Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ

Fighting for justice | spent that short night lying in Aren’s arms. There was something bittersweet about it. We were hugging each other without our desires exploding within us or driving us to the edge of sanity. | took pleasure in feeling Aren’s warmth covering my body, his strong arms keepingfrom falling off the sofa. His heart beat at a soothing rate, allowingto sleep soundly until the merciless alarm woke us up.

He already had his suitcases prepared and was ready to go straight to the airport. | went there with him, watching him get on board his private jet and fly off. My chest suddenly squeezed as if | was saying my final goodbye to him, at the stknowing that the day | would walk away from him could feel much worse than that.

| wanted to shake off that depressing sensation as soon as | could, and there was only one way | was able to do that: by planning Operation Blue Dreamland. | called Jack and told him what we had and what we could get if we went to Blue Dreamland. | was glad when he agreed that getting into that company fast was our only chance to find the undeniable evidence of their crime.

“But there’s a problem, Cora,” he said reluctantly, “I can’t help you with that. I'm already working full speed on Lan Liling’s reopened case, and today | am taking a group of agents to hunt down former Chief George Richardson. That bastard got tipped that we were trying to get him, so apparently, he escaped from the state.” “I see.” | sighed, and of course, naturally, thought that my next move would be to call Chris. “Chris won't help you either, I'm afraid.” Jack seemed to be reading my mind. “As far as | know, he would be joining Aren in Paris.” “Great,” | groaned as my temple vein started to throb. “So what now? Should | just sit and do nothing while those bastards get rid of all the evidence?”.

Jack let out a long exhale before asking, “How close do you have to get to their equipment to get the proof we need?” “A few feet would be nice, but if we modify our devices it would be enough to be further away but on the sfloor,” | explained.

Jack muttered, “Aren is going to killfor this...” Then | heard him taking a deep breath. “I heard that Bleu Dreamland organizes open tours to attract potential employees. You can use it to get in and out without raising suspicion. But remember, in case Aren asks, it wasn't my suggestion.” | chuckled. “Of course, | would never snitch on you.” Jack’s suggestion sounded reasonable and fairly safe. All we needed to do was to blend in, follow the crowd, and check the readings on our devices from tto time. It felt like a piece of cake, but I still needed a partner in crime, and there was only one nthat cto my mind: Norton ork The Blue Dreamland’s open tour for future employees happened two days later. The tour was about to begin in two hours. In the meantime, we have made the necessary preparations. | wore a brown wig | borrowed from Monique and my grandma's old pair of glasses, saving only the rims so as not to go blind in the process. To complete my geeky look, | put on my old grey suit, the one | bought when | was looking for my first job in New York. Surprisingly, it took a lot of effort to look good enough to be labeled as “nothing special.” For most of my life, | was labeled as either a babe or a freak.

Norton had it easier. All he needed to do was to be. His grey-slash-green suit, matching his eyes, and his usual neatly combed brown hair, had already given him the perfect disguise. Who would have ever suspected a guy looking like that of being a serious threat? Of course, that was what made him extra dangerous.

“Do | really have to go there with you?” he mumbled fearfully, watchingput our devices into the purse. “Alan is much more suitable for secret missions.” “Do you seriously expect someone like Alan to blend in?” | looked at Norton, raising one eyebrow. “He is the complete opposite of the blending-in type. You are the one | need, and believe me, all you have to do is be there and look as if you were interested in whatever they'll say.” Norton nodded, but I couldn’t miss the fear widening his eyes. | prodded his elbow and chuckled. | knew that he would loosen up once we got inside, but currently, if he was shaking a bit more, he would have fallen apart.

He felt more relaxed after we entered the building where Blue Dreamland had its offices. He could contain his stress, shifting his focus to the building's architecture and technical solutions.

“You are doing fine, Norton. You're like a pro at this,” | whispered to his ear as we walked to the elevator.

“I'm like a pro,” he repeated, his lips stretching into a confident grin.

As soon as we entered the right floor, the company representative greeted us with a plastered smile, urging us to join the group that had already gathered in the center of the Blue Dreamland’s corridor. | smirked inwardly as we quickly collided with the mass of greyish people, not only blending in but looking more like clones. | found the sight of our group a little sad. | bet that they hadn't dressed like that because they all liked that color, but more because they had given up on their uniqueness just to fit the so-called “normal.” After ssmugly-looking manager had given us a boring introduction, we entered the long corridors of open space offices on both sides, where the programmers and graphics sat in front of their computers in their little cubicles. | slid my hand into my purse and activated our little wave-pattern-detecting device. After several minutes of the manager's babbling, I still had no readings on our detector.

“Let’s move on this way.” Our tour guide pointed at the corridor on the right, but as we passed the turn, the device showed a weak reading coming from the left side.

“Excuse me!” | called out, dumbly blinking my eyes. “What's over there?” | pointed at the offices on the left side.

The guide gavea cocky smirk “The executives have their offices there, sweetheart.” “Don’t callsweetheart,” | grunted under my breath before asking again. “Is that all there is? It looks quite spacious...” Our guide stopped and huffed, annoyed with my questions. “You are not allowed to enter this part of the company. Now, let's carry on.” | prodded Norton's elbow, whispering, “I need sdistraction.” “D-distraction?” He glanced at me, terrified.

“Yes. Ask about something, anything.” Norton cleared his throat and raised his hand. “Um... is it true that Blue Dreamland plagiarized the g“Sky Fight” and tried to release their version called “Space Fighting”?’ | clamped my mouth with my hand, trying to resist a chuckle. The guide went pale while all eyes went on Norton, who stood confident, crossing his arms over his chest. “W-where did you hear something like this?!” The manager laughed hysterically, quickly shifting everyone's attention onto himself. “Oh, you know, netizens talk,” Norton tossed in the slyest way | had seen him yet.

“Is it true?” someone from the crowd asked.

A few others joined him, confessing that they had heard about other rumors about games plagiarized by Blue Dreamland. | grinned wickedly before slowly stepping back and turning to the left side of the corridor. As the commotion in the group arose, nobody noticedwalking away from them. | hid my visitor's pass and confidently strode toward the spacious offices that were supposed to belong to the executives, but as | glimpsed through the glass doors | passed, the rooms inside resembled high-tech computer laboratories. | reached for the device in my purse and saw it shining brighter than a Christmas tree. | smirked and turned the rest of my equipment to catch and register the wave pattern. It didn’t matter if those bastards got rid of their computers, routers, or even changed the entire inteconnection because | was about to register something those idiots couldn't possibly disprove in court. “Excuse me, who are you?” | heard a harsh, cold tone behind my back. When | turned around, | saw a frowning security guard, scanningfrom head to toe. “I... | was with the group, but | really need to pee...” | smiled awkwardly, theatrically clenching my thighs as a sign of nature's calling.

“There are no toilets here!” the guard roared. “I saw you take something from your purse. How do | know that it wasn’t a camera and that you didn’t want to steal our projects?” | bet the guard didn’t realize how ironic his words sounded. Nonetheless, because he looked like he was serious about his job, | decided to keep acting like an absolute idiot. “I was looking for a tissue,” | frowned. “Now, could you showwhere those damn toilets are, or should | pee on your shoes? It's a huge emergency, you know...” | widened my pleading eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible.

The guard kept his dangerous frown for a few more seconds until he finally surrendered. “Go straight and turn right, and then right again. You will find toilets there,” he sighed, pointing the way.

“You're my lifesaver!” | darted through the corridor as if it was on fire.

| couldn’t believe that | got away with that. | guessed | was getting better and better at fooling people, although | couldn't tell whether | should be proud of that ability. Once | ran far enough, | checked the devices in my purse — | had everything | needed. | sealed my lips tightly to resist a scream of joy. | cback to the spot where our grey group was, but it looked like this tour ended particularly quickly, not that I didn’t know the reason why... Chuckling under my breath, I ran to the elevator and texted Norton, “Where are you?” “Already downstairs. Did you get it?” “Yup! Thanks to you,” | texted back. “Should | wait for you?” he asked.

“No need. It would be better if we left separately, just in case.” “Got it.” | couldn’t wait until | walked out of that building. The overwhelming feeling of victory was like fireworks exploding within me. | didn’t know if Blue Dreamland had anything to do with Max, Haskett, or Mr. C., but it didn’t matter because whoever it was, they were going to get what they deserved.

| jumped out of the elevator, releasing my blond hair from the dull wig and hiding my disguise in the purse. | started heading to the exit when | suddenly becanxious. My joyous grin vanished from my lips as my eyes narrowed in search of anything that could trigger my restlessness. | looked across the hall and froze. There was an Asian woman walking out of the building. Her black hair was neatly tied up in a ponytail, and her face was glowing. | had seen her only on the surveillance footage and in the picture with Aren, but | recognized her in an instant. Before | realized it, | was walking toward her, exiting the sdoor and then following her across the sidewalk. The crowd on Broadway Street quickly swallowed her, makingchase her blindly with only glimpses of her black hair pointing out that | was still walking in the right direction.

“Fuck, I lost her,” | cursed under my breath, turning around as | stopped by the crossing lights.

Suddenly, | saw her standing on the other side of the street. She was looking directly at me, and | could swear a smug smirk crossed her lips when our eyes met. As soon as the lights changed to green, | dashed through the crossing keeping eye contact, afraid to lose her in the crowd again. She was waiting still until | reached her, surprisingwith a calm smile as | stopped next to her. She reached out her hand and said. “Cora Bell, right? I'm Sun Lanfen. | think we need to talk.”