In all his time searching for information about Dave and Chloe, Dave's biological mother, nothing really helped Arthur. It was all just the usual information floating around, not even a true description of the two scheming people.
There was only one article that Arthur felt had a kernel of truth when he read it, and that was the article about the scandal between Jordan Greens, Arthur's biological father, and his personal secretary, Chloe. The incident had happened about twenty-seven years ago, when Arthur was five years old. At that time, Jordan suddenly came home with a two-year-old boy, who turned out to be the illegitimate child of the man's affair with Chloe.
Arthur only vaguely remembers all the painful events for his biological mother because he was only in kindergarten. However, what he felt most after that, his father turned into an abusive figure and his mother often cried silently. He was also forced to accept Dave as his younger brother, even though he really didn't want to.
Arthur thought all of Dave and Chloe's scheming would end after Jordan finally handed over full ownership of the company to him. But he was wrong. Dave and Chloe, an equally devious son and mother duo, never stopped trying to own something that didn't belong to them in the first place.
Great Food Company was only successful after it was managed by Jordan. However, the company was not inherited by Jordan from his parents, but was given to him by his in-laws as a wedding gift. Yes, Great Food Company was originally a small company that was one of Liliana's parents' subsidiaries.
Somehow, Liliana's parents' business collapsed. Shortly after, they both died simultaneously in an accident. It was here that Arthur realized something strange: all of his late grandparents' subsidiaries went bankrupt at the same time, but the Great Food Company managed by his father was not dragged down. In fact, the ownership of the company was transferred to Jordan completely.
Arthur was stunned for a few moments, trying to piece together everything he knew so far complete with all the irregularities. It seemed that Jordan had committed a fraud in order to gain full control of the company entrusted to him.
"I'll only find a dead end if I rely on all this general information," Arthur muttered as he exhaled roughly.
Arthur then turned on the watch that connected him to the system. He immediately pressed the button requesting help and information.
"Please enter the information instructions you need." The system ordered using voice commands.
Arthur pressed the microphone button to enter information via voice as well.
"Please give me complete information about Chloe and my father, including the safe that Dave is currently searching for," Arthur requested.
The system screen lit up and showed a warning sentence.
'REQUESTING INFORMATION FROM THE SYSTEM WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF YOUR POINTS.'
'AGREE.
'CANCEL.'
Soon Arthur selected the agree option and the system screen returned to show him two options.
'OBTAIN INFORMATION THROUGH DATA AND WRITINGS.
'OBTAIN INFORMATION THROUGH REENACTMENT OF PAST EVENTS.'
Arthur knitted his eyebrows slightly. The second option made him wonder a little. Did it mean that he would get information by witnessing what had happened in the past? Could the system make that possible?
Out of curiosity, Arthur chose the second option.
The system screen turned bright for a few moments. Another warning appeared if Arthur was to be in a stable mental state at this time because what he was about to witness would cause his soul to be shaken.
"That serious, huh?" muttered Arthur after reading the warning. Instead of undoing his choice and selecting the first option, Arthur immediately pressed the agree button.
The system screen seemed to load for a few moments. After that, there was a collection of several videos complete with the title of the video and the date of the event in the video.
"Liliana and Jordan's wedding night. The agreement between Jordan and Chloe." Arthur read the titles of the first and second videos with a half mumble.
"Has everything even started since my mom and dad weren't even married?" Arthur asked himself.
Arthur tried to open the first video. He was instantly transformed into an invisible form. The room of the man's apartment turned into a room he had never seen before. The video turned out to be not a video in general, but a reenactment of the scene as if everything was really happening in front of Arthur.
A young woman looked dreamily in the corner of the room with a puffy face and a sharp, angry gaze. Arthur gasped slightly at the sight of the face because he recognized it instantly. It was Chloe, the younger version of Dave's biological mother.
Shortly after, the door to the room opened, making Arthur turn his head towards the incoming figure. Once again Arthur felt his breath stop at the sight of that person. It was a younger version of Jordan too.
"What happened, Chloe?" asked Jordan as he approached Chloe.
"What do you think happened? I'm frustrated, Jordan! My chest feels tight and I can't seem to breathe," Chloe said angrily.
"God, don't be like this, Chloe. Everything's going to be okay. We had a deal before, right?" Jordan tried to comfort her while hugging her.
"What's fine? You're getting married to another woman tomorrow. How is everything going to be okay?" Chloe pushed Jordan's chest.
"We agreed before, Chloe. We talked about it long ago and you agreed. Now that we're one step away, our plan will work." Jordan coaxed.
Chloe turned her face the other way and refused when Jordan asked her to turn around.
"I did agree before. But I didn't expect it to be this painful. That woman will become your wife and stay close to you. You'll also touch her, right?" Chloe looked emotional.
"Of course I have to touch her. She must give birth to my child for our plan to succeed completely, darling. But even then you don't have to worry. I will only love you, Chloe. What I'm doing right now is for our future. I'll get one of the company's children after the wedding. We've been planning this for a long time, so do you want everything to go to waste because you're wavering like this?" Jordan asked gently.
Chloe didn't answer. She was silent for a few moments.
"I don't want you to fall in love with him, Jordan," she said later in a heavy voice.
"You won't, sweetheart. No one can ever replace you in my heart. He could never make me fall in love," Jordan said.
"I don't know, I find it hard to believe. Your future wife is beautiful, I'm sure you'll love her." Chloe replied fiercely. "Especially since you'll be living in the same house and spending a lot of time together. Meanwhile, we will only see each other occasionally. In that case, your feelings for me will continue to diminish."
"That won't happen, darling. After one of my in-laws' subsidiaries becomes mine, I'll arrange for you to become my personal secretary. We'll spend every day together," Jordan said.
Chloe turned her head and looked at Jordan.
"Really?" she asked with sparkling eyes.
"Of course. I've organized everything in advance. I've even prepared an apartment for you to live in not far from the company building. We'll have plenty of time to meet," Jordan said again.
Chloe's smile rose. She felt very happy to hear what Jordan had said earlier.
"Endure a little suffering for now, sweetheart. You'll be the one to enjoy the results. Even though I'm going to touch her for the sake of our plan, I'm thinking of you. I imagined that the one I was touching at that time would be you." Jordan said seriously again.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it, Jordan," Chloe finally said.
"Then I have to go back. Liliana will get suspicious if I disappear overnight. I said goodbye to her and her parents earlier to see a friend for a while." Jordan was about to say goodbye.
"You said I was your friend in front of them?" Chloe repeated.
"Then what should I say? Should I tell them I'm leaving to see my boyfriend for a while?" Jordan asked.
Chloe didn't answer and just let out a rough breath. She still felt unwilling for Jordan to hide his whereabouts like this, but she had to endure it for the sake of their plan.
"Okay, you can go," Chloe finally said. "But on one condition."
Jordan was just about to smile, but her smile faltered at Chloe's additional words.
"What condition? Why is there a condition at all? You're not trying to make things difficult for me, are you?" asked Jordan with some annoyance.
"Making it hard for you? Of course not. I just want to give you some fun before you go back out there," Chloe said while flashing a suspiciously lopsided smile.
Jordan just stared at Chloe with an uncomprehending expression. A moment later, . Chloe was already on his lap.
"What are you doing?" Jordan asked as Chloe's hands began to roam over his body.
"Before you get married tomorrow and touch Liliana, tonight you have to touch me first. That way, I'll believe that you'll only think of me when you're with Liliana," Chloe said as she began to unbutton Jordan's shirt one by one.
Jordan did not resist what Chloe did. He let her take off his shirt. Not only that, Chloe also did even wilder things, which Jordan responded to.
Arthur can't take any more of the scene. He stopped the video reenactment of the scene that felt so real, then lay down on his back with a long sigh. He really didn't think that his father and mother's marriage was just his father's trick to get a subsidiary from his grandparents.
Chloe's existence was already there. And her appearance as Jordan's secretary had also been arranged. Athur also became suspicious if his grandparents' bankruptcy and their sudden death also had something to do with Chloe and Jordan's plan?
"Does mom already know all that?" murmured Arthur later with feelings that could not be expressed in words.