Sentenced to Marriage

Chapter 38

Getting to know him It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day. As I stepped outside on the terrace, the beach and ocean view instantly placed a smile on my face. The wind waved my loose hair, and I couldn’t wait until I tossed the sandals off my feet and stepped on the beach sand, but I needed to fill my stomach first. Aren stepped toward me and grabbed my hand, tangling his fingers with mine.

“You look astonishing in that dress,” he said, his eyes scanning my length.

“Thank you…” I responded, feeling heat flooding my cheeks, and then squeezed out a comment, “You look good in casual clothes.” “Really?” His lips formed a wicked grin. “You don’t like me when I wear suits then?” “No… You look good in everything,” I admitted, flustered like a dumb teenager. He leaned over me, his body close enough for me to feel his warmth. “So you do find me attractive?” he teased. I pushed him away, frowning. “You know damn well that I find you insanely handsome.” He raised his eyebrows, looking at me genuinely surprised. Well, I couldn’t blame him, I surprised myself with how easily I let those words out of my throat. “So why don’t you stop resisting me?” His words sounded like a dangerous demand. I pulled in a shaky breath. “I don’t trust you. You hold all the aces. You know about everything that has ever made me bleed, and I know nothing about you.” He chuckled. “Fine. Then I will tell you everything tonight.”

I nodded and let him lead me to the table set for two. It was impossible to miss the whole romantic aura around it. As I walked closer to the terrace railing, I instantly felt the chilly breeze that made me rub my naked arms.

“Here…” Aren reached for a blanket scarf he had prepared by our table and gently covered my shoulders before pulling out the chair for me to sit.

My heart skipped a beat. I felt my guard up around Aren, but I couldn’t find anything fake in his behavior while we were alone. He seemed relaxed around me. Everything he did, every gesture he made, was unforced, and that made him twice as irresistible as he was before.

“So… why did you decide to buy this place?” I asked, taking a bite of my Caesar salad.

“As I said, it was a good deal, an investment. If I sold it now, I’d double the money I paid for it. ” He shrugged as if the magnificent surroundings did not affect him at all. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that all you care about? Money?” “I like money. Everyone likes money. I just have the audacity to say it aloud.” He smirked. “I like money too, but I wouldn’t trade having it for ninety percent of my lifetime,” I claimed daringly.

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“Do you think I’m a slave?” He leaned forward on the table, amusement painting his face.

“What I meant is that I could never make earning money my life purpose.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He laughed before intensifying his gaze at me. “It’s not about increasing the number of zeros on my account. I chase, I fight, and I conquer. That’s pure adrenalin. Besides,” — his eyes ran down my deep cleavage-“I’m good at what I do.”

I was quite certain that he wasn’t talking about his work in that last part. “I bet you are…” I muttered under my breath.

“I like my job,” Arén continued, “I like watching something being built from a pile of dust to amazing heights. Wouldn’t you want the same?” he asked, pouring a glass of champagne for me and himself.

“Like what?” I chuckled nervously.

“Like having your own company. You already have a product finished. Isn’t it time to sell it?” he coaxed.

“First, I need funds to do that, and second, I don’t think that I’m capable of managing the company,” I said.

He leaned back with a smug smirk “You don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to know how it all works. All you need to do is surround yourself with people who will work on numbers for

you.”

“You make it sound so easy…” I sighed. “It’s not easy, it’s hard, but it’s achievable, especially for someone as smart as you, Cora.”

I looked deep into his eyes, and I knew that he meant every word. His sincere encouragement sent my heart into a wild race. Having my own company used to be my dream when I started studying at Oxford. It started gradually changing after I fell in love wi doubt my abilities, and I ended up throwing away that dream, marking it as something impossible to happen.

“Would you become my investor?” I joked.

“Why not. Show me how your program works, prepare a presentation, and I will think about it.

I narrowed my eyes at him and put a half-mocking smile on my face. “I’m serious, Cora. I never joke about business proposals.” I knew he wasn’t joking. He was opening the door for me. He was giving me a chance. I would be a complete idiot if I wasted this kind of opportunity.

“All right, Mr. Lan, I will prepare a presentation on Monday. How does it sound?” I smirked, leaning forward on the table. He chuckled and took a sip of his champagne, before leaning toward me. “I cannot wait, Ms. Bell.”

Fortunately, I had my laptop with me. Otherwise, I couldn’t keep my bold statement real. After we’d eaten lunch, we both went to our rooms to work, It turned out that Aren’s “day off” had nothing to do with taking a break from making important decisions in his company; it was merely changing the environment and limiting the time of work…

I concentrated on creating a perfect presentation that would highlight everything my software was capable of. It must have been Aren’s words that put me on fire because I’d been working for a few hours without stopping. The sun was about to set when Aren knocked on my door.

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” he asked when I opened the door.

He was standing there, wearing a loose, half-unbuttoned white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and jeans, and looking irresistibly sexy. He smiled and reached out his hand to me.

“Sure.” I nodded.

He swiftly tangled our fingers, gripping my hand tightly, and led me downstairs. We walked out to the beach, tossed our shoes away, and stepped on the sand barefoot. I couldn’t help but smile. I felt relaxed, more relaxed than I had been in years and years. Aren also seemed serene, as if he genuinely enjoyed my company.

As the sun went down, the wind turned into a light breeze. The waves became more subtle and quiet, creating a perfect background to talk. Aren kept my hand in his, constantly pulling me closer and making us resemble a real couple. It felt a bit strange. He didn’t need us to act; there was no one on that part of the beach except for us. Wasn’t he denying his own words, making our fake relationship a slightly more realistic one? “I am incapable of loving anyone,” he said suddenly as if he had heard my thoughts.

“W-why do you say that?” I shot him a nervous smile.

“My whole childhood was a struggle. At one point, I needed to shut out most of my emotions to survive…” he said firmly before turning to me with a faint smile. “I’m not saying that to act like a coldhearted jerk… I’m saying that because I care about you, and I want to be frank about the one thing I cannot give you.”

Something made my chest squeeze from the inside. I didn’t know if I should be upset or happy with his words.

“I don’t think that what you are saying is true. If you can care for someone, you can also love

“Cora, you’re wrong. There was a person whom I treated like my family, the one closest to me, nanny Mei Lien. She came to the United States with my mother, and she took care of me when my mother died. She was the one who raised me, and yet I left her to die. She sacrificed herself to save me, and I left her. It was a calculated move. It was a part of the deal that she and I had.”

His eyes were dark and emotionless when he said it. The tone of his voice was even as if the death of that person didn’t mean anything to him, even though I knew the truth was different.

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“You cared about her. I heard it in your voice when you shouted her name while ar your father at the party. There were a lot of emotions in your tone, so stop bullshitting me with how icy cold your heart is.” I frowned.

He pulled my hand to a halt and looked at me with a bitter smile on his face. “From the moment I turned six, I survived ten assassination attempts. At least one of them was organized by Vanessa Garrod- Winton, my so-called stepmother, although I doubt that she planned it alone.”

Chills ran down my spine. How could he say it so calmly?! My heart began pounding so loudly that I could no longer hear the waves.

“But… why did someone want you dead?” I choked out, having a hard time comprehending why someone would want to kill an innocent child.

He chuckled coldly. “Good question. I’m guessing that it has something to do with my mother’s assets, the ones she kept hidden from my father, the ones that were supposed to belong to me after she died. I

learned about their existence from Mei Lien but never found any significant documents saying what it was or where I should look for them.” I gasped in realization. “Is that the reason you want to get back to the Wintons’ mansion?” “Yes, that’s one of the reasons,” he admitted. “Do you assume that Vanessa might have found the inheritance that your mother left you?” I inquired. Aren sighed. “No, if she’d found it, I would have known right away…” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Then… why did she try to kill you?” An icy laugh left Aren’s throat. “Why? She wanted to make sure that Callan gets all the Wintons ‘wealth. Assassinating me would have been a reasonable second step to do that.” I gulped. “A second step?” “Yes.” He gritted his teeth. “The first step was killing my mother.”