Filed to story: The CEO’s Wife Is a Secret Boss Novel (Allison & Jeremy) Free Online
Suddenly, all the lights in the room lit up.
A beam of cold, white light shone on Lauren’s face. The harsh light made her feel like she was being interrogated. Her mental state, which was already on the brink of falling apart, was being triggered once again.
“Landon. I’m scared. Landon.” Lauren shut her eyes. Even so, tears continued to flow from the slits of her eyes.
She couldn’t recall anything.
Even every loving moment that she spent with Landon in the past was gradually drifting away from her mind. The memories became distorted, and they drifted further and further away from her.
The enormous screen on the wall suddenly lit up.
Lauren forced her swollen eyes open. Tears filled her reddened eyes.
The screen showed a woman whose body was covered in wounds. She was bound and her eyes were blindfolded with a black cloth.
When Lauren noticed that the woman was Angelina. It was like a bomb went off in her head.
She lost it completely.
In Harper Group’s meeting room, the board meeting was held as planned.
Cornelius, the chairman, was seated in the middle of the conference table. He was like a commander who led a group of followers through the storm to build Harper Group. He was like royalty in the corporation.
Although Cornelius had slowly transitioned responsibilities into Landon’s hands, there were still a few senior employees who refused to submit to Landon’s leadership. They insisted on having Cornelius as their leader.
That wasn’t the only reason. More than that, they were afraid that Landon, upon being promoted, would rewrite the rules. The thought of their power dwindling and interfering with their financial gains filled them with apprehension.
Being in support of Preston’s promotion would only bring Harper Group to ruins. Despite knowing that, not all of them had hopes for Harper Group to have a good future.
Some of them only hoped that their immediate gains could be maximized.
This also became the main reason why Preston had a chance to compete against Landon although he wasn’t as capable.
Cornelius remained calm. He cleared his throat and looked at the meeting attendees with an imposing gaze. “I’m sure everyone here knows what it is that I’m about to announce in today’s meeting.”
Landon furrowed his brows. An inexplicable feeling of uneasiness rose in his heart. The anxiousness was making it difficult for him to breathe.
Since the meeting commenced, he peered at his phone every couple of minutes. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling anxious. Regardless, his heart just kept pounding and he was unable to calm himself down.
Everyone directed their gaze toward Landon.
Preston was sitting right across from him. With a piercing gaze, he glared at him grudgingly.
A few seconds later, however, he curled his lips into a cunning yet inconspicuous smile.
“I hereby announce that my grandson, Landon, will be stepping up as the new president of Harper Group. With that, he will also become an official board member!” Cornelius loudly declared.
The seated attendees were about to applaud when Preston got to his feet slowly. He exclaimed, “I object!”
All of a sudden, the entire room fell silent.
Preston looked like he was trying to conceal his ill intentions. Landon stared at him through his dark and ferocious eyes.
That stare was full of threat indeed! In an instant, Preston felt like he was being choked. His chest tightened.
However, on second thought, he figured that he didn’t have to fear Landon. He was his uncle and Cornelius’ only son. All he wanted was to fight Landon to death, no matter the cost.
Cornelius stayed silent for a moment. Then, he said in a low voice, “Preston, all these while, Landon’s reputation in the outside world and his business capabilities are pristine. In other words, he is the best candidate to be Harper Group’s president.
“You have to give us a reason why you’re stepping out to oppose this.”
Preston puffed up his chest and lifted his head high. He shot a quick side glance at Landon’s frigid face before turning to Cornelius.
“Dad.”
“We are at a work meeting right now,” Cornelius reminded. One thing that Cornelius always disliked about Preston was his unseriousness.
He was poles apart with his eldest son, Landon’s father, who had passed away. They were incomparable.
“Mr. Cornelius.” Preston changed his address unwillingly. “You pushed for Landon to become the president because you’ve identified him as the successor of our family. Is that right?”
Cornelius nodded.
“Since this is the case, that means that Landon’s status is extremely important.”
Preston looked like he was brewing a storm in a teacup. He continued to flatter Landon. “Not only is he Harper Group’s president, as your only grandson, he is also the hope of our entire family. This is akin to a prince ascending to the throne.”
“What are you trying to say?” Landon could tell that he didn’t have good intentions. The look in his eyes became darker as he continued staring at him.
“What I’m trying to say is that your every move has an impact on our family’s reputation. Thus, your marriage will have a massive impact on our family’s future too.”
A flash of maliciousness flashed across Preston’s eyes. “It is not child’s play,” he punctuated, each word sharply enunciated to emphasize his point.
“It is my choice who I wish to marry.” Landon clenched his hands into tight fists on the table. His eyes became shockingly red. “It is no one else’s business.”
This tense confrontation made everyone else’s hearts skip a beat.
“I am only your uncle. Of course it’s none of my business. But Mr. Cornelius is your grandfather and the head of the Harper family who has the final say. Are you saying that it is also none of his business?” Preston scoffed.
Immediately after, he put on an indignant expression on his face and continued, “Mr. Cornelius, although our family is ranked fourth among the four most notable families, we are still a powerful and noble family.
“Landon has the looks and capabilities. Even if he isn’t able to find a treasured scion like Ms. Alyssa to be his wife, he shouldn’t be marrying a psycho. Don’t you think so? Must our family stoop so low?”
Everyone’s jaws dropped. The room was in an uproar.
Psycho?
Landon’s fiancee¡ªthe daughter from the Walsh family¡ªwas a psycho?
Were they marrying within their class or were they being charitable?
“Preston.”
Landon stayed seated in his chair. His entire body was burning with so much anger that he felt like he could burn the world away.
He threatened in a hoarse voice, “Have you thought about the consequences of humiliating my fiancee in public?”
The chatters in the room stopped instantly. He was a natural leader. Even if he stood still, he still had a powerful bearing about him.
“Humiliate? I am just stating a fact. How is that humiliation?” Preston sniggered. Then, he threw a stack of documents, which he had prepared, onto the table. He gestured to everyone seated around the long meeting table.
“Here. Take one each and have a look, everyone! This is Ms. Lauren Walsh’s psychological diagnosis report! Landon, I’d grovel at your feet if I’d uttered a single word of nonsense!”
There was no way that they were going to miss out on such tantalizing news. So, everyone lifted their bottoms off the seat and reached out for the documents on the table.
Cornelius alone remained seated, a statue amidst the flurry of activity. He displayed neither emotion nor took any action.
The reason for that was that he had seen the diagnosis report countless times in private, all thanks to Zoe.
“If any one of you dares to move even an inch…” Landon’s roar shook the entire meeting room. His bloodshot eyes flared, a ferocious glint reflecting the raw anger simmering beneath the surface.
These people were not just the corporation’s board of directors. They were also his elders. After being shouted at, each of them lowered themselves onto their seats. They no longer dared to reach for the documents on the table.
“What is it, Landon? Are you trying to avoid facing reality? Or are you afraid to accept reality?”
Preston sneered slyly. He mocked him as best as he could. “Deep down, you are actually instinctively repelling the fact that your fiancee is a psycho, aren’t you?
“Otherwise, why have you never brought your future wife to the corporation and introduced her to us? You’ve only been avoiding and keeping her sheltered. You keep saying that you would marry no one else but her. However, in actual fact, you’re also afraid that she’d embarrass you. Am I right?”
In the end, Landon couldn’t hold back any longer.
The Harpers did not have as many family rules as the Walsh’s and the Schmidts did. He also wasn’t a scion from a family with centuries of history. So, he wouldn’t be like Jeremy, who could restrain himself for the sake of revenge and the bigger picture.
He only knew how to resort to his own brand of resolution. Without saying another word, Landon swept up a glass from the table and slammed it onto Preston’s head.
“Ouch! That hurts!”