CHAPTER TWO
971 Words
Eighty-Four Days
The lawyer had been talking for eleven minutes.
Ethan stopped following somewhere around three minutes —- not because he didn't understand the clause, but because he understood it completely, and complete understanding of a problem this size required stillness before action.
"—forty percent of the voting shares to the discretionary trust, controlled by your uncle's office, effective on your thirtieth birthday if the marriage condition remains unsatisfied." Zhang Wei set the document down. "That's eighty-four days, Mr. Croft."
Ethan looked at the document without touching it. He had read the clause twice already hoping repetition might make it sound less absurd.
"My grandfather wrote this clause himself?”
"Seven years ago,” Zhang Wei said. “It was reviewed twice afterward. He believed a CEO without a stable family life was at risk.”
“Domestic grounding?”
Ethan almost laughed.
His grandfather had spent his entire life preaching the same thing : a company needed structure, a family needed structure, and a man without either eventually became a liability. Now he was dead and still managing the company from the grave.
He had decided, in his final decade, that Ethan needed to be domestically grounded by legal deadline — or forty percent of the company would pass to Robert Croft, his uncle and one of the Croft family’s senior board members.
“Robert Croft.”
The thought alone was enough to spoil Ethan’s mood.
Robert, who had never run a project, never made a decision that wasn't downstream of someone else's work, and had been positioning himself for three years to absorb whatever share circumstances allowed.
"It requires a legal spouse," Ethan said.
“Correct.”
"Not a relationship."
"No."
Ethan closed the file.
“Then I’ll get married.” Zhang Wei looked at him for a moment
"Then my assistant will compile a shortlist." He stood. "I'll be married in ninety days. You'll have documentation before the deadline."
Zhang Wei gathered his papers and left.
* * *
Ethan remained at the window after Zhang Wei left.
“Eighty-four days.” He needed a wife, nothing more.
Someone with a clean background, a family that wouldn’t become a problem and enough sense to understand that this would never be anything except an arrangement.
He picked up his phone
and called Lin.
“Yes, sir?”
“I need a list of families with unmarried daughters in their mid-twenties in Shanghai. No public scandal, no existing engagements, nothing complicated.”
“And the deadline?” Lin asked.
“Monday.”
“Understood, sir.”
Ethan ended the call and set his phone down. The will was still lying open beside him. He looked at it for a moment, then closed the folder, pushed it aside, and opened the acquisition report waiting underneath.
His phone vibrated before he could read the first page.
Robert Croft.
Ethan looked at the screen for a second before answering.
"Uncle."
"Working already?" Robert asked.
"It's eleven in the morning," Ethan said.
Robert chuckled. Fair enough. Then I'll assume you're busy with something important."
Ethan leaned back in his chair.
"What do you need?"
"Nothing much," Robert said. "Zhang Wei stopped by today. I called to see if everything's alright."
Ethan's expression didn't change.
"Everything's fine."
"Good." Robert paused. "You know how your grandfather was. He liked leaving little surprises behind."
"He certainly did." Ethan replied
"So which one is it this time?" Robert asked. "Taxes? Shares? Another trust fund nobody knew about?"
Ethan glanced at the inheritance file lying beside his laptop.
"Just paperwork."
"Paperwork serious enough for Zhang Wei to come over personally?" Robert asked.
"Since when did you start worrying about my paperwork?"
"I don't," Robert said. "I worry about the company. If something affects Croft Industries, it affects all of us."
Ethan smiled faintly.
"You're asking a lot of questions for someone who isn't worried."
"And you're giving very short answers for someone who has nothing to hide," Robert said.
Silence stretched between them.
Then Robert laughed softly. "Well, if you suddenly decide you need help, let me know."
"I won't."
"I know," Robert said. "That's what makes calling you interesting."
The line went dead.
Ethan set his phone down and looked at the inheritance file for a moment before closing it. Whatever Robert knew, it wasn’t enough.
He pushed the folder aside, opened the acquisition report waiting beneath it, and returned to work.
***
By Monday morning, only four families were left. Two were out before Ethan finished his second coffee—one daughter had an unannounced engagement, and the other family’s business was tied too closely to Croft Industries.
Two families remained. He opened the Wang file first.
The daughter was twenty-six, had studied business, and had managed to avoid anything scandalous. There was a photograph paper-clipped to the front. He looked at it for a moment.
She seemed pleasant. He couldn’t imagine spending two years pretending to be married to her, but then again, he couldn’t imagine spending two years pretending to be married to anyone.
He set the file aside and picked up the other one.
Liang.
The file was thinner. Their father had once worked as a contractor. Things hadn’t gone well after that.
Two daughters. Twins.
Ethan’s eyes lingered on the next line. The elder sister had been born four minutes earlier.
Liang Xia.
Twenty-four. No photograph, no interviews, almost nothing online.
He looked at the line again.
Eldest daughter by four minutes.
That settled it.
He picked up his phone. “Lin, arrange a meeting with the Liang family. This week.”
“Understood sir.”
The call ended.
Ethan set his phone down, his attention still resting on the file. Liang Xia, twenty-four, the elder twin by four minutes. He closed it and pushed the file aside for processing.
- Writer
