Sentenced to Marriage novel Chapter 96

My first battle

I studied the list of names that Neil had sent me while I was on the way to Lan Diamond Tower. I turned on my laptop and used a few tricks to get myself leverage, but I wasn’t too certain of what I was doing. Those people whom I was about to face spent most of their lives, working in their positions, and certainly knew a lot more than I did about running a company. It was easy for them to prove that I was incompetent because of my absolute lack of experience, but what if I shifted their focus from the amount of experience to real sales records and achievements? What if they turned out to be reasonable people who valued and appreciated hard work? I truly hoped they were, but at the same time, I needed to be prej for the worst.

For now, I was wearing my armor; the one I packed from the penthouse just in case I’d need it

-my black Dolce suit with a pencil skirt and Manolo Blahnik heels. I ran through the entrance hall straight to Aren’s private elevator and a minute later, I was darting across the corridor toward the CEO’s office. Neil was waiting for me outside, and judging by his expression, I could tell that things weren’t looking good…

I opened the door and saw a complete board of executives waiting comfortably inside my husband’s office. Neil gave me the thumbs up and closed the door behind me as if he didn’t want to stand in the line of fire with me. My jaw instantly clenched itself. I bet that they wouldn’t act so arrogantly if it was Aren instead of me. My eyes instantly turned to the boldest one; the Chief Operating Officer, who decided to wait for me while sitting in Aren’s chair. The blood in my veins began to boil.

“Mr. Hill, I believe you took the wrong seat,” I said, glaring at the bald man in his fifties.

“Oh, do you think this seat belongs to you then?” he sneered, looking me up and down. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that it wouldn’t be good if I started the meeting by slapping that guy. Nonetheless, it required a lot of restraining from me to smile instead of punching him. “This seat belongs to my husband, and you”-I slowly scanned him from head to toe-“certainly don’t look like my husband.”

Mr. Hill growled and cursed me under his breath while the rest stifled a laugh. Well, at least he got up from behind Aren’s desk and sat on one of the sofas like the rest. I exhaled, trying to calm down before sitting on the desk and crossing my legs, making sure to grant them the right level of distraction.

“Now, gentlemen, what is it that brought you here today?” I asked, forming a polite smile and ignoring the stink of their hostility.

The CFO, Mr. Cooper, stood up first. He cleared his throat and nervously corrected his glasses before he spoke, “There should be a change in the CEO’s position.”

“Oh?” I blinked my eyes as if I hadn’t already known that they were after my blood. “And why is that?”

Mr. Cooper glared at me. “Because you, Mrs. Lan, cannot run this company, and Mr. Lan is… Mr. Lan is…”

“Dead?” I ended his sentence. Anger flashed in my eyes, and I jumped down from the desk.” My husband fell into a coma a little more than a week ago. According to the company’s inner status, which you all agreed on when you signed your contracts, the major holder has the right

to name the temporary CEO in case of an extreme occurrence. If the special circumstances last longer than a month, then and only then do the board of directors have the right to remove the temporary CEO from his position and call for an inner vote,” I recited the memorized paragraph, making everyone’s jaw drop.

Mr. Hill burst into vicious laughter. “Bravo! You are certainly a bright student, Mrs. Lan! But I believe that it might not matter if the month passed or not. All we have to do is tell the press that the CEO of Lan Diamond Corporation is in a coma and his company is incompetently run by his newlywedded wife.” His venomous words made me reconsider punching him. I looked around the office, and all those people seemed to be unanimous about that sickening idea. I smiled bitterly. “I came here hoping to stick to the company facts and show you that, so far, my decisions have only increased the company’s sales records. I also came to assure you that my husband can wake up at any moment now, and I would suggest you all keep calm and wait a few more days at least until it all happens…”

“Keep calm?!” the curly-haired CMO, Mr. Dawson, spat. “Do you expect us to work under some wench who knows nothing about running a business and her only attribute is a pair of nice-looking tits?!”

My eyebrows raised in disbelief. That bastard actually dared to disrespect me, and act like a chauvinistic pig! On my way to the meeting, I was planning to be courteous and play by the rules, but I realized that those men in the office weren’t worth it. My plan A had just gotten burned. I was absolutely determined to use solely legal arguments because I guessed that Aren would prefer it that way, but it was time for the less legal plan B…

“So, let me rephrase your demands…” I smirked sarcastically. “You want me to give up on my position, and if I am not willing to, you are going to drag the company’s good name through the mud because you don’t like having a woman as your boss, even if her actions don’t jeopardize the company and the situation is temporary?”

Some of them were more pissed than others, and I knew why. I had them all in the palm of my hand, and I could crush them. Yet, looking at their faces, I notices that some of them still thought that I was bluffing.

I stepped closer to Mr. Cooper and smiled devilishly. “Everyone has their own addiction, don’t we? Mine is coffee, but yours, Mr. Cooper, apparently is gambling. It might not look good for the shareholders if they found out that their Chief Financial Officer is on the verge of personal bankruptcy?” As I watched him gasp and seal his lips, I moved closer to Mr. Hill and said, lowering my voice, “Many married couples have their problems. My husband and I don’t have them, but it seems that our Coo does. I only wonder if your wife knows that you are in an intimate relationship with your secretary… I don’t think she does.”

Mr. Hill turned pale in an instant. As I observed the fierceness disappear from his face, a faint whisper escaped from his throat. “Please…”

I smirked before shifting my gaze to the CMO. “Mr. Dawson, we all have our sexual needs, and I am not going to judge you, but you come from a conservative family, don’t you? As I recall, your father is a member of the Republican Party. I also found more than a few articles when you spoke against LGBT and the conservative press proclaimed you “a catholic family defender.” I bet it would come out as a scandal if they found out that -”

“All right! We get your point!” Mr. Dawson snapped. “What is it that you want from us?!” I blinked innocently while inwardly celebrating my victory. Then I took a deep breath and stepped away from them to lean my back against Aren’s desk. “I just want you to calm down, get back to work, and give my husband two more weeks to return. If you do, then I promise not to use any information I found against you. Aside from being terrible human beings, as far as I know, you do your work well, and unlike you, I won’t endanger my husband’s company because of personal resentment.”

They looked at each other, clenching their fists. I could see them struggling to contain their anger, but they already knew that they had lost this battle. As they silently came to an agreement, Mr. Cooper stepped forward. “We accept your conditions,” he tossed before shifting on his heels and walking out the door.

The rest followed him, glaring at me as they walked past me, but it was all they could do. As the last one walked out, Neil timidly entered the office and closed the door behind him. “I was eavesdropping…” he confessed, slowly walking toward me, and looking at me in awe. “You are the Devil in disguise…” I snorted but then quickly sighed. “No, I merely know how to find information and how to use it, but I’m not proud of what I did…”

“Are you kidding me?! You were beyond amazing! I showed them who’s the boss! Now they won’t dare go against you again!” Neil exclaimed, glorifying my dirty game. I smiled faintly. “You are wrong, Neil. This battle might be over, but we should prepare for the next one, and pray that Aren wakes up soon…”