Secret Marriage: The CEO's Pampered Wife

It was Elliot Sheridan who had told her that Iris Warner was trying to frame her with the necklace.

Although she didn’t know how he found out, she had been truly shocked when she saw the necklace in her own bag at the time.

She had taken the necklace and given it to Owen Sawyer, never expecting someone would take the fall for the theft.

Nathan Rhodes had arrived after the fashion show started, so he didn’t know what had happened earlier.

But as he looked at Georgia Thorne, his gaze kept drifting to Elliot Sheridan. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Have you and Elliot not made up yet?"

Georgia Thorne remained silent. This wasn’t a matter of making up or not.

Seeing she didn’t reply, Nathan Rhodes sighed and added, "I’ve known him for so many years, and I’ve never seen him that angry. It was like he wanted to eat someone alive!"

Even now, he shuddered at the memory of Elliot Sheridan’s expression.

"Georgia, what happened with the baby was all my fault. Don’t blame him, really. I’ve known him for so long, and I’ve never seen him get so furious for anyone!" Nathan Rhodes trailed off, hesitating. There was so much more he wanted to say, but he couldn’t.

Not even Quentin Chase had ever received this kind of treatment from him.

He was a man so calm and composed that he wouldn’t panic even if the sky were falling. But when it came to Georgia Thorne...

It had to be said, Georgia Thorne was an exception for Elliot Sheridan. It was the first time she had ever seen him show a hint of panic.

In the darkness of her mind, the silhouette of Elliot Sheridan’s back grew sharper. Some things she understood with perfect clarity, but when she thought of the child she was fated to never have, she couldn’t face Elliot with a calm heart.

After the fashion show came the charity auction for the upper-crust attendees.

Quincy Rhodes, a man of considerable status, gave a speech as the mayor. Beside him, Erin Irving, looking every bit the dapper young gentleman, spoke immediately after.

Georgia Thorne sat for a while before she started to feel drowsy, leaning back in her chair and nodding off.

In the span of a few nods, the charity event was over. The biggest winner was, naturally, Erin Irving.

After the event, Georgia Thorne stayed behind again to help clean up the venue, not leaving until well after midnight.

As she walked out of the venue with her bag, a car parked by the roadside laid on its horn. Georgia Thorne turned her head and looked at the man inside.

"It’s so late. Why not let me give you a ride, Miss Thorne?" Erin Irving asked with a gentle smile from inside the car.

"No, thank you. I can get back on my own," Georgia Thorne refused decisively.

"Are you really going to refuse my offer, Miss Thorne?"

Erin Irving’s voice held a tone that brooked no refusal. Georgia Thorne lowered her gaze demurely and replied, "How could I dare? I’m just afraid we’re not heading the same way, President Irving!"

’How could she dare? He could see she’d dare to do anything!’

Erin Irving had never been rejected before, and this was a first. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to get angry. On the contrary, he found Georgia Thorne amusing.

At the very least, her rejection had piqued his interest.

"Surely you’ve heard the saying, Miss Thorne? When a man truly wants to take you home, anywhere is on the way."

"No, I haven’t." Georgia Thorne shook her head. "President Irving, I really don’t want to trouble you."

"Are you afraid of me?" Erin Irving stroked his chin. Georgia’s heart skipped a beat. She shot him a quick glance but said nothing.

Stroking his chin, he continued, "Or are you afraid I *won’t* take you home, Miss Thorne?"

Georgia Thorne hated Erin Irving, and she especially loathed the way he spoke with such dramatic pauses.

Just as he finished speaking, Georgia Thorne’s phone rang. She didn’t rush to answer it. Instead, she said to Erin Irving, "It’s not that I’m afraid. It’s that my family is here to pick me up."

As she spoke, a car approaching slowly from behind flashed its high beams, and Byron Shaw’s voice called out from inside, "Georgia!"

Georgia Thorne called back in acknowledgment. "President Irving, I’ll be heading home now!"

Erin Irving watched her with a smile. "What a shame. It seems I’ll have to find another opportunity to take you home alone, Miss Thorne."

Understanding the implication in his words, Georgia Thorne just smiled and walked quickly toward Byron Shaw’s car.

Erin Irving recognized Byron Shaw’s face.

He rolled up the window, his smile vanishing, replaced by a menacing look in his eyes. "Investigate the relationship between Georgia Thorne and Byron Shaw."

"Yes, sir!"

Byron Shaw, now acting as a guardian figure to Georgia Thorne, was concerned about her coming home so late.

When he learned she might be back late, he had offered to drive over and pick her up.

As Byron Shaw drove, his gaze drifted to Georgia Thorne beside him from time to time.

She was exhausted, her head tilted to one side, sleeping soundly.

Byron Shaw didn’t have the heart to disturb her, so he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

’I saw Elliot Sheridan earlier,’ he thought. ’I wonder if they spoke today.’

He drove all the way to her apartment building before Georgia Thorne groggily woke up.

She was the only one left in the car. Byron Shaw was outside, leaning against the vehicle and talking on the phone.

She could faintly hear Byron Shaw’s frustrated voice calling someone "Sis," and she instantly knew who was on the other end of the line.

To this day, Georgia Thorne still couldn’t accept Naomi Shaw, even though she knew her mother had her reasons for abandoning her back then.

Only after Byron Shaw hung up the phone did Georgia Thorne get out of the car.

"You’re awake?"

"Why didn’t you wake me?"

"You were sleeping so soundly. Oh, by the way, earlier..."

"It’s so late. Let’s go up."

Georgia Thorne glanced at the time and cut Byron Shaw off, heading toward the elevators.

Byron Shaw followed with a helpless sigh. ’It seems she cut me off intentionally.’

Georgia took a shower and got into bed, but suddenly, she wasn’t sleepy at all. She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

Her mind was completely filled with the image of Elliot Sheridan, as if she had lost control, completely obsessed.

She pulled the blanket over her head, trying to force Elliot out of her mind, but it was no use.

The more she tried to push him out, the more space he took up, until he filled every corner of her thoughts, leaving her breathless.

She threw off the blanket, got out of bed, and walked to her desk to take out her drawing board.

Holding a pencil all night, the one thing Georgia Thorne drew the most was a child’s smiling face.

’If our child were still here, who would they have looked like when they grew up?’

She looked at the drawing and sighed again. ’They’re already gone. What are you still fantasizing about, Georgia!’

「In the blink of an eye, it was November.」

The weather grew colder, and Georgia Thorne, who had always been sensitive to the cold, was already wearing a thick sweater.

Georgia Thorne had been working at Archetype Company for almost a month. She had gone from having nothing to do at first to being busy with tasks on her plate.

This was probably thanks to Erin Irving.

She had thought Erin Irving sending flowers was just a passing whim, but he had been sending them for over half a month.

The flowers arrived as if they cost nothing, huge, varied bouquets delivered to Georgia Thorne’s desk. At first, she threw them away. Then, the cleaning lady said it was a pity to waste them and found a vase. After that, the flowers that arrived were distributed among her other colleagues in the office.

The flowers kept coming, but the man himself never appeared.

Georgia Thorne didn’t have Erin Irving’s phone number and had nearly lost her temper with the delivery courier on several occasions.

People in the company assumed Erin Irving was her backer. Their mockery turned to caution, and now, to flattery.

In reality, she had nothing to do with Erin Irving.

Georgia Thorne started to get involved in work matters under Seth Shields’s guidance and was slowly getting the hang of her job.

She was a newcomer and didn’t know a lot of things. After work, she would eat dinner and then dive right back into her work in her room. Staying up late had become a habit.

As a result, in just half a month, Georgia Thorne looked even thinner than before.

Byron Shaw worried about her, but Georgia Thorne insisted she was okay.

「It was mid-November before she saw Elliot Sheridan again.」

Georgia Thorne was working with Seth Shields’s team. They had just finished one project when Seth managed to secure a major new collaboration from the higher-ups.

Seth Shields kept the details of the collaboration a secret, planning to announce it at the celebration dinner that evening.

The whole team was immersed in a joyous atmosphere. Georgia Thorne’s contribution had been small, but she was happy all the same.

’It felt like raising a child and watching it grow up healthy.’

For the evening’s celebration, Seth Shields booked a private room at the Grandview Hotel.

Georgia Thorne had an instinctive aversion to the place, but as a member of the team, she felt it wouldn’t be right to refuse their first celebration dinner, so she had to go along.

Before leaving work, she made sure to let Byron Shaw know. He told her to have a good time.

He felt that Georgia Thorne was suppressing herself too much, using work to numb herself to life.

At the celebration dinner that night, Seth Shields happily announced the project with the Sheridan Group. With the exception of Georgia Thorne, every other member of the team cheered loudly.

"Team Leader, are we really collaborating with the Sheridan Group? I didn’t mishear, did I? Does that mean we might get to see Elliot Sheridan?" The one who spoke was a lively girl from the team, Wendy Young, who was anything but quiet.

At the mention of Elliot Sheridan, she grew even more excited, a look of pure adoration in her eyes as she imagined seeing his handsome face.

A male colleague next to her shot her down. "You’re dreaming. Elliot Sheridan is the big boss. Why would we get to see him? At most, we’ll meet with their manager."

After hearing her colleague’s words, Wendy Young realized he was right. The president was an incredibly busy man; why would he have time to meet with small fry like them? Her face fell, and she slumped over the table in disappointment.

The more she thought about it, the unhappier she got. She turned around and playfully pounded her fist on her male colleague. "It’s all your fault! Why’d you have to say that!"

When Georgia Thorne heard the name "Elliot Sheridan," the smile on her face faded, and she unconsciously pressed her lips together.

"So, Team Leader, when can we go over there to take a look? I’ve never even been inside!" Wendy Young asked curiously after she finished ’beating up’ her colleague.

Seth Shields took a sip of his drink. "That hasn’t been decided yet. It depends on what the other party says."

They had just taken on this project, and Seth Shields hadn’t even made contact with their counterparts yet. Everything that came next was still an unknown.

In a somber mood, Georgia Thorne picked up the glass beside her and took a sip. She realized something was wrong with the taste as a fiery sensation burned her throat. The male colleague next to her asked, "Georgia, are you okay?"

"I’m fine!" Georgia Thorne immediately forced a smile and looked at the colleague beside her.

A blush immediately appeared on the male colleague’s face. He looked at her strangely and said in a low voice, "But... you just drank from my glass of liquor."

...

Following his gaze, she looked down at her hand. She was holding someone else’s glass of liquor. Her own glass of juice was off to the side.

Her curled fingers stiffened. "I’m sorry," she apologized.

All of Georgia Thorne’s strange behavior was related to one person: Elliot Sheridan.