Secret Marriage: The CEO's Pampered Wife

"What do you think!" Preston Larkin said with a smile. "Since you two already know each other, I won’t bother with introductions!"

Nathan Rhodes was busy with another design project recently, so he wasn’t involved in the competition and had no idea that Georgia Thorne had entered.

"Do your best. If you can make it into the top three, we’ll be colleagues," Nathan Rhodes said happily.

Georgia Thorne just smiled and said she’d give it her all.

Nathan Rhodes had been swamped with work lately. His new client was very demanding, and before his coffee could even cool, he was called away by a phone call from them.

Preston Larkin sat on the sofa. "You’ll definitely make the top three!"

Preston Larkin had a lot of confidence in Georgia Thorne. He had seen her competition entries, and they were outstanding.

Among the current batch of works, Georgia Thorne’s creativity was in a class of its own.

Preston Larkin had plans to meet a few old friends that afternoon, so he left after chatting for a little while longer.

Georgia Thorne glanced at the time and saw it was still early. Suddenly remembering something, she called Selena Sheridan.

Meanwhile, after running away from home, Selena Sheridan hadn’t been back to the Sheridan estate. She was staying with Mrs. Sheridan, living like an ascetic monk.

She was sleeping early and waking up early; the only thing missing was a vegetarian diet and chanting scriptures.

’My Second Uncle is the worst. He knows my lifestyle is totally different from Great-Grandma’s, but he’s still forcing me to stay here.’

Bored, Selena Sheridan rolled around on the sofa with nothing to do.

Just as she was thinking this, a call came in from Georgia Thorne.

"Georgia, you finally called me!" Selena Sheridan was so moved she was on the verge of tears.

"What’s wrong?"

Selena Sheridan tearfully complained over the phone that she was living like a nun at Mrs. Sheridan’s place, which made Georgia Thorne cringe.

Georgia Thorne wanted to ask Selena Sheridan about a few things, so she asked her to meet up.

Selena Sheridan immediately agreed, and the two arranged to meet.

Selena Sheridan changed into a clean outfit and was just about to leave, all dressed up, when she ran into Mrs. Sheridan, who was just coming in.

The old lady glanced at her. "And where are you off to?"

"Great-Grandma, I’m meeting a friend today, so I have to go out." Selena Sheridan hurried forward to get on her good side, helping her inside.

"Which friend?"

"Georgia Thorne." Selena Sheridan answered hastily, afraid Mrs. Sheridan wouldn’t let her leave. She quickly added, "The one you met last time, Great-Grandma!"

When Mrs. Sheridan heard the name "Georgia Thorne," she knew exactly who it was.

’That little girl looks so thin. How is she supposed to give my grandson children?’

"Be back early!" The old lady saw Selena Sheridan’s pitiful expression and, with a grand wave of her hand, gestured that she could go.

Selena Sheridan cheered, "Hooray!" and, cupping the old lady’s cheeks, gave her a kiss. "Great-Grandma, I’ll be back early!"

"Go on, then. It’s not like you do anything staying at home all day!"

Selena Sheridan hadn’t been out in ages. Now that she had Mrs. Sheridan’s permission, she slung her bag over her shoulder and immediately bolted out the door.

The two had arranged to meet at a restaurant, just in time for lunch.

When Selena Sheridan walked in, she saw only a few people scattered around the seats. Spotting Georgia Thorne, she hurried over. "There’s hardly anyone here."

"See what you want? Go ahead and order." Georgia Thorne pushed the menu toward her.

It was just noon, and employees from nearby companies were starting to arrive for lunch. By the time all their food had arrived, the restaurant had become much more crowded.

The quiet restaurant instantly became noisy. Selena Sheridan took a sip of her drink. "Georgia, can I move in with you?"

As soon as Selena Sheridan arrived, she’d complained about losing a lot of weight from eating vegetarian meals with her great-grandmother every day.

’I’m already living with Elliot Sheridan, so of course I can’t let Selena move in with us.’

Changing the subject, she said earnestly, "You should go back to the Sheridan estate soon. Your grandparents and your parents must be worried sick about you!"

Selena Sheridan had been staying at Mrs. Sheridan’s for a while now. Aside from her grandparents visiting once and her mother calling two or three times, there had been no word at all from the father who was supposed to dote on her.

He hadn’t come to see her, nor had he called.

"He’s not worried about me. He’s probably passed out in some other woman’s arms!" Selena Sheridan pouted, unhappily stirring her food with her chopsticks.

"Selena, your father definitely loves you!" Georgia Thorne hesitated, unsure if she should tell her what she had seen before. If she didn’t say anything, the rift between father and daughter would remain forever. But if she did, knowing Selena’s temper, she would probably just end up hating her father even more.

The relationship between Carter Sheridan and Hillary had been in crisis for a long time. If it weren’t for their daughter, the two would have divorced long ago.

Besides, she didn’t think of Naomi Shaw as a homewrecker.

From Carter Sheridan’s words and actions, it was clear that he truly loved Naomi Shaw.

"I barely get to come out. Let’s not talk about this stuff. Can we talk about something happy?" Selena Sheridan said, propping her chin on her hand and changing the subject. "How’s that competition of yours going?"

"I’m not sure. I just submitted my piece for the second round today."

"Don’t worry, you’re so talented, you’ll definitely win first place!"

"You haven’t even seen my work, how would you know I’ll win first place?" Her standards weren’t high; she just wanted to make the top three and get a job at Archetype Company.

"You’re my best friend, so of course I’m going to root for you!" Selena Sheridan raised her glass. "Come on, cheers! To celebrating you passing the competition in advance!"

"Thanks!"

The two of them, substituting tea for wine, drank it all down.

Georgia Thorne then asked a few more questions here and there before finally steering the conversation toward Elliot Sheridan.

"Was your Second Uncle in a car accident before?" Georgia Thorne asked, her voice laden with worry.

"He was!" Selena Sheridan nodded. "How did you know?"

The matter of Elliot Sheridan’s car accident had been kept under tight wraps. When she was little, her grandparents had warned her not to casually mention it to anyone.

Besides the Sheridan Family and a handful of others, almost no one knew about Elliot Sheridan’s car accident.

"My roommate, Nancy Hughes, used to date Dylan Heston. I heard it from her!" Georgia Thorne laughed awkwardly, unable to meet Selena Sheridan’s eyes.

She was afraid that if she wasn’t careful, she’d let the truth slip out.

"Nancy Hughes and Mr. Heston?" Selena Sheridan looked shocked. "Oh my god, how did those two ever get together!"

"I’m not sure about that either. Maybe they met through work and things just developed from there." Nancy Hughes had never really gone into detail about that relationship.

"So your Second Uncle was really in a car accident? Was it serious?" Georgia Thorne was desperate to know about Elliot Sheridan’s accident but didn’t want to seem too obvious, so she could only feign nonchalance. "If I hadn’t heard it from someone else, I never would have guessed your Second Uncle was in an accident!"

"It was no joke!" Selena Sheridan nodded, completely unguarded around Georgia Thorne. "My Second Uncle’s accident was incredibly serious. He almost died!"

The year Elliot Sheridan had his accident, Selena Sheridan had just started middle school and had also just met Georgia Thorne.

Selena Sheridan remembered that day. She and Georgia Thorne had been playing outside, and not long after they got back, her family received a call from the hospital saying Elliot Sheridan had been in a car accident.

Selena Sheridan was young and didn’t know what had happened at the time. She only learned the details of the accident after she grew up.

Elliot Sheridan was only in his early twenties back then, and he had taken his younger brother out for a drive.

He was driving normally when, for some reason, a little girl suddenly ran out into the road. Elliot Sheridan yanked the steering wheel, desperately trying to swerve. He grazed the little girl as the car violently crashed into a pile of steel rebar on the other side of the road.

The violent collision caused the car to deform severely, and jagged steel bars pierced through the glass, impaling both of them.

Afterward, panicked passersby called the police and sent the three unconscious people to the hospital.

Elliot Sheridan’s injuries were already severe, but what was even worse was that Aidan Sheridan, who was in the passenger seat, was left in a vegetative state.

Georgia Thorne listened, her heart pounding. ’The scar on Elliot Sheridan’s body must have been from those steel bars. Such a long gash, and he’d said he’d already forgotten whether it hurt or not.’

’He was clearly just brushing me off!’

Georgia Thorne’s heart ached over Elliot Sheridan’s accident. "So after the accident, how long did it take for him to recover?"

"I think it was a year or two! After they saved my Second Uncle, he was in a coma for over a week! My grandparents were scared to death back then—one grandson in a vegetative state, the other not waking up."

Selena Sheridan’s memories of that time were a bit fuzzy. She just knew that every day when she came home, her grandparents weren’t there.

"Selena, you have another uncle?" Georgia Thorne asked, simultaneously heartbroken for Elliot Sheridan and confused.

Seeing her nod, she continued, "How come I’ve never heard you mention him before?"

"My youngest uncle... he was left in a vegetative state after the accident. We didn’t dare mention him because we were afraid of upsetting my grandparents."

’It’s true. To have two sons get into an accident on the same day... if it were me, I wouldn’t be able to accept it either.’

’So Elliot Sheridan has a younger brother. No wonder Selena always calls him Second Uncle.’

Selena Sheridan stirred her drink with her straw. "But my youngest uncle isn’t related to us by blood. He’s my grandparents’ adopted son, and he’s only a year or two older than me."

After lunch, the two of them went shopping.

Georgia Thorne didn’t have Selena Sheridan’s stamina and felt tired after just a short while of walking.

While Selena Sheridan was picking out clothes in a women’s clothing store, Georgia found a sofa to sit down and rest.

She was exhausted.

Selena Sheridan was a shopaholic who wanted to buy any piece of clothing she liked.

Georgia Thorne had been sitting there for twenty minutes, and Selena had already tried on five or six outfits.

Selena Sheridan tirelessly changed into yet another outfit. "Does it look good?"

Georgia Thorne saw her change into a bright red dress that made her fair skin look even more beautiful, and she nodded. "It looks great!"

Selena Sheridan was happy to hear that. She turned and twirled in front of the fitting room mirror, thinking the dress looked quite nice on her, too.

She turned to a nearby sales associate. "Please wrap up all the clothes I just tried on."