Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ

His promise

I pull in one shallow breath after another, I remembered Neil saying that Aren had a lot of enemies, but I used to think of them as business competitors, not people who literally wanted him dead!

"I thought that your mother committed suicide," I said nervously, feeling my body start to tremble.

"They made it look that way." A painful grimace surfaced on his face.

I raised my eyebrows, processing his words. "They?" He locked his eyes on me. "There were at least a few people involved in it. My father might be one of them."

I gasped. The deadliest form of crime that I'd had contact with was hacking and stealing data, but Aren lived in a world full of killing, conspiracy, and true wickedness. Only now did I realize that compared to Aren's, my computer world was angelically safe.

"My head starts to spin..." I muttered, my body shivering even more.

Aren corrected his grip on my hand and pulled me close, his arms wrapping around my body." You're trembling. You should have taken a scarf."

I nodded, smiling nervously. I didn't want to admit that his words terrified me. I stepped into the unknown, naively believing that as long as I got along with Aren, I would do just fine...

We got back inside the mansion. Aren rushed to take the blanket scarf and wrap it around my shoulders, believing that I was shivering from the cold. Then he gave me something that had a bigger chance to help: he brought me a glass of wine. I drank a gulp from the glass and suddenly felt much better. As I enjoyed the wine, Aren confirmed our dinner order. The food arrived by the time I finished the glass, which was about a few minutes later. Again, Aren took care of everything, asking me to wait while he prepared our table in the dining room. I felt awkward about being spoiled like that. I didn't think I could ever get used to doing nothing. Nonetheless, since Aren's revelation caused a huge explosion inside my brain, I decided to use that time to focus on my current remedy: wine.

"The dinner is served, Milady," Aren announced, nonchalantly bowing in front of me.

I stifled a laugh, covering my mouth with my hand, but as I cleared my throat, I figured I should follow his example. "Lead the way then," I said, nobly raising my chin.

He grinned and gestured widely, inviting me to the table. He ordered shrimp pasta, which was probably the best pasta I had eaten in my whole life. Once I cleaned the plate and emptied my second glass of wine, my courage passed the usual limit of being careful. I grinned happily as if the fact that people around Aren were dying didn't matter to me in the slightest.

"Let's go sit by the pool," Aren suggested, reaching out his hand to lead me.

"There's a pool here as well?!" I gaped at him in undeniable excitement.

He snorted. "Of course there is. It's on the second terrace."

Tietlim lead me there, taking the wine and our glasses with us. The terrace he mentioned was filled with potted plants and flowers, creating the illusion of entering a secret garden. The pool was beautifully lighted, giving the water a beautiful inner glow. I walked to the edge and couldn't resist the urge to immerse my feet in it,

"Sit on the edge and put your legs into the water; it's heated," Aren coaxed, grinning as he saw my childish excitement

i blushed but gladly accepted his idea. A minute later, Aren pulled up his jeans to his knees, and we both sat and soaked our feet in the pool. As Aren refilled my glass of wine, I felt ready to hear the rest of his story.

"So... why do you feed to get inside the snakes' nest?" I asked, curiously locking my eyes on him.

Aren leaned forward and smirked. "All the Wintons' employees sign a confidentiality clause with penalties much more severe than the one you signed. Even if someone is fired, the former worker is forced to keep everything that happened during work a secret. But one of the former bodyguards was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He thought that he had nothing else to lose, so he came to me. The guy wasn't stupid. He wanted to get leverage in case the Wintons' business went south. He told me that he recorded a certain conversation in my father's study fifteen years ago. During that conversation, two people were discussing whether they got rid of all evidence of my mother's murder. He had the file hidden safely on a flash drive in his room at the mansion, but someone snitched him. In a desperate act, he hid the flash drive in my grandfather's office. In the end, they found nothing on him but fired him anyway."

"And you assume that the flash drive is still hidden and waiting for you?" I painted a wicked grin on my face.

He laughed ominously. "Yes, I believe it's still there." There was something disturbing in his reaction. "You seem to be certain. Why is that?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Because they killed the bodyguard a day after he revealed the information. They must have known that he would try to tell me about the recording, but they didn't realize that he and I had already met the day before," he said, his tone cold and emotionless.

I could feel that my face was turning pale. I instantly started to wonder if I was one of those disposable people for Aren. There was nothing but a contract binding us together. Would he sacrifice me as soon as he got the inheritance he wanted?

"... ra...? Cora... Are you all right?" His voice brought me back from a state of daze. He grabbed my hand, his eyes carefully scanning my expression. "I scared you, didn't I?"

Was there any sense in denying that I was terrified?

"Yes... I'm sorry, I just..." My voice cracked as I searched for the right words to describe how / felt.

He grabbed me by the shoulders, turning me to face him. "I will always keep you safe, Cora. I am loyal to those who are loyal to me. What I can promise you is that I will never let you get hurt and that I will always protect you."

His voice captivated me. It made me calm down in an instant. He leaned closer, his hands gently rubbing my arms. I locked my eyes on him, his hungry gaze forcing me to submit,

"Trust me, Cora... I will never betray you," he whispered, bringing his lips closer to my own,

"I trust you," I breathed out a second before he placed his kiss,

I put my arms around his neck while one of his hands slid around my waist and another tangled my hair at the back of my head. He pulled me close, but I didn't resist. His lips claimed mine passionately. His tongue moved in swift, delicate strokes that quickly turned into lush caresses. I moaned against his lips, feeling the shiver of pleasure increase my arousal. I craved him. I needed to fetel him closer to my body. I moved an inch deeper behind the pool rim, but when Aren corrected his grip and stopped supporting my weight for a second, I lost my balance.

I pushed myself against him, trying to stabilize my awkward body, but my buttocks were already slipping. I looked at him with a helpless grimace before I fell into the water. A second later, he jumped after me, pulling my head to the surface. He helped me stand my feet on a small step near the edge of the pool, which was enough for me to keep my head and neck over the water, my back leaning against the pool rim. He caged me between his arms as he placed his hands on the edge of the pool on both sides of my wet body. "You love to fall into water pools, don't you?" Aren chuckled while combing his dripping wet hair up with his fingers. "I didn't do it on purpose," I grunted.

He smirked, leaning over my ear to whisper, "You can fall all you want. I will always catch you.

God! Did he have a note full of perfect lines for every occasion memorized in that brain of his?! "You didn't catch me," I corrected, "you pulled me up. There is a difference." He snorted. "Only because I love to see you wet. However... I wish you wore less clothing." He smiled wryly, clearly unsatisfied by the weak level of my dress's transparency. "Do you have to act like that all the time?" I frowned, barely resisting an urge to stare at his half-naked and wet chest.

"Act like what?" He grinned, locking his dangerous gaze on me. "I don't know... smug!" I burst out, frustrated. He laughed again. "What's wrong with that? "Everything," I argued. "I won't stop," he challenged, bringing his body closer to mine, "because I know that it works on you."

"It doesn't," I said weakly, turning my head away to avoid his devouring gaze. "I want you, Cora. I can't give you an emotional bond, but I can give you a partnership," he whispered, his lips gently kissing my neck. "I can give you sincerity, and I can give you

protection..."

I swallowed. His words sank deep into me. One of his hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me close, pressing me against his body. His lips roamed restlessly down my neck. I gasped, feeling the bulge in his pants rubbing against the lower part of my stomach. Unknowingly, my legs pulled away from the step I balanced on and wrapped around his waist. He leaned back, looking at me with his predatory eyes. "I won't be able to stop this time," he warned, giving me the last chance to escape, but I only smiled at him, more than willing to surrender.

As I was about to kiss those full, delicious lips of his, I heard a distracting buzz coming from the smartwatch on his hand. Instinctively, I turned my head toward the sound. Aren's focus stayed entirely on me, as he leaned his head down, kissing my cleavage. "Ignore it," he grunted, as the buzz continued.

I couldn't. Fighting against the overwhelming pleasure Aren was giving me, I glanced at the screen. "But it's Neil... isn't it important if he calls... despite knowing...?" I breathed out.

An angry roar came out of his throat as he straightened and lifted me to sit on the edge of the pool before he jumped out himself. Dripping wet, he went inside the mansion to grab his phone, tossing me a blanket along the way.

"Talk," he ordered curtly, answering Neil's call.

He listened to whatever Neil was saying with an angry frown on his face. I found it incredible, how quickly he was able to change from a passionate lover, whose touch I could still feel on my soaked skin, to the fierce boss firmly managing his global company. I was still partially in a daze, my heart hammering against my chest and my skin hyper-sensitive. I wrapped myself tightly in the blanket Aren gave me, trying to figure out what might have happened by reading Aren's face. A minute later, he ended the call and walked back to the pool.

"I'm sorry, but I need to get back to the company now. You may stay here, and Benjamin will come in the morning to pick you up," he said, taking off his wet shirt. 'I stood up and stepped closer to him. "What happened?" I asked, partially testing if he truly

meant what he said about honesty and partnership. He sighed, clenching his fist. "The plans of one of our projects have most likely been stolen." "Stolen... how?" I enquired. "By a hacker." I took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes. "I'm coming with you."