Sentenced to Marriage by MadlainQ
Chapter 99

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More questions I took out the rest of the pictures from the envelope; they made me feel even worse. I had never met Aren, who was in those pictures. He seemed happy. He was smiling and laughing and was definitely in love with the woman standing next to him. I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever see him smile like that at me. I wondered if the moment Lanfen had left Aren had broken something within him irreversibly. Was the way he looked at me all the affection he could ever give me? If he met Lanfen now, would he look at her the same way he did then?

I knew that my thoughts were pitiful and selfish, but I was unable to think of anything else. I was afraid and uncertain of what was going to come. Throughout those final days, my only anchor had been the hope that Aren would awaken soon and offer me his support. I couldn't lose this belief, but that whole situation with Lanfen kept messing me up.

I called Chris while I was on my way to Aren's private clinic, and I confirmed that the woman from the footage was Lanfen. He wasn't surprised; I guess that it was something that we had all expected. Nonetheless, we all wished we knew the reason why

Lanfen had come to Aren and who was helping her... I ran through the corridors in Aren's clinic, driven by a desperate need to see him. I needed to hold his hand and touch his beautiful face. I barged into his room, closed the door behind me, and burst into tears. I kept squeezing his hand while crying. I whispered that I loved him and how much I needed him to come back to me. I would probably have spent the whole night sitting by his bed and weeping if it weren't for the nurse who knocked on the door.

"Excuse me, I came to check the patient's parameters," she said as she walked into the room.

I nodded, hurriedly wiping tears off my face. She smiled sympathetically, observing how I tried to fake my composure, and then she took out a tissue from her pocket and gave it to me. "Thank you," I muttered, giving her a faint smile. She gently patted my shoulder. "Mr. Lan is in pretty good shape. He should wake up soon." "I know..." I said as I stroked his cheek before shifting my gaze to the clock hanging on the wall. It was midnight, and my shooting training with Jack was supposed to begin in six hours. "I should go now... Please, take good care of him," I muttered, standing up and grabbing my purse. "Oh, Mrs. Lan!" the nurse called out when I was about to leave. "I found something in Mr. Lan's bedsheets, right after his transfer here." She took something from the bedside cabinet's drawer and put it in the palm of my hand. I looked closely at the small object and raised my eyebrows. "An earpiece?" "It looks like it, doesn't it?" The nurse stared at the object as confused as I was.

"Well, my husband was on a mission before his... accident occurred, and he used something like this..." I explained, nervously smiling. "Could it be possible that he had this piece in his ear when he first got to the clinic, and then it just tangled in sheets? "My brain was desperate to replace a logical solution. The nurse kept staring at the skin-colored object with interest as she processed my words. "I can't see how it could happen. Our staff is very methodical when we receive a patient. Even under special circumstances, an object like this should have been discovered immediately," she replied. "Well... what if it went deeper into the ear canals? My husband went under the water. Perhaps the pressure there pushed it inside the ear, and it has fallen out only recently," I suggested.

The nurse smiled wryly, narrowing her eyes at the inch-long device. "It's unlikely, but it is possible," she admitted.

"Anyway, thank you for giving this to me and for all your work." I smiled, finally leaving Aren's room, and then I put the earpiece into my purse, trying to remember to give it to Jack when I saw him in the morning. My time to sleep passed quickly. I had a feeling I had only put my head on the pillow a minute ago before the alarm viciously forced me out of the bed. I was barely conscious when I met Jack at the shooting range. As I looked into his sparkling in excitement eyes, I knew that it was his world that I was about to enter. For the first hour, he proudly introduced me to all of his favorite toys... including his Barret M82-a sniper rifle that he used to shoot Chris. His long lecture gave me unnecessarily wanted knowledge on every single gun's history that he claimed was essential to know what I was about to deal with. Fortunately, he was merciful enough to allow me to start my training with a caliber 22, a small and quite feminine handgun with a lower probability of me breaking my finger or injuring my hands. First, we worked on my shooting stance and the correct grip on the gun. Finally, as I took my first shot... I realized I was terrible. After shooting another twenty bullets, my self-esteem became even worse. "Don't worry, Cora. Once you replace out how to hit the target, you will get better." Jack tried to remain calm, but I could see him hardly stifling a laugh after witnessing me hit every part of the walls surrounding the shooting target. I gave him a look that finally made him burst out laughing. "I had a feeling that this thing I'm holding is broken." I pouted,

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pointing at the gun.

Jack snorted. "I can assure you that there's nothing wrong with your revolver. Just give it some time, and I promise that you'll become friends."

"I don't think that this little thing hates me already," I grunted.

Jack sighed. "Try again, but this time try to focus your eyes on the target as I've told you. Keep your finger alongside the trigger until you are ready to shoot, and then fire. And remember... the human-shaped shooting target is quite big, so try to not miss it this time." Even though his sarcastic remark made me want to hit him, I decided to give this damn shooting one more try

I took a deep breath and carefully followed Jack's instructions. I pulled the trigger and closed my eyes. I opened them again after two seconds, hesitantly looking at the target. "I didn't miss! Look, Jack, I didn't miss!" I exclaimed happily, pointing at the small hole right outside the score field.

Jack clapped his hands. "Good job, Cora. Want to try it again? Maybe you'll shoot something that's qualified for some points this time?" he encouraged me, grinning.

"No, thank you." I handed the gun over to him. "If I failed to hit a target now, I would be devastated. I'd rather finish our session with something positive."

He chuckled. "All right, Mrs. Lan. Looks like we're finishing your first lesson here."

I nodded and started gathering my things. I was about to head toward the exit when I remembered about the earpiece.

"I almost forgot..." I pulled the device out of my purse and gave it to Jack. "The nurse found it in Aren's sheets. He must have had it on him all this time, and it finally fell out of his ear while we transferred him from Crawford's clinic," I said.

Jack looked at the little object closely and froze. "Where did this nurse replace it?"

"In his sheets..." I repeated, noticing his eyes darkening and his jaw tense.

"First of all, Aren couldn't have it with him before. He had a CT scan, and any electronic devices would have been found immediately. And second... this earpiece isn't ours."

I felt as if blood was running off my face. "What do you mean by that? If it's not yours... then whose?"

Jack turned the earpiece in his hand and brought it closer to my eyes. "I'm not sure who it belongs to, but it was clearly produced by a Chinese manufacturer."

I swallowed, seeing a row of tiny Chinese symbols on the earpiece cap, and then raised my eyes to meet Jack's. He nodded as if he knew exactly what I was about to say before I opened my mouth. There was only one person who could have left it. One word came out of us simultaneously. "Lanfen."