"Master Joseph, as per your request, I've found a girl with a clean slate."
In the Maybach, Joseph Windsor's assistant, Arthur Bennett, held a document in his hands and respectfully reported the contents.
"Her name is Eveleen Adams. Her mother is in a coma in a hospital, and her father went missing a few years ago. Technically, she's an orphan, which fulfills your requirements."
Hearing that, the man, Joseph Windsor, trained his deep gaze on the woman outside the car window. His magnetic voice was charming.
"Has she consented to it?"
After all, he was never one to use blatant force.
"Don't worry, Master Joseph. Since she's already here, I think that's enough of an answer," answered Arthur.
Only then did Joseph get out of the car and walk towards the woman standing alone at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
Hearing the sound, Eveleen turned around and only felt a gust of wind tinged with a fresh woody fragrance heading her way.
Her instinct was to study the person in front of her.
If the devil had a face, she thought, it would look like him. Yet, the homme fatale man exuded a powerful aura as noble as a member of royalty.
Despite herself, Eveleen's eyes widened in shock.
Her second thought was, "Isn't he Joseph Windsor, the man who leads the Windsor Group?"
"He's the one I'm about to marry?!"
If her mother, Eliza Howard, hadn't lapsed into a vegetative state after a car accident and was in dire need of money for her treatment, Eveleen wouldn't have agreed to the strange contract marriage.
Never had it crossed her mind that the man she was about to tie the knot with was the richest man in Imperial City. There must be some kind of mistake.
"I believe my assistant has already given you a run-down on what you're getting into. After registering our marriage, I will give you two hundred grand a month. Our marriage will last a year. Do you have any objections?"
Joseph glanced at a dazed Eveleen and brought her back to reality with his businesslike voice.
"N-no," Eveleen stammered in astonishment.
"Then, let's go in."
Joseph walked past her and into the Civil Affairs Bureau. His tall and straight figure emitted an unapproachable aura.
Fifteen minutes later.
Every blank she filled in the form brought Eveleen one step closer to officially becoming the enviable Mrs. Windsor.
It all still felt surreal to Eveleen when she walked out with the marriage certificate, Joseph still in tow.
"Mr. Windsor, since we're done with the procedure, can I leave now?"
Joseph lowered his eyes and met her pure and clean eyes.
She was indeed different from every other wealthy heiress out there.
Her pretty little face without any makeup was pleasing to the eye.
Joseph jutted his chin to the Maybach at the gate and said, "Get into the car first."
"Uhm, where are we going?"
"To the hospital to see my grandma." His voice was still cold.
In fact, the thought of getting married had never occurred to him despite his twenty-nine years of living. He had been waiting for that person to appear.
However, his grandmother was suffering from an incurable disease, and her only wish was to see him get married before she died.
He had always found the narcissistic and willful character of those rich heiresses intolerable, but what he detested more was them unashamedly flirting with him. They might as well scream fanatically while holding up a sign "MARRY ME, JOSEPH!"
In order to fulfill his dying grandmother's wish and to put an end to those women's fantasies about him, he had chosen Eveleen.
A girl with a clean background and an easy character.
At that moment.
When Florence Gray, Joseph's grandmother, learned that her grandson had gotten married in haste and was on the way to the hospital with his new wife in tow, she fumed.
"Nonsense! Is this brat going against me? He liked none of the women I chose for him. I reckon that the woman he has chosen is even more unreliable!
"Would any decent girl marry a stranger without a second thought? I've had it up to my eyeballs! I swear I will make them get divorced today!"
She was so angry that she picked up the fruit basket and hurled it in no specific direction. The woman who had suddenly appeared quickly dodged it.
Florence looked up and saw Joseph standing at the door with Eveleen.
The old and the young women looked at each other carefully for a long time.
Suddenly, they exclaimed in unison, "It's you!"
"It's you?"
Joseph raised his eyebrows. "Grandma, do you know each other?"
Florence's hitherto angry face gave way into a smiling one. She got out of bed, pushed Joseph away, and held Eveleen's hand cordially.
"I know her! How could I not? A few months ago, I took a fancy to Eveleen's design at the graduation exhibition of the University School of Design!"
"This girl is smart and steady! However, Eveleen, I gave you a business card and asked you to come to my company for an interview. Why didn't you come?"
Eveleen's happy face gave way to embarrassment.
"Something happened to my family. I've been working part-time to earn money, so I couldn't make it to the company's job fair."
"A part-time job?" Florence quickly added, "Don't do it again in the future. Now that you and Joe have gotten married, he can provide for you in the future. He may not have any good qualities, but boy, he has a lot of money!"
Florence did not hold back.
Joseph felt left out.
At least, all was well. Florence was oh-so satisfied with her new granddaughter-in-law.
"Master Joseph..."
Coming out of the elevator, Arthur walked briskly to Joseph and whispered to him, "I have something important to tell you. Can I have a minute?"
Joseph looked at Eveleen and Florence, who were chatting happily, and turned to leave.
At the end of the corridor, Arthur was anxious. "Master Joseph, we've found a lead on the person you've been looking for!"
There was a flash of light in Joseph's dark pupils.
"Although our people haven't seen that girl yet, I heard that her mother is in a coma because of a car accident. The doctor said that she'll be at People's Hospital to pay for the bill any time soon."
"Get the car ready. I'll be right there!" Joseph's calm and handsome face showed a hint of urgency.
Arthur looked at the ward subconsciously and asked, "What about Mrs. Windsor?"
"Get the bodyguards to send her back when she's finished with Grandma."
Not long after Joseph left, Eveleen received a message from her second uncle, Elbert.
It read, "Eveleen, hurry up and bring fifty thousand dollars to People's Hospital. I'll wait for you in the hospital! Your mother will be forcibly discharged if you don't show up now!"
Forcibly discharged from the hospital?
How could they do such a thing?
Comatose patients were dependent on medical equipment to stay alive. Her mother would be in great danger if she was unhooked from her ventilator!
Eveleen immediately said goodbye to Florence. Refusing to cause any trouble for the Windsor family, she refused the bodyguard's kindness in sending her.
After getting on the bus, Eveleen looked at her bank account balance, which was less than eight thousand dollars.
She still needed more than forty thousand dollars. She thought to herself, "Where am I going to get the rest of the money?"
Eveleen hesitated whether or not she should ask Joseph in advance for the two hundred grand.
However, when she opened her contacts, she suddenly remembered that she had not saved his phone number at all!
......
At the same time, in the ward of People's Hospital.
Nestling on the sofa, Misty Adams beamed at the branded bag sent by the salesperson. She was about to pay for it when she received a reminder about having insufficient balance.
"Dad, have you given me the living expenses for this month yet?"
"The money has been used on your aunt. You don't have any allowance left."
Misty glared at the woman in the hospital bed and cursed.
"Ugh, what right does a half-dead woman have to spend our money? She might as well do us a favor and kick the bucket earlier!"
Elbert snorted, saying, "If it weren't for Eliza's house in town, do you think I would have given a d*mn about her? We can get a whole lot of money when we sell the house!"
Misty rolled her eyes and quickly got up from the sofa. "That's easy. Let's write a will and stamp her thumbprint on it.
"After all, she's probably brain-dead. We're doing good by putting her out of her misery."
Misty then reached out to pull out the woman's oxygen tube.
However, the door was pushed open at that moment, startling her so much that she quickly withdrew her hand. When she turned her head, she saw a handsome man standing at the door.
"Are you her?" His voice was frantic.