Chapter 86
When Daron stepped out of the back room, his gaze instinctively drifted toward the screen. Not seeing Marina’s usual busy self, he hesitated for a second before walking over.
He found Marina leaning over the coffee table, her head resting to one side as she slept. Her face was resting on the notes she’d been working on, her handwriting just as graceful as she was.
Daron walked over, stopped across from her, and sat down on the couch, watching her as she slept. Her eyes were shut, but her brows were drawn together. She clearly wasn’t sleeping peacefully. Perhaps she had too much on her mind lately; even sleep couldn’t help her unwind.
Daron shifted his gaze from her to the stacks of files covering the table. Even though Marina had already looked through some of them this morning, there was still a ton left for her to sort out.
The Zamora Group had been planning to move into Sicester for a while now, and they’d held all sorts of meetings about it. If he remembered correctly, there were people whose job was to handle all the meeting notes.
All Marina had to do was read the summaries, and she’d instantly get a clear picture of the company’s projects and plans for Sicester.
Daron casually grabbed a stack of files from the table and leafed through them, his brows knitting together and his expression turning stern.
Just then, Marina’s alarm went off. She’d set it to remind Elnora to get her check–up at the hospital on time.
Instinctively, she lifted her head, grabbed her phone, and hurried to silence the alarm, casting a slightly anxious look toward the inner room.
Seeing no one came out, she breathed a silent sigh of relief. But just as she was about to text Elnora, she could feel someone’s gaze on her.
Marina looked up from her phone and saw Daron sitting across from her on the couch, flipping through some files. Daron’s expression was downright stern, clearly annoyed. He looked like he was about to snap.
“Mr. Zamora, you’re awake? Did I wake you up?” Marina asked.
‘Did I talk in my sleep or something?‘ she wondered. ‘Or maybe muttered or made noises in my sleep and kept this insomniac from getting any rest?‘
“Sorry about the alarm,” she said. She didn’t mean to disturb him
With his brows still furrowed, Daron set the files down on the coffee table and stood up to leave. A flicker of embarrassment flashed in Marina’s eyes.
After mulling it over, Marina got up, walked over to Daron’s desk and took the initiative to offer a suggestion. “Mr. Zamora, maybe you could set me up with a temporary desk in the CEO’s office? I think it’d be better if…”
Daron didn’t even look at her. He just picked up the internal phone and called Arnauld. “Who handled the meeting notes for the Sicester project? Tell her to take everything back and start over,” Daron said.
Arnauld could hear the edge in Daron’s voice, and his face changed. He quickly replied, “Yes, Mr. Zamora. I’ll bring someone up right away.”
Daron hung up without another word, fixing Marina with an icy intimidating stare. “What did you just say?”
Marina met his cold, commanding look and swallowed her words, intimidated by his authority. “Nothing,” she replied. “T get back to work.”
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Chapter 86
‘He looks pretty intimidating when he’s angry. No wonder Kara was totally freaked out, Marina thought.
VOL
After a few encounters, Marina knew Daron was grumpy whenever he woke up, but she never expected him to get this mad. Plus, she might’ve been the reason he didn’t get any rest at noon. If she tried to ask for anything, she’d just be asking for trouble. He’d already gone off on someone else, and she was not about to let herself be the next target.
Marina quietly returned to her temporary desk, burying herself in the paperwork and doing her best to blend into the background. Meanwhile, Daron glanced over at Marina, noticing how nervous and careful she looked, and frowned.
The next moment, he saw her furtively grab her phone, dial a number, and bend so low her head was nearly under the coffee table, whispering into the phone as if she was trying to hide.
“Make sure you remind my sister about her check–up, okay?” Marina whispered. Then, she hung up, sat up straight, and got back to her paperwork like nothing ever happened. Daron raised an eyebrow and looked away from her.
Arnauld soon arrived with his assistant. His assistant carefully started organizing the files on the table in front of Marina.
Marina froze for a second, confusion flickering in her eyes, and quickly pressed her hand down on the files. “W–What’s going on?” she stammered.
She’d just finished pulling out the key points from those files. There was no way she was going to let the girl mess them up.
Arnauld quietly explained to Daron, “Apologies, Mr. Zamora. My team was careless and handed Ms. Finley some outdated files, which unnecessarily increased her workload. I’ve already arranged for new documents to be prepared and delivered to her downstairs. They’ll be sent up shortly.”
Daron sat calmly in his office chair, shooting a cold glance at Arnauld’s assistant, who was trying to stay out of sight. His tone was icy. “Arnauld, I know your wife’s about to have the baby, so it’s natural your attention’s a bit divided. But I trust you know how to keep things in line.”
Arnauld nodded quickly. “Thanks for trusting me, Mr. Zamora.”
Marina finally realized that most of the files the project team had handed her were just useless paperwork nobody needed
anymore.
As it turned out, all the proposals and plans that had already been rejected in meetings had been dumped on her by the assistant, just giving her extra work for nothing. No wonder, when she first got the files, some of them seemed totally out of order.
She’d even thought Arnauld was trying to give her a hard time, since she had taken over his project. Honestly, she couldn’t blame him for being a bit salty about it. But seeing Arnauld scrambling to explain himself to Daron, Marina figured he probably didn’t know anything about it.
‘But is he really in the dark, or just playing dumb?‘ Marina wondered.
Marina pulled her hand back from the files and gave the assistant a careful look as she sorted through the paperwork. The assistant just kept her head down, busy with the files, not even glancing up.
Marina caught a glimpse of real resentment flickering in her eyes now and then. It wasn’t Arnauld she held a grudge against. It was Marina.
Marina couldn’t help but frown, her eyes full of confusion. She’d only just returned to Vrufield and hadn’t really interacted with many people yet. As far as she knew, she hadn’t done anything to offend this assistant.
While Marina was still confused, Daron’s voice rang out across the office, cold and unforgiving. If someone can’t even handle a simple task like this, there’s no place for them here at mora Group.”
Marina saw the assistant’s hand tremble as she sorted the files, her eyes practically pleading with Arnauld for help, looking hurt and vulnerable. Seeing that look in her eyes, Marina could help but think of Shawna.
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Chapter 86
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She frowned and glanced over at Arnauld. If an assistant made a mistake in Daron’s company, they’d just get fired.
But even though Daron was sitting there with that stern, cutting look, Arnauld still gathered his nerve and stood up for his assistant. “Mr. Zamora, she’s been with us for four years now. This is the first time she’s ever messed up like this. Could you maybe let it just…”
Daron didn’t even let him finish, his tone cold as ice. “Arnauld, keep your personal feelings out of this. Work is work!”
Marina was petrified. ‘So it really is exactly what I suspected between them,‘ she muttered to herself. ‘Ugh, it’s just so disgusting.‘
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.
