Chapter 67 - I Want You To Marry Someone

Alan looked at the pleased expression on Alex's face and smiled contentedly. He believed his bait was good enough to lure her whenever he wanted, after all, having shares in a company like Priceless was quite useful.

Truth be told, he had no business in this deal at all. The shares she had in hand were worth nothing now that the company was not doing well, on the contrary, if those shares were in her hands now, she would have to pay part of the company's debts if something went wrong with the company, and even if he made sure that his company returned to its prestige, he would not have lost much, because having a Jensen heir's wife as a daughter on the board of directors would give him more power, so what little money he had meant nothing.

Before Alex could say anything Alan added and picked up the envelope again "This proposal is a good thing for you as you can see. PRICELESS is not a small company, as you already know, so this will bring you a lot. But in order for you to get it, you have to do something first. If you accept my condition, that's all for you."

Alex raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "One minute you were claiming to be my father, and now you can not even give up a few shares in your company willingly? As far as I know, the other two children of yours got shares in the company for free. So why can't I? Besides, they are mine, since they originally belonged to my mother.

"Aria and Clyde worked for me and helped develop the company, but you, you even refused to work with us and chose our competitor. So you must understand why I don't want to give you this for free, right?" Alan grinned with a confident look on his face.

"Now that it's clear you are meeting me as a businessman, tell me what you want from me to get these shares? I am just a simple model, I would not know what to give you in return. I can not even work for you anymore since I signed an exclusive contract with Royal Star, and I will not trade my small business for these shares!" 

Alex enjoyed playing this show. The arrogant look on her father's face, thinking he was the one with the upper hand, was just hilarious. She knew exactly what he wanted from her, and that knowledge was now her best weapon against Alan Porter, so when she looked at Alan's behaviour, the situation seemed ridiculous to her. If she played along well here, she could gain a lot from this situation, she thought.

"''You don't have to worry, it's nothing complicated, on the contrary, it will even help you live a good life for the rest of your life.'' He smiled and tried to convince her.

Alex faked a doubtful expression, and she had to admit that she was a good actress after all. "It's not something illegal right? What could be so good and you can't do it yourself? Or why are you giving me this opportunity and not your lovely girl Aria?"

"I am your father too, and since I have not given you anything in the past, I wanted to give you this opportunity. Aria has lacked for nothing in her life, I wanted to at least give you something worthy of you as a father." Alan was also a good liar, faking a hurt expression to elicit sympathy from Alex.

When Alex heard that, she could not help but curse him deep in her heart. The man standing in front of her was simply a fake and a good actor. It was clear that they were only able to make this engagement to Eliott thanks to her mother's friendship with Eliott's mother. But now he spoke as if it were something he gave her." "What a joke," she thought.

"So, what is it, anyway? Since it's so good, I'd like to help now if I can, of course."

" Actually, it's nothing special, you just need to get married." Alan straightened up in his chair and waited for Alex's reply.

Alex pretended to be surprised and opened her eyes and mouth wide. "Marry someone? Are you kidding me? Now that I am in the prime of my career? If I get married, do you know how bad that's going to be for me?"

At that moment, two people in the room next to them looked at each other when they heard this. The man had a grim expression on his face, like someone about to hear some very bad news, while the woman in front of him looked at him and slowly shook her head with narrowed eyes.

"Do not tell me you have not thought this through, little brother? You are someone who always plans everything and knows all the benefits and risks in advance. So you must know that if she marries you, she will certainly lose some of her popularity, but things could turn out differently and her popularity could rise too! We do not know. But for sure she will not get offers for a romance play or sexy promotion, for example, because people would be afraid of your reaction to it..."

"I know that! I just did not know it was something that worried her to this point. She did not bring it up when we talked about it, so I assume she was okay with it... I told her that she was not obligated to marry me if she was not okay with all of this..."

"So you are upset because she did not talk to you about her concerns? Mr. Jensen Give her some time, okay, it's only been a little while since you met, she will not open up so easily, right? Maybe she just did not want to hurt you and chose her career over you?"

Eliott just put on a poker face and said nothing more. He was worried about Alex. Knowing Alan was a big snake, he'd instructed the restaurant to give him a room connected to this one so he could listen in on their conversation. The room the four of them were in was actually a large room that could be split in half, so the soundproofing in the room was intentionally not good. Eliott and Leila knew this, so they spoke in low voices, but Alex and Alan's conversation was clearly audible.

On the other hand, when Alan heard Alex venting about her career, he scoffed. "Do you even know who we are talking about here? If you marry him, you will not have to work a day in your life!"

"My work is very important to me and I do not need a man to take care of me anyway. Do you want me to sacrifice the life I have built with hard work for marriage? I do not think 15% of the stock of priceless deserves that much sacrifice. I am not interested." Alex remained firm in her answer, looking her father straight in the eye.

When Alan heard that, he was slightly taken aback, because he did not think she would reject the offer so bluntly, like it was nothing. "You have not even heard who the other party is. Listen to me before you answer me so bluntly. You might regret it all your life if you say no!"

"Who he is does not matter to me if I have to sacrifice my life for it! But tell me who this big shot is anyway, so I can definitely refuse your offer!"

Alan scoffed once more, thinking that she was only pretending "It's Eliott! I am sure you have heard of him because he's the CEO of Royal Corp. and your dream man if I am referring to what you said on the show? He is the heir to his family, and in the future, Royal Corp will be his, so it will be yours too. Do you see the implications and benefits of marrying him now?"

Alex looked at her father, as surprised as she could be. "Eliott? The most mysterious and richest man in this town? Are you kidding me? How is it that a man like him can marry a girl like me? It's a hoax, isn't it?"

Alan just sipped his tea, pleased that he had finally caught Alex's interest. You do not have to worry about anything. It's all arranged already! Both our families have a promise of engagement."

"Really? How did you come to have this engagement with the Jensen family in the first place? And more importantly: I don't understand why Aria is not the one engaged to him? This is the royal family we are talking about! I know you are not generous enough to let me marry into that family, and your wife would not accept it either. You don't have much to gain from me being the one to marry, because I am just the illegitimate child here.. So there's undoubtedly something else behind all this. Why are you coming to me about this? Am I perhaps the one the Jensen family wants?"