CEO's Passion: Love by Mistake

Chapter 35

The next time we meet, I must get a sample of Mr. Shane’s hair.

Getting into his car, Shane drove off. While on the way, Silas Campbell gave him a call.

Stopping his car by the side of the road, Shane took out his cell phone. His voice, unnoticed by him, was a mix of anticipation and eagerness as he blurted out, “How’s the investigation?”

“I’ve found the information. Just as you have suspected, the one who was supposed to be in the marriage arrangement with you is none other than Ms. Natalie Smith and not Ms. Jasmine Smith. The latter is responsible for impersonating Ms. Natalie’s identity.”

“Impersonating?” Shane uttered as he frowned, “What’s the reason behind this?”

“It’s...” Silas found himself at a loss of words.

Pursing his lips impatiently, Shane commanded, “Just say it!”

“Alright!” responded Silas quickly. No longer hesitating, he poured out all the information he had found, “Seven years ago, after your marriage arrangement with Ms. Natalie had been made, she eloped with another man.”

“Eloped?” Shane could not help but gripped the phone tighter.

“Yes, Ms. Natalie used to have a lover. After she learned that her engagement had been decided without her consent, she ran away with the help of Mdm. Yulia, her mother. When her father Mr. Smith found out, he was enraged and divorced Mdm. Yulia. He married his current wife, Mdm. Susan Sullivan, who brought Ms. Jasmine back to the Smith family.”

“So you’re saying that Susan is Jasmine’s biological mother?”

“Yes. Since Ms. Natalie had run away, Mr. Smith was worried that the Thompson family would hold the Smith family accountable for the slight, hence Ms. Jasmine was asked to replace Ms. Natalie. He also concocted the lie that Ms. Natalie had changed her name to Jasmine, and Ms. Jasmine had no choice but to tell the outside world that Mdm. Susan is her stepmother,” Silas narrated, full of disdain for Natalie in his heart.

This Ms. Natalie is such an ingrate, treating Mr. Shane as if he is not worthy of her. Such scandalous is she that the woman even dares to elope with another man. Doesn’t she ever think about the consequences her actions would bring to the Smith family?

Shane did not and could not speak. He was crestfallen, his eyelids drooped as his mind became a total mess. After a short while, he opened his lips and uttered only three words, “I know now.”

He was surprisingly calm.

Silas was stunned, and quickly asked, “Mr. Shane, are we going to retaliate against the Smith family?”

“Forget it,” Shane blankly replied before continuing, “Since this engagement is a mistake from the very beginning, let’s just play along as if nothing has ever happened.”

After all, Jasmine was also Harrison Smith’s daughter, and the same person who had rescued him five years ago.

Although he did not love her, he also did not have any feelings for anyone else either. In the end, it did not matter who he married anyway. Marriage was just a contract to him - nothing more nothing less.

The reason he requested this investigation was to find out what had happened in the past. As for Natalie, since they were nothing but strangers in the past, they would remain as strangers moving

forward to the future.

After ending the call, Shane threw his cell phone onto the passenger seat and started his car again.

The second day, at the Thompson Group...

After Natalie had a basic understanding of Project Rebirth, she prepared herself to scour the database for any information on Thompson Group’s design style, so she could sketch out her first draft based on it.

However, she found out that she could not access the database at all.

Feeling confused, she patted the shoulder of a colleague sitting next to her and asked, “Ashley, is there something wrong with the database? I can’t log in.”

“Nope, I’m all good on my side. Maybe you entered the wrong ID?” Ashley cocked her head and peeked at her screen.

Natalie shook her head and replied, “I’ve checked letter by letter, number by number. There’s absolutely nothing wrong.”

“In that case, probably the system has never stored your ID in the first place. Why don’t you ask Ms. Jasmine about this?” Ashley suggested.

Natalie furrowed her brows, feeling reluctant to go. “Ashley, what about I borrow your ID to log in instead?”

“No, that won’t do!” Ashley refused immediately. Surprised by her own over-the-top reaction, Ashley piped down and explained, “Nat, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but this information is classified

as top secrets. They can only be accessed once a week and cannot be printed out. If I lend my ID to you, then I won’t be able to access the database whenever I need to.”

“I see...” Natalie could only bit her lips and gave in.

Seemed like the only solution was to bring this up with Jasmine.

Heaving a sigh, Natalie picked up her crutches beside her seat and limped towards the supervisor’s office.

When she reached the door to the office, she knocked on the open door and called out, “Ms. Jasmine!” This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“What are you doing here?” Jasmine’s expression soured immediately.

“I need to access the information in the database. However, I can’t log in with my ID. Just want to check what is going on?” Natalie said flatly while staring at Jasmine with cold indifference.