The CEO Gets What He Wants

Cayden cast a look in her direction, devoid of expression.

Caught off guard by his penetrative gaze, Avery was at her wits' end. Furrowing his brows, Cayden stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray and picked up his phone before striding out of the spacious conference room.

There were two doors to the conference room, and Cayden deliberately avoided using the one she had entered through moments ago.

Meanwhile, Avery remained on the spot like a motionless statue. After what seemed like an eternity, she eventually regained her composure.

She put the headphones on after turning on the recorder and lowering the volume. Keeping her eyes glued to the recording of the meeting displayed on the projector screen, she focused on taking notes of the important points by typing nonstop on the laptop keyboard.

By the time Avery finished noting down the content of the meeting and returned to her office floor, it was already almost four in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Cecelia had been waiting for her for quite a while. She placed a cup of coffee on Avery's desk and uttered gently, “I heard from Xavier that you've found your grandpa.”

Avery took the cup of coffee and placed it next to the laptop. “I feel bad for troubling you and Mr. Dartsley. Anyway, I owe you a meal,” she uttered earnestly while turning on the laptop.

Cecelia teased her, “You don't have to feel so. After all, we were only helping our boss. You should thank him instead.”

Dumbstruck, Avery felt her fingers stiffen on the keyboard.

Beaming ambiguously at Avery, Cecelia nudged her. “How're you going to thank him? Serve him well in bed, huh?”

Even so, Avery's fingers remained still on the keyboard.

Sensing that there was something awry about her, Cecelia lowered her head intuitively, only to find the latter had curled her fingers unknowingly. The drastic change in her countenance and movement implied something serious was bugging her.

“What's wrong? Did you quarrel with Boss?” Cecelia questioned warily before recalling Cayden's intimidating expression during the meeting earlier. In fact, no words could describe the grimness on his face at that time.

In an instant, Cecelia could not help mocking herself for jumping to such a hasty conclusion earlier. Initially, she assumed their boss only wore a look of sheer grimness during the meeting due to the incident whereby Zayne drugged Avery with sleeping pills. The realization only dawned on her that it was not the reason.

“There's nothing between Boss and me. Furthermore, I...” After much hesitation, Avery cast her head down and mumbled, “I'm married.”

Cecelia gazed at Avery, bereft of speech.

After quite a while, she burst out laughing. “You must be pulling my leg! You're married? Hmph! How's that possible? It's akin to my mom suddenly telling me she's not my biological mother, and I'm the descendant of the royal family!”

“I'm being serious.” Avery looked into Cecelia's eyes solemnly.

Cecelia was rendered speechless again.

Huh? Avery is married? Am I hearing things? Cecelia was overwhelmed. Then what about our omnipotent CEO of Trident Group? Countless socialites from prominent families are falling head over heels for him, but he's unfazed. Not to mention, he's never closely acquainted with any woman all this while. However, he takes a fancy to a married woman now! How preposterous!

Back in her seat, Cecelia tried to focus on work. Nevertheless, she could not help but fall into a trance. How's it possible for Avery to be in a relationship with Boss if she's married? Could it be that Boss couldn't resist Avery's charm and forwent his morals for her? Or perhaps, Avery has been feigning innocence to make a fool of him till he finally found out she's already married? Was that why his expression remained darkened throughout the meeting?

Meanwhile, Avery looked worn out as she buried herself in work.

Cecelia tilted her head to shoot Avery a glance. She could scarcely believe that the latter was two-timing and that she had made a misjudgment all the while.

After a while, she texted Avery: If you have nothing on tonight, let's go for a drink together. Fearing that the latter might reject her, she tried to sound casual by texting: Treat it as a token of appreciation to me then. After all, I stood guard outside your place to keep an eye on everything for you while you were tracking down your grandpa.

Avery replied: Okay.

When it was about time to call it a day, Avery stepped out to wash the coffee cup. Coincidentally, she bumped into Nina, who was just back from carrying out her task.

Nina cut to the chase. “I'll drop by your place after work later. Let's have a chat, okay?”

Meanwhile, Cecelia approached them and suggested, “I've invited Ery for a drink at night. If you don't mind letting me in on your conversation, how about the three of us have a drink together?”

Nina had nothing against Cecelia. Thus, she gladly nodded at once. “Sure.”

After work, the three young women went to a bar together.

“Is it your first time here?” Cecelia asked Avery curiously. Evidently, she was one of the frequent customers there.

Avery nodded placidly.

Shortly after, the server served them beer.

Nina poured three glasses of beer before sitting down and starting to drink from her glass.

After quenching her thirst, she elucidated, “How's it possible for Ery to visit a bar throughout those years? I saw with my own eyes how she has been leading a miserable life in Ackleton. Apart from being mistreated by her stepmother, her father suffers from critical illness. Cecelia, there's a lot you don't know about Ery. Anyway, I know her like the back of my head.”

Hearing that, Cecelia turned to look at Nina, who had just taken another sip of her beer. “So, does it mean that you know Ery is married too?”

“Pfft!” The beer spurted out of Nina's mouth in an instant.

Stupefied, Cecelia took some napkins hastily and handed them to Nina.