Chapter 675: Surprisingly well

Penny sat behind the desk, still deep in thought. Yugi and Wild idled with her, but once they finished their little fish barbecue session, they left with the case files. Instead of doing some work now that the two had already departed, Penny found herself drowning in her own thoughts.

"Phantom Circle," she whispered, narrowing her eyes again. "Renren, don’t tell me you are... a part of it?"

Penny trusted Wild’s judgment more than her own. If Wild concluded that it was the Phantom Circle, then she believed him. After all, Wild wouldn’t drop a name unless he was completely or almost sure about it.

"How?" she wondered to herself, lowering her gaze. "Should I ask him?"

Would asking him be the only way to find out? What if Zoren lied to her? What if this started a problem in their relationship?

There were so many "what-ifs" that followed that simple thought: "Should I ask him?" Hence, Penny slapped herself to get it together.

"There you go again," she murmured, closing her eyes before reopening them. "Don’t overthink, Penny."

Penny rocked her head, huffing as she glanced at the time on the monitor. "Stop questioning whether one thing can hurt your marriage. Because at the end of the day... I have to trust him." Just as she trusted him with her secret, she had to trust that Zoren would be transparent with her.

"Though, I don’t know..." she whispered, leaning her arms on the edge of the desk and clasping her hands together. "Is this a good thing?"

If Zoren was a part of the Phantom Circle, then that meant Penny didn’t have to worry about any confrontation with them. After all, Wild told her that the Phantom Circle didn’t want anyone getting close to them.

She wanted to avoid any troublesome confrontation like that.

On the other hand...

"That also means Renren has a lot more complicated life than I thought," she muttered, pressing her lips into a thin line. "Why would he do that, though?"

Penny spent some more time mulling over it until her head started to hurt. Massaging her temple, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"This won’t do," she whispered, pushing herself up and walking out of her office. As soon as she stepped out, her eyes landed on Mark, who was standing not far from the door.

For a second, she gazed at him from head to toe. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she turned on her heel and resumed her steps. Mark naturally followed her, maintaining a step’s distance between them.

"Is everything alright, Miss Penny?" he asked flatly. "You look a little unwell."

"The smell of smoke lingers in my office. Call someone to clean it and get rid of the smell."

"Yes."

With that, another wave of silence fell between them. Stopping in front of the lift, Penny stared at it while Mark stood behind her.

"How’s the board meeting?" she asked out of pure curiosity, assuming the board meeting had ended at this point. Though she wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t ended, as something like that could last for several hours.

"It went well."

Penny arched a brow and looked back at him. "Went well? How well?"

"Surprisingly well, is what I heard from Benjamin."

"Oh." Penny rocked her head, brows furrowed. "That’s a surprise."

"Not a surprise, but new." Mark zipped his mouth, realizing what he had just blurted out.

"Haha." Penny chuckled, looking at him and idling before hearing the elevator ring. "Come with me. Let’s talk more."

"..." He would follow her even if she didn’t want to, though.

*******

[Pierson Corporation]

"Congratulations, CEO Pierson."

"Today’s meeting was amazing. It put our hearts at ease."

"I’m glad about today’s outcome."

"CEO Pierson, I wish you good health. I’m glad that you’re getting better. Now, all we need is your full recovery, and then there’s nothing to worry about!"

People walked up to Zoren with bright and satisfied smiles on their faces. All of them had something good to say, shaking Zoren’s hand as a way to show their support. Zoren returned these compliments with a slight smile, sending all of them off politely.

Today went without a hitch, which surprised everyone. Normally, there would be dramas in between. However, nothing like that happened. After Zoren disclosed his health to everyone, they quickly moved on to this quarter’s sales, which shot up to over a hundred percent compared to last year, the current projects, and even the future ones.

"Uncle, that was a great hosting of the board meeting." After all the board members congratulated Zoren and bid farewell, Dean quietly approached Zoren. He wore a big smile, nodding at him approvingly. "Congratulations to you."

"The pride is not only mine but shared with everyone in the company. I don’t need all the credit."

"As usual, you’re such a humble man!" Before Dean could return Zoren’s pleasantries, he heard a man’s voice behind him.

The corner of Dean’s mouth hooked up, as if this was the entire reason he approached Zoren to begin with. Meanwhile, Zoren lifted his eyes to the approaching man behind Dean. Zoren maintained a smile until the big man in a suit stood beside Dean.

The man was a bit healthy, but with his towering height, he looked even bigger. He wore a cunning grin, making the mustache on his upper lip twitch.

"Thank you, William," Zoren expressed.

"Oh, you don’t have to be humble."

"I’m not referring to that," Zoren chuckled. "I thank you for staying quiet this time."

William sneered, contempt clear in his eyes. He kept his gaze on Zoren before glancing at Dean, who raised a brow at him as if he was amused.

’This arrogant brat,’William mentally hissed. ’Does he think I’m scared of him?’

"Uncle, I can feel a deep unity in this family now. I’m sure everyone appreciates that you’ve stood on the sidelines as a strong pillar of support to the head of the family," Dean mused before a glint flickered across his eyes. "As you should."

"Haha!" William laughed, shrugging off Dean’s obvious taunting. "Of course! The unity of this family has always been a goal of mine. Though, dear nephew, how is your arm? I heard you got your cast removed, even though it’s against your doctor’s orders."

Dean chortled, finding William’s taunting amusing. However, before he could say anything back, Zoren took a step toward William.

"William, I really appreciate you today," Zoren expressed quietly but dangerously. He reached out to William’s shoulder, casually and slowly dusting it off with the back of his hand.

"For the first time in a long time, everyone was happy with the board meeting," he added, fluttering his eyelashes ever so slowly to make eye contact with William while tilting his head slightly. "As thanks, I’ll let what you did to Dean pass."

Zoren leaned in and added under his breath, "You’re lucky it’s him who wants you and not me. Be nice."

After saying that, Zoren drew back and smiled subtly at William. As he turned, he cast Dean a look before striding off.

Dean, on the other hand, gazed at Zoren and smirked in satisfaction. What Zoren meant was that he would not interfere with Dean and William’s affair. Pleased, he then cast William a taunting look.

"See you at the family meeting, Uncle." He winked at him before marching outside.

As for William, he stood in the same spot with a twisted sneer on his face.

"Hah," he scoffed, the contempt in his eyes growing brighter and clearer. He loosened his tie a bit, tilting his head from one side to the other. "See you both... at the family meeting, indeed. Let’s see how long that smug look on your faces lasts."