The chosen bride

"You said you liked neither of the ladies I suggested last night. Does that mean you are not considering either of them?"

"I appreciate your efforts, Miss Gray, truly. But I have my reasons for not wanting to involve myself with those ladies. You must not have known this, but their families have hidden filth they are covering up. I'm a big name in the industry, and I'd rather take a wife with no family name than involve myself with those families."

Allie didn't know what 'hidden filth' Evan was talking about, but she didn't care.

Most rich families had their fair share of dirty deeds and schemes. She couldn't dig up such deep information within a short period, so she didn't know much about the ladies.

"Maybe that is true," she nodded, her voice calm but her eyes sharp and cautious. "But you could also be just toying with me with no intention of picking anyone from the list of wife prospects I've chosen for you."

"Toying with you?" His lips curled slightly as he mocked, "so trustful."

"I am not toying with anyone here, Miss Gray. You are overthinking things."

"How can I be sure? I ruined your wedding and you lost a big business deal. Sure, you didn't lose the love of your life, but I'm sure I've hurt your pride. You want to get even, so you are doing this to trouble me."

There was amusement in Evan's eyes, but he didn't say anything.

"You are not denying it, so is it true?"

"I have chosen a bride," he said all of a sudden, which surprised Allie. "So you can stop finding me a bride now, but you still have to do something. After all, you have to complete the job so you can atone for your mistake."

"What should I do?" If it was reasonable enough, Allie was willing to do it. She couldn't wait to finish her personal business with Evan and get rid of him.

"If you can convince Lyla Ferrer to marry me, then I'd call it quits."

Lyla Ferrer. The name wasn't the least bit familiar to Allie.

"You probably don't know her. She's not active on social media and she really has a low profile despite her family background, so you won't see her at social gatherings and parties. You see, I could just convince her myself, but how else could you compensate me for ruining my wedding?"

He smirked darkly. "If you can convince her to marry me within three days, consider yourself debt-free, Miss Gray."

Convincing a woman to marry Evan Mori? Allie thought it could work. After all, most women would kill to be his wife.

"She's not married or engaged, is she?"

Allie wasn't a fool. For Evan to give this task to her, it must not be as easy as it seemed. He needed the woman to be convinced to marry him, which meant that whoever this Lyla Ferrer was, she wasn't one of those girls who wanted Evan Mori.

Evan let out a low chuckle. "You silly, why would I steal someone's wife or bride?"

"I don't know. For fun?"

Evan's eyes narrowed. "You think so lowly of me, Miss Gray."

This made Allie want to smile, but she stifled it and just sipped her coffee.

When Allie went back to her office, she talked to Cole privately and instructed him to find everything he could about Lyla Ferrer.

Evan didn't leave any information about Lyla Ferrer during their meeting earlier, so she had to get to know the woman herself through research.

Cole didn't find much on the internet since the woman was barely active on her social media accounts, which left them no choice but to go through government files. Both Cole and Allie were experts in computer science and even hacking. It had been part of Allie's job as an agent in Redlip.

Allie soon found out that Lyla Ferrer was the adopted daughter of two professionals with no family business, only real estate investments. This meant she wasn't related to any big corporation in Claymount.

Allie and Cole continued their work in Allie's penthouse.

"Finally, I have tracked her recent whereabouts, boss!" Cole exclaimed in triumph while they were both facing their laptops.

"Where is she right now?"

"She had a credit card transaction just twenty minutes ago in Raven Town. It turns out she has had all regular transactions in that town in the past months, so she must be staying there."

Cole looked for the location of Raven Town, as he hadn't been there.

"Raven Town is to the south of Claymount, boss. It will take us approximately eight hours to reach there."

"Fantastic," Allie muttered sarcastically.

It turned out she had to leave for Raven Town for the next three days to look for Evan Mori's chosen bride, or else she would face the wrath of the tyrant.

Something felt wrong about it though…why did Evan suddenly choose a bride?

The wicked glint in Evan's eyes as they talked earlier flashed in Allie's mind.