Secret Marriage: The CEO's Pampered Wife

Wendy Young huffed, "None of your business!"

Everyone in the office had witnessed the whole thing. Owen Sawyer himself had called Georgia Thorne "Madam," which meant the woman married to Elliot Sheridan was none other than Georgia Thorne.

Given the speed of the office rumor mill, it took less than an hour for news of Georgia Thorne and Elliot Sheridan’s marriage to spread throughout the entire company.

A long time ago, their CEO had publicly announced that he was married, and the wedding ring on his finger had never been taken off.

But the much-whispered-about Mrs. Sheridan had never once shown her face.

So much time had passed that everyone had begun to think it was just a story Elliot Sheridan made up—a nominal marriage announcement to fend off unwanted romantic advances.

Now that the true identity of Mrs. Sheridan was revealed, the news reached Nancy Hughes’s ears.

An assistant was the one gossiping with her. Nancy Hughes dropped the design sketch in her hand. "They’re about to get a divorce, and now their marriage gets exposed!"

Hearing this, the assistant’s eyes lit up. "Ms. Hughes, do you know some inside scoop?"

"You want to know?"

The assistant nodded eagerly. Nancy Hughes grinned. "Well, I’m not telling you!"

"Oh, come on, Ms. Hughes! Just tell me! I promise I won’t tell anyone else!"

"Yeah, right. With that mouth of yours? I know you better than that!" Nancy Hughes shot her a look. "Stop gossiping and get back to work!"

The assistant pestered and pleaded, but seeing no sign of Nancy Hughes giving in, she finally slunk back to work with a dejected look on her face.

Before long, employees started connecting the dots with the incident at the company entrance a couple of days ago. It was almost certain that the woman the CEO had pulled away that day was his wife.

Suddenly, Georgia Thorne’s name was on everyone’s lips at the company.

When Georgia Thorne arrived at the hospital, a doctor was taking Elliot Sheridan’s temperature.

"Doctor, how is he?"

The doctor glanced at her. "And you are?"

"I’m his wife. Is my husband going to be okay?" Georgia Thorne asked, looking worriedly at Elliot Sheridan’s pale face. It was even more ashen than it had been at the beach.

"A high fever of 104 degrees, plus a flare-up of his stomach condition!"

"What stomach condition?"

The lead doctor looked at her. "As his wife, you don’t know he just had surgery a few days ago?"

Only Elliot Sheridan himself and Owen Sawyer knew about his gastric bleeding.

"The patient has had surgery; he absolutely shouldn’t be getting chilled. Now he’s running a high fever. I really don’t know how you can call yourself his wife!" The doctor shook his head, tsking. "You young people these days only care about living comfortably!"

Georgia Thorne’s face flushed as she listened to the doctor’s scolding. "I’ll take good care of him."

Seeing Georgia Thorne’s sincere attitude, the doctor gave a few more instructions before leaving.

On the hospital bed, Elliot Sheridan was still asleep. Georgia Thorne asked Owen Sawyer, "When did he have surgery?"

Owen Sawyer had no choice but to recount the events from beginning to end. Georgia Thorne looked at the man on the bed, her face filled with heartache.

Owen Sawyer said, "Madam, the CEO really does care about your feelings."

Georgia Thorne looked at him, then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Did he wake up at all last night?"

"No!" Owen Sawyer immediately shook his head. "The CEO’s fever was severe. He was calling your name all night."

Georgia Thorne reached out and touched his forehead. It was still a bit hot.

"You should head to the office. I’ll take care of him here." Georgia Thorne wrung out a wet towel and placed it on Elliot Sheridan’s forehead.

"Okay, I’ll come back this afternoon!" Owen Sawyer said before leaving the hospital room.

Elliot Sheridan’s fever didn’t break until noon.

He didn’t wake up, however, until the afternoon.

Georgia Thorne kept watch by the bed. With nothing else to do, she propped her hands on the mattress, rested her chin in one hand, and yawned.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and a crystal tear welled in the corner of her eye. She was terribly sleepy, but she didn’t dare fall asleep.

Elliot Sheridan’s fingers twitched unconsciously as he slowly opened his eyes. Through his blurry vision, Georgia Thorne’s profile came into view.

A golden glow coated the side of Georgia’s face. Her bright profile was so dazzling he could barely keep his eyes open. For a moment, he was dazed, unsure if the Georgia before him was real or a hallucination.

’It must be a hallucination.’

He closed his eyes with a self-deprecating thought. ’She can’t even get away from me fast enough. Why would she willingly appear before me?’

His body was exhausted, but even after closing his eyes, the image that floated in his mind was still Georgia’s profile, ineffably bright and beautiful.

Just then, Georgia Thorne unlocked her phone, and a call from Nancy Hughes came in.

Nancy Hughes asked where she was, indirectly probing to see if she was with Elliot Sheridan. Georgia didn’t evade the question and honestly admitted it.

Her soft, clear voice, like cotton, drifted into his ears. It wasn’t a hallucination, yet it felt even more surreal than one.

Holding her phone, Georgia Thorne reached out her other hand to stroke the back of Elliot Sheridan’s. The skin beneath her fingertips felt rough and uneven. She looked down and saw the wounds on his hand were slowly starting to scab over.

’This scar on his hand must be from that night,’ she thought. While lovingly caressing the back of his hand, Georgia spoke into the phone with Nancy Hughes. "Could you ask for a day off for me? I won’t be able to make it to the office today."

Nancy Hughes asked curiously, "What’s wrong?"

"He’s sick. I want to stay and take care of him."

She had said she *wanted* to, not that she *had* to or *must* stay and take care of him.

"You don’t need me to ask for time off for you anymore. Everyone in the company knows who you are now. Who would dare fire you? Unless they want to get fired themselves!"

Georgia Thorne gave a dazed "Mm," and then felt a sudden pressure on the back of her hand. She heard Elliot Sheridan’s weak voice by her ear. "I’m thirsty."

Once he confirmed the person before him was real, Elliot Sheridan was undeniably overjoyed.

Unable to suppress his delight, he flipped his hand over and clasped Georgia Thorne’s, holding it tightly in his palm.

Georgia Thorne glanced back at Elliot Sheridan, then said to Nancy Hughes, "I have to go."

Putting her phone away, she looked at Elliot Sheridan with delight. "You’re thirsty? I’ll get you some water!"

She stood up, only to find his hand was still gripping hers, just like that other night.

"Elliot, let go of me first. Aren’t you thirsty?" Georgia Thorne said softly. "If you don’t let go, how am I supposed to get you water?"

No matter what Georgia Thorne said, Elliot Sheridan refused to let go, his grip not lessening in the slightest.

"Elliot, I’m not going to leave," Georgia Thorne said helplessly, squeezing his hand back.

Hearing the word "leave," Elliot Sheridan’s brow furrowed tightly. He said fiercely, "You just try leaving!"

At the same time, he squeezed her hand even harder. Georgia Thorne looked at him, exasperated.

After a long while, a nurse came by on her rounds, and Georgia Thorne had to ask her for help getting some water.

"Thank you!" Georgia Thorne said.

"You two are so sweet! Still holding hands and everything!" The nurse who brought the water was a young girl, clearly fresh out of school and naive about the world.

Georgia Thorne’s face turned red and stayed that way until after the nurse had left.

Georgia Thorne looked at Elliot Sheridan and met his eyes. He was smiling, the light in his eyes full of mirth that reached all the way to his brows.

Georgia Thorne tried to pull her hand from his grasp, saying helplessly, "Don’t you want some water!"

Elliot Sheridan huffed before finally letting go of her hand. "Help me sit up!"

Georgia Thorne helped him sit up, propped a pillow behind his back, and handed him the cup of water.

"Are you hungry? I can go buy you some porridge," Georgia Thorne asked with concern. He hadn’t eaten anything since being admitted to the hospital last night, having been unconscious the whole time.

"I’m fine." To be honest, Elliot Sheridan didn’t feel hungry at all. With her by his side, even the pain in his stomach was negligible; he couldn’t feel it anymore.

Despite this, Georgia Thorne went to buy porridge anyway.

The cafeteria lady had given her too much porridge. Georgia was in a hurry and couldn’t possibly finish it all. She had only eaten a small portion when the man on the bed coughed twice.

"What’s wrong?" Georgia Thorne put down the bowl, her flustered eyes meeting a certain someone’s proud and petulant expression. "I’m hungry!"

’...’ ’Didn’t he just say he wasn’t hungry?!’

Georgia Thorne’s gaze fell on her leftover porridge. "If you don’t mind... do you want this?"

She held the bowl out to Elliot Sheridan, and his expression instantly turned icy, as if to ask, ’You’re giving me *this* to eat?’

She had completely forgotten about his serious germaphobia. Setting the bowl aside, she said, "I’ll go buy you a new one!"

"No need!" Elliot Sheridan stopped her. Georgia Thorne turned back to him, confused. Elliot Sheridan coughed again. "There’s still more than half left in this bowl. Isn’t it a waste of money to buy another one?"

Georgia Thorne was speechless. ’...’ ’He actually has the nerve to talk about waste.’

Georgia Thorne sat back down and held the bowl out to him. "Here, eat!"

Elliot Sheridan didn’t move. "My hand is injured!"

"..."

She was sure Elliot Sheridan was just trying to pick a fight. His hand was indeed injured, but it was already healing.

Considering he was a patient, Georgia Thorne picked up the spoon and started feeding Elliot Sheridan the porridge.

With his stomach condition having just flared up, he had to avoid any irritating foods, so Elliot Sheridan could only have plain rice porridge.

The remaining half-bowl was quickly finished. Elliot Sheridan sat up for a while, took his fever reducer, and then went back to sleep.

After taking care of him, Georgia Thorne was also exhausted and fell asleep slumped over the side of the bed.

It was dark by the time Owen Sawyer, after getting off work, went straight to Elliot Sheridan’s private apartment to grab a few changes of clothes before rushing to the hospital.

Inside the hospital room, the two of them were watching television in silence. The room was completely quiet.

Owen Sawyer didn’t know what was going on. "CEO, I’ve brought your clothes!"

A documentary was playing on the television, but neither of them was paying it any attention.

Georgia Thorne sat in a chair, staring at her phone, while Elliot Sheridan’s gaze was fixed on her.

Owen Sawyer rubbed his nose, unsure of the situation between the two.

Whatever it was, as long as he didn’t get caught in the crossfire, he was fine. Owen Sawyer put the clothes down and quickly made his exit.

Watching TV had originally been Georgia Thorne’s idea. When she had turned it on, an entertainment program happened to be playing.

Lately, there were always some kind of entertaining reality shows on, and most of the people on TV were decent-looking young male celebrities.

Georgia Thorne was laughing heartily while watching, which made Elliot Sheridan’s temper flare. He snatched the remote and changed the channel.

It landed on a documentary about World War II. Georgia didn’t like watching this kind of thing and mumbled softly, "I was enjoying that. Why’d you have to change it!"

Elliot Sheridan was extremely possessive and didn’t like seeing Georgia Thorne smiling at a bunch of other men. "I like watching this!"

"..." Georgia Thorne rolled her eyes in exasperation. ’What’s so interesting about this?’