The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

"I will give you as much help as you will need. Just tell me when you need it." He offered. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

She nodded and thought about it. "I will probably need a small team. I’ll go through the details and tell you who I need."

He approved of it, so she got to her office and started reading all the articles she could find about the news. It was not too detailed but it explained that not only did the rockstar, Storm, traffic drugs, but that he also heavily abused them and often wrote songs under their influence.

She scoffed when she read the criticism and insults he had faced when this detail was revealed. It was wrong of him to traffic drugs if he did do such a thing but what was wrong with writing under the influence of drugs? She was not saying that was right either but that didn’t erase the fact that his songs were still great nonetheless. It was hypocritical of the people who loved his songs and were almost obsessed with them to suddenly act like they hated them just because they were written when he was drunk or high.

She noted down the details and read through them at least five times before she found a loophole. He had been married for two years and had supposedly been a drug addict for at least five years. Why did his wife marry a drug addict if she was so strongly against it?

She looked the woman up. Annie Tian. She had died young—she would have turned twenty-five in two months. Her family information was not revealed but when Lanni investigated further, she found that Annie had grown up in an orphanage and had no family. Not even distant relatives—at least none that she knew of. There was no information about her late parents either.

When she saw what kind of case she was dealing with, she decided on her team. She called over Lin since she trusted her, a young man called Star who was one of the agency’s expert investigators and a young woman called Skylar. She printed the information she had written and gave them each a copy.

"Let’s check the reports one at a time. Skylar, check for anything Storm did that makes him a scumbag or suggests that he was cheating on his wife." She instructed as she gave Skylar her copy of the articles.

The latter was confused. "Why do we need to do that? There is already enough evidence. Didn’t you see the pictures that were taken of Storm and other women in compromising positions?"

Lanni shut her eyes for a second. "How long have you worked here?"

"Two years." Skylar responded in a tone that aimed to remind Lanni of her position. She had only worked in the agency for two years and was already ordering people around. She had only gotten her position because the CEO was best friends with her fiancé. Who didn’t know about that?

Lanni caught on the hidden meaning in her eyes and scoffed. She had only chosen Skylar because the latter was skilled. But this kind of attitude... She looked at the woman sternly. "If you have worked in the media industry for that long, you should know that not everything that is reported is the truth."

Skylar looked down.

Lanni shrugged slightly. "If you are not willing to be part of the team, you can leave. But if you do not leave, I will expect you to collaborate with us as best as you can."

Skylar thought about it for a while and sighed deeply. "I don’t like you but that doesn’t mean I will not do my job to the best of my ability. This is about Storm, not you."

Lanni smiled. "Good. Then go ahead and investigate what I asked. Check how many of those pictures are real and tell me of any inconsistency no matter how tiny you think it is." She instructed, to which Skylar nodded.

"Lin, investigate the part about his drug trafficking. Find out if there are any drug lords he is in association with, and his clients if you can." She handed another sheet to Lin.

"Understood." Lin accepted the task without any qualms.

"Star..."

She was yet to speak when Star did so first.

"Miss Li,"

"Mrs. Ji." Lanni interrupted him politely. "I’m married. My husband may not like it if I continue to use my surname instead of his."

Star nodded and corrected himself. "Mrs. Ji, I would like to know if you are planning to do this kind of investigation in collaboration with the police. They will definitely be onto this case as well since he has been arrested."

Lanni nodded. It was a reasonable question. "We are not going to take matters into our own hands, definitely. We have legal permission to investigate. If we get any evidence that is relevant to the case, we are obliged to submit it to the police." She explained and handed him a sheet of paper. "Your role is to find all the motive he had to murder his wife and baby. You can start by investigating the baby’s paternity. Meanwhile, I will compile all the information in other aspects including his family, friends and competitors."

When she was done discussing with them, Skylar and Star left but Lin remained.

"Do you have something to say?" Lanni asked.

"Do you think Skylar will be obedient? She might try to sabotage the investigation since she doesn’t like you."

Lanni rapped her finger against the desk. "That’s a possibility but she is not stupid. If she were to be caught doing that, not only would she lose her job, but she may never be employed in any media agency in future. She will not risk that for a moment of satisfaction if she has a brain. But if I were to make her leave, she would form another team and try to compete with us." Ultimately, they were all competitors and the probability of that happening was quite high.

Lin smiled. "I hope this goes smoothly."

"It will." She stretched her arms. The intercom rang, it was her secretary.

"Chief Editor, you have a call from HOH Hospital on line one."