Secret Marriage: The CEO's Pampered Wife

Georgia Thorne shook her head firmly. Of course, she couldn’t possibly have plagiarized someone else’s work.

When she designed those pieces, she hadn’t even known Yulia Upton existed.

"Believe in yourself. You don’t need to worry about what other people think," Elliot soothed, as if comforting a small child.

Georgia Thorne nodded. "I think this designer’s work looks a lot like the things from the sketchbook I lost in Akashima."

She suspected Yulia Upton had found her sketchbook and stolen her designs, but Akashima was so big. How could she have been the one to stumble upon it?

But then she dismissed the thought.

Elliot picked her up. "Whatever’s going on, let’s go eat first."

Georgia Thorne was in a foul mood, so she didn’t have much of an appetite. After just a few bites, she didn’t want to eat anymore.

Elliot pulled her into his lap and picked up his chopsticks to feed her himself.

"How are you getting so thin?" She felt like she weighed almost nothing as she sat on his lap.

The competition was over for now. Georgia Thorne stayed home for a few days, and after receiving comforting phone calls from Selena Sheridan and others, her mood improved significantly.

A few days later, Georgia Thorne began her job search.

She couldn’t get into Archetype Company, but Portmire still had plenty of other design firms, big and small.

She sent out numerous résumés online. Some vanished without a trace, while others led to an interview the next day, only to be followed by silence.

Seeing her busy with her job search, Elliot said, "My company is hiring right now. Want to give it a try?"

"No!" Georgia Thorne’s reply was unequivocal. She didn’t want to rely on Elliot’s power.

Georgia Thorne spent her days running around, interviewing with companies of all sizes, but not a single one contacted her.

After a week of this, Georgia Thorne couldn’t help but feel disheartened.

Elliot comforted her, "Just stay home. I can support you, you know."

Whenever he said that, Georgia Thorne would just give him a melancholy look.

’There’s nothing wrong with being a housewife, but I don’t want my life to just drift by so uneventfully.’

On Monday, just as Georgia Thorne was mustering the courage to go out and search for a job again, she received a call from Archetype Company’s HR department. They told her she had been hired.

Georgia Thorne was so surprised by the news she could barely speak. She asked dumbly, "Why?"

"Miss Thorne, did you not know? The competition rules were changed. The top five contestants are all eligible to join our company."

"..." ’When did they change it? How did I not know?’

The HR department told her to arrive at the company lobby at one in the afternoon. If she didn’t want to accept the offer, she could simply not show up.

Naturally, Georgia Thorne wasn’t about to pass up such a great opportunity. She agreed without a second thought.

She didn’t have to go out job hunting anymore. Georgia Thorne returned to the sofa and sat down, finding it hard to process this sudden stroke of good fortune.

It felt like gold had just fallen from the sky, threatening to knock her unconscious.

Once she calmed down, Georgia Thorne thought it over carefully and felt something was off.

The first person she thought of was Elliot. Could he have secretly pulled some strings for her?

When Georgia Thorne called Elliot, he was in a meeting.

"I’m sorry, did I interrupt your work?"

"It’s fine. What’s on your mind?" Elliot’s voice grew louder and clearer.

"Well, Archetype Company called me this morning and offered me a job."

"Nate’s company? Why?"

"You don’t know?" Hearing the confusion in Elliot’s voice, Georgia asked, "You weren’t the one who arranged it?"

"No! If it were me, I’d rather have you working under my own roof," Elliot said bluntly.

He had suggested more than once that Georgia Thorne come work at his company, so he could see her whenever he wanted.

Georgia, "...Well, you get back to work. I won’t bother you anymore!"

’If it wasn’t Elliot, then who could it be?’

’Or had my luck truly turned?’

Georgia Thorne discussed it with Nancy Hughes, who said, "Who cares who arranged it? The point is, you get to work at Archetype Company. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?"

Nancy’s words resonated with Georgia. She really did want to go!

At one in the afternoon, Georgia Thorne, having dressed with care, arrived in the lobby of Archetype Company.

Georgia Thorne saw Laura Chase and walked over to them.

Laura Chase was clearly very surprised to see her as well. She asked the manager in charge of them, "Manager Garrison, weren’t these two eliminated? Why are they here?"

The manager replied officially, "Didn’t you know? The company is expanding its recruitment this year. The top five contestants from the competition are all joining the company."

Manager Garrison shot a pointed glance at Georgia Thorne, leaving the rest unsaid.

’The higher-ups had given special instructions that Georgia Thorne, in particular, must be hired.’

’Clearly, Georgia Thorne had a powerful backer within the company.’

At this thought, Manager Garrison couldn’t help but adopt a more respectful attitude toward Georgia Thorne.

’These days, you could afford to offend anyone except the powerful and influential.’

He led the five of them on a tour of the company, then issued them their company access cards and other materials.

And just like that, the job was settled. Georgia Thorne felt everything had happened too fast, leaving her no time to think.

Georgia Thorne’s desk was against a wall, which was a decent spot.

The girl who had placed fourth ended up sitting right in front of her.

"I’m Yvonne Chandler. I look forward to working with you." Yvonne turned around happily and extended a hand to Georgia.

"Hi, I’m Georgia Thorne."

"I know!" Yvonne beamed. "Honestly, your designs are gorgeous. If it weren’t for that whole... thing, you definitely would’ve taken first place!"

Yvonne lowered her voice for the last part, likely out of consideration for Georgia’s feelings.

Georgia had already put the incident behind her. She smiled calmly and said, "I know."

’Just as Elliot said, believing in myself is enough. I don’t need to worry about what others think.’

The afternoon was just for them to get a feel for the work environment. Their official first day would be tomorrow.

Before they left, Manager Garrison added, "The probation period is two months. Those who pass will be converted to full-time employees. Those who don’t make the cut will be let go."

In other words, they still had a two-month trial period to get through.

After Manager Garrison left, the trio led by Laura Chase turned their dissatisfaction on Georgia Thorne and Yvonne Chandler. "This is so annoying. I can’t believe we have to work with you. What terrible luck!"

Lillian Lowell looked at Georgia’s innocent face. "Who knows what kind of strings she pulled!"

Everything they said, both directly and indirectly, insinuated that Georgia had a backer and had relied on connections to get the job.

"Who are you talking about?" Nathan Rhodes, who had just come out looking for Georgia, overheard their barbed comments and immediately came to her defense.

Nathan Rhodes was the company’s chief designer, practically a manager himself. His standing was much higher than that of these new recruits.

Nathan adopted the tone of a senior, chiding them, "You’re not even full-time employees yet and you’re already this arrogant?"

Laura Chase was a classic bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. She quickly plastered on a smile. "We were just joking with Georgia, right?"

Laura kept shooting glances at Georgia, warning her not to say the wrong thing.

Georgia ignored her completely and turned to placate Nathan. "Didn’t you say you wanted to get tea? Let’s go."

Nathan wanted to stand up for Georgia, but seeing her unbothered demeanor, he gritted his teeth in frustration. "I’m letting you off this time!"

Having been berated by Nathan, Laura Chase was furious. She took out her anger on Yvonne Chandler. "I mean, really. You could hang out with anyone, but you have to stick with a plagiarist."

Yvonne looked at them, clearly wronged, but was unable to say a word.

Georgia asked Nathan why the company had suddenly decided to hire five people.

Nathan said he had no idea either. "I’m only just hearing about it from you!"

Nathan stirred his coffee. "Still, you’re really lucky!"

On her first official day of work, Georgia Thorne wasn’t given any real tasks. She just ran errands for everyone.

One minute she was pouring tea, the next she was copying documents for someone else.

An hour into the morning, her stomach was already growling.

’I definitely ate a lot this morning, so how am I already hungry?’

She glanced at the time; it was still a long way from lunch.

"Georgia, could you make fifty copies of this for me?"

"Fifty copies?" Georgia looked at the thick stack of documents in her hands.

The person gave her a pleading look. "Yes, fifty. I need them for a meeting later."

"Okay, I understand."

Before her chair was even warm, Georgia was hugging the documents on her way to the copy room.

It seemed all the newcomers were equally busy.

Laura Chase, Lillian Lowell, and Summer Bloom were all assigned to a new design project, and Yvonne Chandler was helping a designer as an assistant.

Georgia Thorne was probably the unluckiest of them all, stuck doing only menial tasks.

Still, she considered herself lucky to have gotten into the company at all.

Her first day on the job was, in a word, exhausting.

That evening, to celebrate the five new hires, the design department went out for a team dinner, much to the cheers of its members.

Georgia Thorne breathed a sigh of relief along with them.

They went to a nearby restaurant, booking a private room for the twenty-odd people.

On the way there, Georgia called Elliot to let him know what was happening. It sounded like Elliot was already at his own business dinner; she heard him tell someone it was a call from "the missus," who was "keeping close tabs on him."

"Are you at a business dinner?" Georgia asked, lowering her voice.

"Yeah. Where are you? I’ll come pick you up after your dinner ends."

"Okay!"

After hanging up, Georgia texted him the restaurant’s address.

The dinner was a lively affair, and Georgia sat with the others.

Aside from the five newcomers, everyone else was a senior employee, and they all gave the new hires a warm welcome.

Georgia gave a simple self-introduction, which was met with a round of enthusiastic applause, followed by calls for her to drink.

Georgia hadn’t had a drink in a long time. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I’m not much of a drinker. I’ll toast with juice, if that’s okay."

Georgia was beautiful and the youngest of the new hires, so it was no surprise that quite a few of her male colleagues were already interested in her.

Laura Chase had dressed up specially for tonight’s dinner, yet no one seemed to be paying her that much attention.