Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ novel Chapter 45

Their first day “Welcome to Lan Diamond Tower,” I said, greeting Alan and Norton as they walked through the revolving door. Norton stepped in while tightly clutching his laptop in both hands, his eyes carefully roaming around the place. He was wearing a sage green suit; it looked surprisingly good on him. Unlike Norton‘s, Alan‘s strides were more confident, his expression slightly carefree, but even he decided to respect some of the dress–code aspects and added an elegant jacket over his smugly casual ripped jeans and T–shirt. 

I led them to our new workplace, which was directly one floor below Aren‘s office. I had no idea how they managed to prepare a place for us in one day, but my guess was that it had to be Neil‘s work. The place was filled with light, spacious, and furnished perfectly for three unconventional employees. There were desks with high–quality equipment on them and super –ergonomic office chairs to increase our work comfort, but there were also two soft couches and cocoon–like swing chairs... Quite thoughtful, considering that I had already seen Alan working with his feet on the desk and his head hanging an inch above the floor. He once said that changing positions helped him concentrate, and now, his eyes were brightly glowing as he stared at the swing, grinning like a child. 

I watched the boys getting familiar with their new toys and couldn‘t help but smile. Who would have thought that all those weird things that had happened in my life recently could finally create an opportunity those two deserved. Ten minutes later, Aren knocked on our door. I hadn‘t seen him since the moment I left the company the day before to meet with Alan and Norton. He might have looked neat and fresh in the clean, tailored suit he wore, but I knew he had hardly spent any time sleeping while working another night in his office, dealing with the crisis. 

My contract boyfriend came with Neil and a lawyer who brought contracts for the new super employees. As they entered, I noticed Alan and Norton taking a cautious step back. I couldn‘t ‘blame them. Watching Aren alone in his impeccable business mode was overwhelming 

enough, and as he was flanked by two other fiercely looking men, their impression must have been highly intimidating. Fortunately, Aren disarmed the tension by reaching out his hand to greet my frightened geek friends. “My name is Aren Lan. I‘m glad that you will be working for my company,” he said as a courteous smile curved his lips. 

Alan took his hand in a firm shake while looking his new boss up and down. “Alan Harada. Don‘t worry, we’ll keep your company safe from other cyber–freaks.” 

Norton decided to limit physical contact to a brief brush–like semi–grip of Aren‘s hand.” Norton Edavane,” he muttered before stepping back 

The lawyer gave the boys their contracts. Once they started to read them, it became clear that Aren wasn‘t kidding when he said that he would give them a fair salary to cover the restrictions of the clause of confidentiality. “One question.” Alan raised his hand. 

“Yes, Aren‘s eyes widened in curiosity 

“Do you collaborate with the Triads, Russians, or Italian malia?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest 

I laughed nervously and prodded his elbow. “Alan!” 

He moved my hand away and smirked before his eyes shifted back to clearly amused Aren.” Don‘t get me wrong. Those conditions in the clause are like red flags that someone‘s trying to protect his not so very legal business. Besides, I might have pissed off some of the Triads, Italians... and Russians back in the old days, so I want to know who I‘m siding up with.” 

Neil stepped forward, but Aren stopped him, his lips painting a cold smile, “Our business is one hundred percent legal, but we collide with those you mentioned quite often. Sometimes getting your hands dirty is unavoidable to keep the whole business clean, Is my answer satisfying enough for you, Mr. Harada?” I swallowed hard while fearfully glancing at the boys, 

A breathy chuckle left Alan‘s throat. “All I wanted to hear.” 

Surprise painted my expression. I didn‘t expect him to be so calm in acknowledging Aren‘s words. While Alan placed the documents on the table to sign them, Norton stepped closer, looking at Aren with a frown. 

“Will you protect Cora if anything happens?” he asked, his question sounding almost like a threat. 

“With my life,” Aren replied without a hint of hesitation. 

His commitment sent my heart into a wild race. My eyes widened as I stared at Aren, finding nothing but honesty in his expression. 

“Good.” Norton nodded. “Just keep in mind that we are capable of making your life a living hell, and we will use those abilities if you ever dare to hurt her,” he said with his usual flat tone that truly carried tons of his hidden emotions. 

Even though Aren couldn‘t be any less intimidated by Norton‘s words, I felt touched. After Aren had made another promise to him and Alan, saying that he would treat me like a queen, they finally signed their contracts. Once the formalities were ver, I could finally sigh in relief. 

“Congratulations.” Neil grinned mischievously, collecting their contracts. “Welcome to our hellish family.” 

We spent the rest of the day working to add the finishing touches on the security software before installing it, and that was the less bothersome part. It certainly would have been easier if we could just send everyone a link so they could d******d the program themselves, but we 

couldn‘t risk a mole learning about the new type of software and warning the harker 

Al midnight, we had nearly finished improving my program when I got a message from Aren 

My stomach growled, reminding me that the last time I swallowed something was twelve hours ago, and it was coffee... I even brought dinner for Alan and Norton, but I was too immersed in my work to eat anything myself. “No.” I sent my reply 

My heart started to pound. I couldn‘t fully comprehend my body‘s ridiculous reaction. He wasn‘t asking me out on a romantic date, but to quickly consume pizza or salad in his office. What was wrong with me?! 

I stifled a laugh, looking at Norton‘s adorable brother–like concern. “What are you waiting for?” Alan asked teasingly, raising one eyebrow. “Go and spend some time alone with your man.” The way he said it made me blush even more. “But there‘s still some work to do...” “Just go already.” Norton crossed his arms over his chest. “We will take care of the rest.” I smiled awkwardly, repeatedly combing my hair with my fingers. “All right... just... go home after you finish. We‘ll start installing the program tomorrow.”