The Fallen Heiress: Contract Marriage with the CEO Who Hates Me
Chapter 29: Play By Our Rules

Chapter 29: Play By Our Rules

"So, with the help from ANS Entertainment company, we have at least five celebrities who are willing to sign a promotional contract with us."

"Alright, I’ll leave it with the Marketing Team, then."

Vernon ran his long fingers through his neatly styled hair and motioned for the meeting secretary to spread the documents across the table.

Once every person behind the long, rectangular wooden desk received their copy, the man nodded to Felix, who cleared his throat and turned on the presentation screen.

"As you can see in the reports, the demand for our product has been growing exponentially, allowing us to take the leading position in the phone security field."

With a click of the button on the thin remote, the screen changed its picture, displaying several various graphs. Felix continued,

"The soaring success of our start-up has attracted enough investments and since we hadn’t had a single dip in revenue, we are now thinking about absorbing some less successful companies in order to incorporate their technologies with our own. And reduce the competition, of course."

All the members present in the meeting room nodded almost simultaneously and fixed their glances at Vernon, who remained silent during the entire meeting.

It’s already been three years since he graduated and started working on his own start-up company, spending all the time and effort to grow it to the point where other industry giants had to compete with him.

His ambitions stemmed from the tragedy of his past, and now that he was getting painfully close to the direct execution of his revenge, he began to feel particularly restless.

A grumpy-looking old man with a large bold spot on top of his gray head let out a suppressed cough in an attempt to clear his throat, then put the papers away, and spoke in a somewhat harsh voice,

"Well, we all know which company, in particular, is targeted here. However, although it is true that it has been pushed down by us already a year ago, what makes you think that the man will be willing to sell it? That company has been his whole life, after all."

Vernon, completely unbothered by the seriousness of that question and his overall surroundings, closed his eyes and let out a soft chuckle. He then leaned forward on the table, clasping his hands together in front of him, and replied, in an almost mocking tone,

"It has been indeed. That’s why I am so eager to take it away from him."

***

Vernon was walking through the well-lit hallway of the fourth floor of his company building, listening to Felix ramble on and on about something he refused to pay attention to, no matter how hard he tried.

As a Co-Founder of their company, with Vernon Lin as CEO, Felix was the company’s COO, which, in Vernon’s screwed-up vision meant that he had to act as a mediator between him and the rest of the world.

Tired of Felix’s unstoppable chatting, Vernon opened the door to his secretary’s office and was about to reprimand his friend for annoying him too much so early in the morning, when he noticed his secretary’s anxious expression, and could not help but sigh.

"What is it, Jennifer?"

The girl pointed her pen at a light, expensive-looking coat hanging from the coat hanger and put on an awkward smile.

"Mrs. Lauren Collins is here to see you, sir."

"Ugh..."

Vernon covered his face with both hands, groaning like a wounded animal, while Felix understandably patted him on the shoulder and offered him a pitiful smile.

"Dude, that’s my cue to leave. Good luck!"

He darted out of his friend’s office as if it was on fire, while Vernon furrowed his eyebrows at his disappearing figure, silently hoping that the guy would trip and fall.

There was no salvation for him, though, Mrs. Lauren Collins was the wife of one of their major investors and since Vernon had already rejected several of her meeting requests, right now, there was definitely no way out of it.

’Alright, let’s just get it over with and move on.’

The man opened the door and was instantly greeted by Mrs. Collins’s loud voice, "Vernon, at last! It’s been a while!"

Vernon faked a polite smile and walked up to his desk, taking a seat behind it, retaining a rather nonchalant expression, which the woman clearly did not appreciate in the slightest.

Lauren Collins was a typical representative of the female side of high society––a stay-at-home wife, supported by both her rich family and husband, indulging in idle seasonal traveling, extensive shopping, and engaging in all kinds of social activities meant to boost up her family’s reputation.

She was a woman of fifty, still able to pull the look of the late thirties, succumbing to the marvels of plastic surgery and daily beauty procedures, including full-face makeup that accentuated her fair complexion and short blond hair, styled in a rather old-fashioned manner.

Vernon’s office was silent as he clearly did not wish to be the first one to strike up the conversation. And although Mrs. Collins hated him for his arrogance, she put on another polite smile and took the matter into her own hands.

"So, congratulations on being titled as the Entrepreneur of the Year, you must be very happy!"

"Thank you, it was indeed an honor."

She did not appreciate his unwillingness to talk, and even though she was used to a certain order of things during a formal social interaction, she decided to toss it aside and get straight to the point instead.

"Since I understand that you are a very busy man, I will make it short - have you given enough thought to our marriage proposal?"

Vernon flinched and glared at the woman almost maliciously.

Mrs. Collins’s only objective was to marry off her daughter, Catherine, to someone young, rich, and successful in order to ensure the girl’s status and secure her future.

It did help, of course, that Catherine was infatuated with Vernon and kept throwing tantrums whenever she heard that Mr. Lin was reluctant to accept her feelings, but the walls to Vernon’s heart were impossible to break.

And once again, the man let out a long, irritated sigh, letting the woman know that his mind could not be changed by persistence alone.

"Mrs. Collins, I have a lot on my plate as is right now, I have no time to entertain such useless thoughts. If you are so eager to marry your daughter off, you’d better consider someone else for the role of her fiance."

The woman opened her mouth, ready for a verbal counterattack, but was interrupted by Vernon’s phone notification sound.

"I’m sorry, Mrs. Collins, but I must move on with my schedule. If there is anything else you’d like to discuss, please make an appointment with my secretary. Now, if you’ll excuse me..."

Although the "important" notification that he had received was just Felix’s childish attempt to rescue his friend in need, Vernon was entirely grateful for that lifeline, and as he was confidently marching toward the door, Mrs. Collins stood up as well, and said, her voice now serious and cold,

"If I were you, I would not be so adamant, Mr. Lin. After all, the connections you will be able to build with the help of our family will ensure stability for both you and your business. Moreover..."

She walked up closer to him and looked straight into his dark, sharp eyes, "... Now that you got into our world, you should be playing by our rules. That is if you want to stay in it."