It had taken until he was half way home for Tristan to realize that his phone was missing. First he had tried looking for it in the car. Then he had even gone back to the office. Unable to find it, he had instead forced himself to go to his penthouse, take a shower, and think.
Retracing his steps in his mind, he had come to the realization that he had left it at the park. Which meant that Ariel had most likely found it.
Seeing that during the very first meeting Ariel had asked him for a million in cash. It would have been well within his rights for Tristan to panic. For him to worry that she would have some people hack into his phone, all so that she could sell the information that it held. But with the realization that she was the one who had it, Tristan found himself feeling at ease. Sure she had asked him for a ridiculous amount of money upon their first meeting. But since then he had gotten the feeling that Ariel Jones was actually a pretty solid person.
Despite what the first encounter had suggested about her. During the second meeting he had not gotten the impression that she was someone who was hungry for money. Most likely she would be returning his phone soon. Even if she did not Tristan would be sure to head over to her food truck and pick it up himself. He had no doubt in his mind that she would have it on her.
Being more relaxed than anyone who was missing such an essential device had any right to be. Tristan spent a few hours working on some paperwork. Once he was done, he showered and went to bed, sleep coming easy despite everything that he was facing. But come morning, it all came rushing back to him. And while he was up at his usual hour, Tristan did not hit his personal gym first thing as he normally would have done.
Instead, he found himself on his laptop going through profile after profile. Looking into the various women who would make a suitable wife for somebody like him. Princesses, heiresses, fellow CEOs, the daughters of diplomats. Those were the people that he was looking into. People with whom he could forge connections. Women who would stand strong and help him grow his empire, never wavering.
It was not an enjoyable process.
But Tristan pushed his reservations about the whole thing to the side. He had to get married or else he would just be giving the company on a silver platter to his cousin, which would be the worst thing for everybody involved.
But even as he slowly thinned down the list of possible candidates, Tristan could not help but let his mind wander a bit.
Going through the scenario of what would have happened if he'd already had somebody that he cared about enough to marry when Mr Riley had presented him with the ultimatum.
It would have been nice simply marrying somebody not only because it would help him keep his job. But because he liked them as well. Unfortunately for him, due to his habit of pushing romance to the side and focusing only on business, that ship had sailed. He had to marry somebody who was also rich and powerful in their own right, and he had to marry them fast.
His family was weird about things like that. They allowed for arranged marriages so long as it was somebody within the same social circles as them. But if he were to pick some poor girl and marry her, not for love but for business, then that would be a very bad thing for him.
In the family's eyes, a poor woman( who was not married for love) was nothing more than a bad business deal. To them it would therefore be a marriage of disrepute, not at all recognized, and he would go back to square one.
So there was no need for him to even waste time thinking on that. But even as Tristan chastised himself for getting lost in thought. A pair of green eyes came to mind and he shook his head, refocusing back on the laptop screen. Now was not the time for him to be thinking about Ariel Jones. He would see her soon enough when he went to get his phone. He had no reason whatsoever to be thinking of her in that moment. Finding a suitable wife was more important than thoughts of a food truck owner. Getting up, Tristan toyed with the thought of pulling out his violin and playing a few songs before going to get ready for work. But he decided against it. He was too high strung to be able to handle his favorite instrument with care. And so he ended up hitting the gym after all, running at full speed on the treadmill. Going hard until it felt as though his lungs were about to pop out of his mouth. Only then did he go shower and get ready for work.
Once done, Tristan decided not to waste any more time in retrieving his phone. His intent was to stop by Ariel's food truck. If she was like most of the food truck owners in the city. Then she opened up just when people began heading for work. So he would be able to get his phone and go. Therefore, spending the rest of the day with the device in hand. But that idea ended up being tossed to the side when he checked his mail on the PC and saw a message from his PA.
'Morning boss, I tried to reach you on your phone but it is unavailable. I thought I should give you a heads up. Your cousin has been seen skulking around the top floor. He tried forcing his way into your office but I kicked him out.'
As soon as he read that Tristan knew that seeing Ariel would have to take the back seat.
If Zachariah was looking to get into his office without him there. Then there was definitely something underhanded that his cousin wanted to do there. Was he perhaps searching for weakness, or trying to find out exactly who Tristan would be marrying? He would not put such a thing above his cousin.
The man was a lying, scheming snake to the core. He was difficult enough to deal with on a regular basis.
Now that he actually had a real chance at getting the CEO position, unlike all of the other times when he had just been bluffing and they'd both known that he did not stand a chance, Zachariah was at his most dangerous. He would do anything, and everything to get to be CEO of Asher Industries.
Tristan could not afford to underestimate him and so he headed to his office. Abandoning all thoughts of getting his phone first.