Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ

Getting married | stared in awe at the shining gem lying in my hand for a few long minutes. Its color was intensely blue, and no matter from what angle I looked at it, the stone was perfectly clear. | had never seen anything as beautiful. Did Aren truly wantto have it? It felt surreal. Wasn't it skind of family heritage, passed from generation to generation? It was more than obvious that the “diamond” in the nof Aren’s company wasn’t a coincidence either. How could | becthe new owner of something like that? | put the diamond back into the pocket of the jewelry box and grabbed my phone since | had little knowledge about expensive gems. As soon as | googled the basic information, | froze, realizing that the pretty blue stone inside the box could be worth more than twenty million dollars! Certainly, that wasn’t a sum of money that could overwhelm Aren, but | was close to a heart attack! Two seconds later, | was calling Aren, with my heart thundering with anxiety. “Hello, Sunshine,” he said with so much smile in his voice that it made my lips curve as well. “I'm sorry to bother you at work... | just needed to tell you that I... that | opened the lid and found the diamond inside,” | claimed nervously. “I knew you would.” His confident but warm response made my heart melt.

“B-but what do | do with this diamond now?” | asked, still unable to accept possessing something that had such worth. He chuckled. “My mother wanted my bride to have it, so it is now yours.” “It doesn’t make sense, Aren!” | protested. “It is your heritage. Even your company’s nsays that it means a lot to you!” “The stone means a lot to the Lan family, mainly because they would like to get their hands on it, and they couldn't. The gem was given to my Mother by my Grandmother since it was originally hers. My Grandmother loved her only daughter and always supported her. That was why she gave her the most priceless item in her dowry-a beautiful blue diamond, Tian Kong, which means the sky. Of course, each one of my Mother's brothers thought that he deserved to get that diamond more than her, but no one could change my Grandmother's decision. Nonetheless, | was attacked quite a few times by someone sent to get that diamond, but those poor thieves couldn't find it. As | grew stronger and richer, | chose the nof my company to tease those bastards and state that | owned the diamond, but, frankly, you are the first person to see that gem from the moment my mother died. Now, | want you to have it. We can have it placed in sbeautiful necklace or an enormous ring, and | want you to wear it with pride because that is what my Mother would want.” Aren sounded composed, but the meaning of his words only mademore restless.

“So... you've never opened the lid yourself?” | asked hesitantly.

“No. | didn’t even want to know how to open it. It was my Mother's wish that I'd give it to my future wife.

Besides, it was dangerous to open it then. If I'd done it and used the diamond, for example, to get the funds to start a company, | would have set a target on my back,” he explained.

“But what about me?! Doesn't it put a target on my back now?!” | burst out in panic.

He laughed. “No, because | am strong enough to protect you. Besides, tomorrow, once we sign the papers at the registry office, it will all be over. | will becan official heir of the Lan family and thus gain my Grandfather's full protection.” “So your Grandfather, Lan Jing, will grant you a mark that you are untouchable or something, right?” My mind was desperate to put all of those things in order. “More or less, yes,” he replied. “But he has no authority over the Winton family. | am guessing that they know about everything your mother left you. If Augustus was willing to lower himself and almost beg you to invest in his business, then wouldn't he try to get his hands on the diamond as well?” | questioned.

“If my father knew about the diamond, he wouldn’t lethave anything that belonged to my Mom. Fortunately, she was wise enough to create that box. When | left the Wintons’ mansion, me, they merely assumed that | wanted to have a memento of her. Idiots.

ar the diamond in public, it will be obvious who owns it, and even if Augustus tries to steal it, he could only sell it on the black marker, and that would be impossible since all significant places are already controlled by Lan Jing,” he explained smugly. Despite everything he said, accepting the diamond still didn’t feel right. “But... how can | accept something worth over twenty million dollars?” “It is worth over fifty million dollars, to be precise, and as | said, it is something that my Mother wanted. Just accept it,” he said lightly. A heaved a hysteric chuckle. “But you have to agree that it isn’t something that a normal mother-in-law would have given to her son’s wife, right?” “Explain normal. Would you rather receive a thousand-year-old jade bangle?” he teased. “No! God, no!” | exclaimed, just in case he had a few of those to give as well. “I was thinking about an old photo album with family pictures you've never wished to see again or a brooch with nothing but a sentimental value that | would be forced to wear even if it doesn’t match any of my clothes.” Aren laughed hard for a while, hearing my words, but then cleared his throat and said with his velvet voice.

“Sunshine, be a good girl, stop arguing, and accept the damn diamond. | bet that it will look stunning on you...

especially if you wear nothing but the necklace with it.” | bit my lip. | still felt restless, but his seductive tone made every argument against accepting that gem dissolve in the air.

“I want you badly, sunshine. You'd better brace yourself for the wedding night,” he whispered to the phone.

“God, Aren...” A breathy moan escaped my mouth as I felt my sex ache for him.

“Wait with your moans until I'm inside you.” The heat in his voice flooded my cheeks with a bashful blush and madeinsanely thirsty.

| wanted him this instant. If we were in the sroom, | would be ripping off his clothes and caressing every inch of his magnificent body. It felt surreal that tomorrow, this man was about to becmy husband...

My wedding day started at five in the morning. | took a long shower, trying to convince my mind that it wasn’t as early as the clock said. After wrapping myself in a towel, | applied three kinds of face masks to wipe away the zombie-like traces of grey and pale. As soon as | crawled to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee, Miranda and Monique barged in to helpwith my makeup and clothes. To save the best for the last, Michael preparedone more dress-a white, fitted, knee-length cocktail dress. It was elegant and modest, but, at the stime, it sexily embraced my hips, waistline, and breasts.

“Girl, you are going to give Aren blue balls for sure, not to mention that he is going to flip when he sees you in that silk gown. | would want you to rip that dress off of you myself,” Miranda teased.

| chuckled, silently hoping for that kind of reaction from him. At the stime, | couldn't wait until | saw him in a tux. | bet that he would look even more mouthwatering than he did wearing a suit.

At exactly 7 AM, | walked into the office with Neil by my side. There was no one but us and the office clerks inside as if it was meant for us to handle all formalities in secrecy. Frankly, | was quite certain that it was arranged that way on purpose. Aren joined us five minutes later since the morning traffic enabled him to show up on time. As soon as he passed the threshold, all eyes were on him. My fiancé strode toward me, wearing a glamorous black suit. His lips curved into a wicked grin as his eyes tookin.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said alluringly. He was the only man on Earth able to arousewith three words.

“Good morning, handsome, “I breathed out.

“Ready to get married?” he said, offering his bent elbow. | nodded and hurriedly looped my hand around it. | barely registered when the clerk announced that we had just gotten married. My eyes were on Aren the entire time, and his sole focus was onas well. | wished that it could be over soon and that we could be alone...

Unfortunately, we still had a wedding ceremony to go through.

As soon as we left the office, we got separated again. Aren had to settle sminor issues at the company while | was taken to the Wintons’ mansion to prepare. Once | arrived at the place, | was instantly snatched by Veronica to approve of every detail of the venue. After three hours of running around the garden, checking every flower decoration and table setting, | begged her to leteat breakfast and rest. Fortunately, my maids of honor showed up to take over and feedwith sandwiches and coffee.

The tran fast, and the whole ceremony was less than an hour away. My renewed makeup was already done, and it was tto put on Michael's marvelous silk creation.

“You look even more beautiful today than when you looked at the atelier,” Monique sobbed with emotion.

“Of course she does!” Miranda chuckled. “She saw her hot husband today and she has never stopped blushing from that moment. | couldn’t deny her words. My heart throbbed even harder as she mentioned my “husband” - the word was almost too surreal to my ears. | felt that | was mentally prepared for the whole show to go on before Veronica showed up, terror painting her expression. “Houston, we have a problem!” she exclaimed as she barged into my preparation room. “I = cannot find Neil! The catering company mixed our order, and there's a problem with the wedding cake!” My face becpale. | didn’t think | had more strength to handle the food crisis. Fortunately, Monique and Miranda stepped in. “Don’t worry. We will go with Veronica and take care of everything. You just sit here and breathe,” Monique said, leadingto sit on a bed. As they left me, closing the door behind them, | started to wonder why I didn’t bring myself a bottle of prosecco.

Bubbles and alcohol could surely ease my mind at that moment. | felt that | needed to calm down. | opened the window and tried to pull fresh air into my lungs when suddenly | heard the sound of the opening door. It looked like my maids could handle the toughest job in no time. | turned around, believing that it was Miranda or Monique who ! walked in. “Is the food problem solved alre—" A hard object hit my head. My vision becblurry. The last thing | saw was a man in dark clothes with his face covered, leaning over my body as | collapsed onto the floor. He laughed. “There'll be no wedding today, bitch.”