The Heiress and the iron king

Chapter 2

Lauren’s POV

“Sit still, Lauren,” Mason ordered in a frigid, deep voice. “The reading is starting.”

“I I-I am sitting still,” I muttered, even though my hands were shaking in my lap.

Charles Whitmore stood in front of the boardroom with a big folder and a tab in his hand. The long table was full of serious-looking executives, all of them busy looking at me as if I didn’t belong in the room. Their eyes felt like razor blades. Some were murmuring, while some didn’t bother to say anything; they were frowning.

My heart thudded painfully.

Charles cleared his throat. We will commence by quoting the message of Mr Raymond Carter before his death.

He punched a button, and a little speaker on the table sputtered to life. Then I listened to it--the voice of my grandfather.

"Lauren," his deep voice said. When you hear this, you must have entered the world you so desperately attempted to escape. You must accept your legacy."

I swallowed hard. My hands were sweating. It was like a cold hand that was around my chest and squeezed by my grandfather.

The executives were now openly glaring around me. The woman with the sharp cheekbones, who happened to be tall, was Celia Harrington, and she smiled, as though she was already aware of my failure. A man with grey hair and red face, Victor Ashford, looked at me as though I had robbed him of something.

Mason did not at all change his expression. He looked at me with cold, inexpressible eyes. Not angry. Not kind. Simply detached, as he was observing me.

My pulse was loud in my ears.

Charles paused the recording and read off the file. According to the legal will, Mr Carter has made his granddaughter, Miss Lauren Aaron, the sole heir of Rowan International.

I was unable to breathe for a moment.

"What?" I whispered.

The room exploded.

"Impossible!" Victor snapped. She is not even good at speaking, and how can a person lead something? Someone else shouted. This business is a member of the board, not that little mouse, Celia said in a sweet and poisonous smile.

I shrank back in my chair. My throat tightened. My hands would shake so much that I placed them beneath the table.

No, no, I do not, I said. I do not know anything about business. I work in a bookshop. I..."

Nobody is concerned with what you desire, Celia interrupted. It is a hundred billion-pound company, not a charity case.

Mason did not say anything, yet his eyes shot up to Celia, and seemed to pierce her to the quick, before returning to me. Instead, he was gazing far as though he were waiting for something.

Charles lifted his hand. "Everyone, please calm down. There is more."

The room was stricken to a sullen silence.

I held my breath.

Mr Carter made a late addition to the will, Charles told us. A prerequisite that Miss Lauren must have to obtain complete authority over Rowan International.

The silence grew cold.

Celia bent her head towards it. "Yes? What condition?"

Charles stared me in the face. Miss Lauren has to marry the man who was to guard her.

My stomach dropped.

"What?" I spoke again, only a whisper, which I hardly produced.

He went on, Mr Mason Oscar is the one who has been selected.

The room broke out the second time.

"No!" A hand was slammed on the table by Victor. "That's outrageous!"

This is a jest, Celia scoffed, laughing bitterly. The weak girl and the Iron Man?

This will wipe the company out! Someone else yelled.

Mason swung to his feet, and his chair grated on the floor. His jaw was tight, eyes hard. "This is ridiculous. I did not agree to this."

It was the last thing, Mr Carter told me, said Charles. It is recognised in your signature from years ago.

Mason shot him a furious look. I signed to be her guardian, not her husband.

My whole body was shaking. All my heart, all my hands, all my breath--all.

A marriage? To Mason?

The chilliest man I had ever known?

I can not do this, I said to myself, I am not able to keep the tears down. I cannot get married to a person I hardly know. I will not even share a room with all of them.

Celia smirked. Then get out of the way and give way to real leaders.

Mason looked at her with a scowl and made no reply.

Victor pointed a finger at me. She does not deserve to be with this company! It should be ours!"

What a crash! All the voices crashed together in my head. Too loud. Too sharp. Too much.

I had my ears covered, and I tried to breathe, and I tried not to drown. The room became smaller.

Then, suddenly--

The doors burst open.

Cameras flashed violently. The journalists rushed in, shouting at each other.

What do you think of your inheritance, Lauren? one shouted.

"Is the marriage real?" another yelled.

Mason, did you hear what this condition is? Someone else demanded.

"Who leaked the will?" another asked.

I gasped, frozen. Noise was excessive, lights were too bright. The walls were closing in on me. I couldn't breathe.

Someone, behind me, grumbled low and firm, "Lauren, Lauren."

Mason.

He seized me before I could do anything, holding my wrist not harshly, but firmly enough to give me support, and drawing me behind him. He placed himself between us, shielding the snapping cameras with his body.

Get back, everyone, get back, he ordered in his ice-cold voice.

The reporters continued shouting, compelling them to come nearer.

"Move," Mason growled. And the peculiar one was--they did.

He turned his head a little at me. "Don't look at them. Keep your head down."

I am not able--Mason, I am not able to breathe--I mumbled.

"You will," he said shortly. "Just stay behind me."

Security had rushed in to oust the press, but flashes continued to flash. Journalists continued to call out queries regarding us, regarding a marriage that I never consented to.

I was also weak in my legs, yet Mason would not loosen his grip on my wrist. He held on well, steadily, as the only thing that was steady in the mess.

As soon as the passage had cleared, he dragged me into some distant corner, his person still between the people and me.

His eyes stared at me- so serious, as though he were keeping something a secret.

It is a mess, I said, nearly speechless. I do not want to deal with any of that.

“Same here,” he replied. But the board will destroy the company by saying no.

I hesitated, shocked at the amount of the angry that he was--not at me, but at the entire state of affairs.

“Mason…” I mumbled and seemed stupid.

He came near and spoke in low tones. “We gotta do it, Lauren.” He said each word slowly. “The marriage’s happening.”