Chapter 240
Chapter 240
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Seeing Marina sitting there with her head down, not touching her food, Daron spoke in a deep voice. “The meeting won’t be over until eleven. Are you sure you can hold out that long?
Marina shook her head. She honestly wasn’t care.
Her stomach would always growl whenever she got hungry.
Imagine if that happened in the meeting room, with all those higher–ups watching…
Just imagining that scene, Marina felt like she’d be doomed for life.
So, without hesitation, she bent down and took a bite of the sandwich Daron had already taken a bite of
Daron watched her, his gaze deepening for a few seconds before he looked away, returned to his seat, and added a gentle reminder, “Take your time. No one’s rushing you.”
Marina nodded, her head still lowered.
Only then did Daron finally look away from her.
Marina held back the tears threatening to spill, sitting on the couch and turning away a bit so Daron wouldn’t notice her reddened eyes.
After finishing the sandwich and her milk, she stood up, picked up the tray, and glanced at Daron. Seeing he was busy with work, she kept quiet and quietly slipped out of his office.
The meeting was about to start in a few minutes.
Marina gathered the meeting materials, brought them into the conference room, and set everything up Soon, the higher–ups started filing in one after another.
None of them had ever seen Marina before, so they kept sneaking curious glances at her.
Marina brought over some bottled water for everyone and set them out on the conference table.
Someone thanked her
Marina said quietly, “You’re welcome
As soon as she spoke, some of the higher–ups couldn’t help but think her voice sounded strangely familiar, like they’d heard it somewhere before.
Daron strode into the conference room just as the meeting was about to begin.
Marina hurried back to her seat, opened her notebook, and began jotting down notes.
The meeting ran all the way to noon, a whole hour longer than Daron had guessed.
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Chapter 240
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Marina couldn’t be more thankful she’d eaten that sandwich Daron gave her.
If she hadn’t, she would’ve been dying of hunger at her post.
After the meeting wrapped up, Marina followed Daron out of the conference room.
Behind them, the head of the R&D department pulled aside the sales manager.
“Don’t you think Marina’s voice sounds familiar?” the R&D head asked.
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The sales manager glanced ahead to make sure Marina and Daron couldn’t hear, then quietly replied, “Yeah, I thought so too.”
“Wait, you didn’t notice? Marina is the woman who spoke during that video call,” he added.
The R&D head’s mouth fell open as he finally remembered.
No wonder the meeting felt a bit slower than the last ones.
He guessed Daron was probably cutting her some slack, worried Marina might not be able to keep up.
Marina followed Daron into his office and, moving at lightning speed, gave a sharp, spot–on summary of the meeting’s key points.
Daron sat back in his chair, listening quietly. When Marina wrapped up, he couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. She really knew how to zero in on what mattered.
‘I always figured Marina was just a whiz at planning,‘ Daron thought, ‘but I never realized she’d crush it as my assistant too.‘
After finishing her report, Marina closed her notebook and looked up at Daron. He just sat there, giving her a serious look without saying a word, and her nerves started to act up.
Marina asked, “Is there something wrong?”
Daron finally looked away and replied in a cool tone, “No, you did an excellent job. If you’d come back to Vrufield earlier to help your sister, all the trouble your dad caused for her would’ve been sorted out long ago.”
Daron’s open praise caught Marina off guard for a moment.
But she quickly collected herself and said, “I do regret not coming back to Vrufield sooner to help my sister, but I can’t deny that the years I spent grinding it out in Sicester really taught me a lot.”
If she hadn’t been through all that, she probably wouldn’t be half as good as she was now.
Daron found himself genuinely agreeing with Marina.
Out of nowhere, he remembered the call Larry had made to Zachary yesterday.
He looked up at Marina and said in a serious tone, “So, is the reason you can’t let go of Lavern because you see him as a mentor?”
22:29 Sat, Feb 7
Chapter 240
Marina was left confused by his sudden question, her mind momentarily blank.
She couldn’t understand how the topic had suddenly turned to Lavern again.
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Before Marina could respond, Daron pressed on in a cool voice, “If you had the chance now, would you let Lavern off the hook?”
Marina looked up at Daron, thought for a moment, and replied seriously, “I don’t think that’s really my decision to make. It’s not really my call.”
‘It’s really a question for Lavern, not me,‘ Marina thought to herself.
If he had another chance, would he still choose to set me up and put me through all that again?
Daron’s eyes narrowed just a bit.
Marina looked him dead in the eye, all business.
She said, “My father left the Finley Group in a mess for a whole decade.”
“Right before Lavern betrayed me, he was scheming to use the Ross Group to take out a massive loan, then dump all that debt on me. He wanted to bury me for good.”
This was the first time Marina had ever told Daron directly about how Lavern tried to saddle her with crushing debt.
She went on, “So, Mr. Zamora, no matter how many chances I was given, I’d still choose the same path. He was never a mentor to me. Ross Group would’ve gotten where it is today with or without him. It just might’ve taken a little longer.”
Daron gave a dry laugh as he looked at her.
“If you’re so confident, then why did you let him invest with his technology and even give him almost half the shares?” he asked.
Marina looked away, avoiding Daron’s eyes, her voice growing quiet.
“It was to make amends,” she said.
That 49% stake was her way of making it up to Lavern.
When her mother’s illness was at its worst, her health was failing and she could barely get around anymore.
Back then, Lavern genuinely cared about her. He handled everything for her, taking care of all the tough stuff without a word of complaint.
Kathy Finley noticed every single thing he did.
Kathy was really fond of Lavern.
Right before she passed, Kathy even held Marina’s hand and made her promise not to lose a man like him.
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Chapter 240
But honestly, Kathy’s judgment when it came to men was pretty terrible.
She misjudged Kane Hobbs in the first half of her life, and then she got Lavern wrong too.
So when Larry confessed to her at that blind date, Marina felt a ton of pressure.
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She’d already experienced the shathe of regret, and she had no intention of going through that again.
How long could a guy’s feelings really last? Marina wondered. ‘What if, ten or even twenty years from now, Larry ended up going down the same path as Lavern? Would my heart change too? Would I end up feeling the same way?
Marina didn’t even want to imagine it. She was scared to death of turning into Kathy, who was bitter and always nagging, full of complaints and endless regrets.
So she’d rather settle for a marriage based purely on mutual benefit, nothing else.
From the very start, a marriage with zero feelings involved was the best fit for her, no strings, no drama, just business. With nothing to get tangled up in, she could always keep her cool.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
