave Aren’s room in a hurry?” I asked, a nervous smile crossing my lips. Jack nodded. “That’s the most probable explanation. The earpiece falls on Aren’s sheets; maybe it tangled in his pajamas, and we transferred him to the clinic while he carried the device on him.” Suddenly, chills ran down my spine. “Does it have any other functions? Can it track Aren’s location? Or maybe it can record a sound?” I inquired frantically. Jack grabbed my shoulders and locked his eyes on me. “Cora, relax. I will bring it to our specialists if you want me to, but I am ninety-nine percent sure that it was only made to transfer sound. It cannot track anyone’s location. It is not a bug either.” I tried to breathe deeply to calm down, but the sole fact that she left something in Aren’s room made me paranoically anxious. “I think Lanfen wanted me to know that she was the one who was inside Aren’s room,” I said nervously. “I am quite certain that it was planned to mess me up so that I couldn’t think about anything else and kept wondering why she came there.” Jack frowned. “Cora, listen to me. I know that you are restless, and you want Aren to wake up just like we all do, but you need to chill. The fact that we know that it was Lanfen is our leverage. Even if it looked like an unbelievably sloppy job, I am sure that Lanfen wouldn’t plan to expose herself just so you would worry.”

I stretched my lips into a thin smile. “You are right. It sounds insane. Whatever was between her and Aren is in the past. She broke Aren’s heart badly, and there’s no way Aren would forget about it.. right?” My hysteric laughter only proved how uncertain I was.

Jack stroked my head. “Aren would never forgive this bitch. You don’t have to worry about it.” “I hope so…” I mumbled under my breath.

My paranoic state sent all of my thoughts toward all kinds of novelistic scenarios. I imagined that Aren would wake up without remembering who I was and with his last memory including Lanfen and their

happy relationship. Was that the reason she came to his room? Did she want to see if his brain trauma could open a gate for her to walk back into his life? My headache increased with each assumption…

I entered the Lan Diamond Tower, hoping to drown my thoughts in work. I was determined to finish memorizing Lan Diamond Corporation’s contracts that day. I only wished that there were no more problematic occurrences along the way. “We have big trouble!” Neil exclaimed, catching me as I was about to walk into the office. I should have known that my life unceasingly worked according to Murphy’s Law; whatever could go wrong-went wrong. I glowered at Neil for bringing me down to the level of the furthest depths of the ocean before inviting him inside with an ironic smile. “What happened this time?” I asked, sitting in Aren’s chair.

“The board of executives called for an emergency shareholders’ meeting,” he panted as if he had just run ten floors up to tell me this.

I closed my eyes, trying to remain calm while inwardly screaming in panic. “When?” “Tomorrow at ten o’clock,” he said, handing me a tablet with an email invitation. I sighed, glancing at all the boxes of contracts I had left to go through and learn about. “I had no time for this…” I muttered before, fisting my hands and turning my eyes on Neil. “Prepare a list of shareholders with everything you know about those people. I will need to know who I am dealing with.” Neil grinned devilishly. “Yes, Ma’am!” He saluted before darting out of the office to get to work I wish I could have his enthusiasm. I felt as if I was trying to find a way out of a maze while wearing a blindfold. I could only trust my knowledge and my luck… and it was the second one that I was counting on. I knew that I certainly needed more” advanced” information than what Neil could give me, but I also knew that I had already had enough on my mind to spend time doing research. This time I needed to change my approach. The shareholders didn’t care about who would hold the CEO’s position as long as it would increase their profit. Nonetheless, they all had things they valued and things they hated, and I needed to know how to get on everyone’s good side.

It took Neil fifteen minutes to prepare what I wanted him to. I had a list of twenty-five names with a few essential pieces of data under each name. As for now, I could count on one vote-Chris’s, and the fact

that I had never even seen the people whom I was soon going to face felt petrifying. I took one more glance at the boxes filled with documents before striding out of the office, heading downstairs to Alan and Norton. I guess that I decided to visit them just in time since they found them extremely busy testing Lan Diamond

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Corporation’s… games. “I need your help,” I said curtly, taking the headphones off Alan’s head and glaring at Norton.

“We were just admiring the developer’s fine work…” Norton muttered, lowering his head.

“I’m so glad you camne!” Alan gave me a commercial grin. “We were so bored that checking out games was the only thing for us to do. Glad you assist you and support you with whatever problems you are facing.” I raised one eyebrow, calling Alan’s bluff. Unfortunately, I had no time to tease them. I told them all about the shareholders’ meeting, and then I gave them the list of names.

“I want you to find whatever you can. Dig out their childhood pets’ names, their food allergies, or what their favorite sports team is. I also want to know if any of them have recently been in contact with any of the executives.”

“We’re on it.” Alan winked and shifted his attention to the laptop’s screen. “You can count on us, Cora. You will have everything in a few hours,” Norton declared. “Thank you, guys.” I blew them both a kiss and ran upstairs to continue my studies on Lan Diamond Corporation’s projects.

I was done right before midnight. Alan and Norton sent me their research results, adding an extra twenty- five pages for me to memorize before the shareholders’ meeting. I decided to read it in bed since the whole day of stressing out took away my final ounce of strength.

Knowing that the meeting was at ten o’clock, I was planning to get an extra few hours of sleep. I canceled my training session with Chris, and happily placed my head on the pillow. Unfortunately, the sound that woke me up didn’t resemble the alarm sound I’d set. Moreover, it was a little after five in the morning. With my eyes barely open, I searched for the phone, taking the incoming call without even looking at the caller ID. “It’s Miranda. You need to get here fast. The nurse noticed Aren’s hand move.”

Her words made me jump out of bed. “W-what? How?” I muttered, nervously searching for the things to wear.

“Cora, I think that he might be waking up. Come to the clinic as fast as you can,” she said, her voice filled with hope.

Tears started to run down my cheeks. “Thank you…” I mumbled, swallowing them and smiling at the same time. “I will be there as fast as I can.”

I grabbed my sweatshirt and jeans, splashed my face with cold water, and tied my hair into a messy bun. I ran out of the penthouse like it was on fire. My poor driver was already waiting for me in front of the building to take me to the clinic. “Thank you, Benjamin. I’m sorry that I had to wake you up… I promise that I will send you on vacation as soon as this nightmare is over,” I said, getting into the car.

He chuckled. “It’s all right. I know that these recent days must have been truly hard for you, Mrs. Lan. I truly hope that Mr. Lan wakes up today.” “Yes… me too,” I muttered under my breath, praying that the higher power would finally allow him to open his eyes.