The Overnight Chosen Wife: Darling, Kiss Me Deeper

She thought about his words and had to agree with him. She was still dealing with Skylar after all, and the woman had already expressed her disdain right off the bat. She would not work with Lanni if she had a choice. While it was highly possible that she had stayed because she wanted to be part of the team that would uncover the biggest scoop, it was also possible that she wanted to wreck their progress while giving the real information to her real team if she was standing on two boats.

This was not a competition and it didn't matter who uncovered the truth. The only thing that was important was for the truth to be uncovered, but it was not certain that everyone had the same thoughts. Betrayal would hurt no matter what she thought.

"You are right." She turned and cupped his face, kissing his cheek.

"Be careful, okay? Tell me if you need any help." He pecked her lips

"I will." She nodded even though she was not planning to. He already had a pile of work to deal with every day. She wanted to help him decrease his work and if she couldn't do that—because he definitely wouldn't let her tire herself—the least she could do was not let him have to worry about her.

"Don't just say it." He spanked her backside out of the blue, earning a sudden gasp from her which prompted him to kiss her deeply.

"Don't make such sounds near me." He warned as he kissed her neck.

"I didn't do anything. You are just insatiable." She chuckled and hugged his shoulders.

….

The following day, the first thing Lanni did was check the credibility of the information that Skylar had given her. Surprisingly, it was true that Axel had pulled strings to kick Storm into rehab. No matter how she thought about it, she did not believe that it was necessary to use any under the table means to get a drug addict into rehab. All that was needed was to take them to the centre and everything else would proceed normally.

The fact that Axel had to do anything aside from the required formalities made the whole situation suspicious. Storm was not a drug addict.

She dared not think further than that. She needed to prove it first. Pulling strings to get him into rehab was not sufficient evidence on his own. There could have been other reasons.

Besides, it was baseless. If they were to try and dispel the rumors using this sole piece of information, Axel could very well claim to have paid the rehabilitation centre to take care of Storm. He could even pretend to be the caring friend who was stabbed in the back for trying to do what was best for his friend. In the worst case scenario, he could sue them for invading his privacy.

A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Come in." She said and looked over. Lin came in with Star in tow.

"Did the two of you find something out?" She asked them. They looked like they were here to report the same thing, which they must have discussed. Her gaze was focused on Star so he spoke.

"Storm has never been a drug addict. He is not a drug trafficker either."

Her brows scrunched up. "That's suspicious."

"We found all the evidence we could." Lin explained. "We even tracked down one of the people who was supposed to have bought drugs from him and although he insisted that he and Storm had been doing the business for a while, we found it suspicious so we beat him into telling the truth. He doesn't even know who Storm is."

Lanni tapped her chin. That sounded possible. If any of those traffickers were to be found out and they found a chance to implicate someone else, they would grab it and it would have nothing to do with personal grudges. It was more about self-destructing with someone else.

"Forget about him. He is not part of our case at the moment. Besides, if you seek him on your own again, he might hurt you." She warned.

"We understand." They said in unison.

She explained her suspicion. "Skylar told me the same thing you just said. I was worried for a moment that it might be a trap set by whoever is trying to frame Storm. Giving us a little information to bait us into his trap so he may get rid of us."

Lin raised an eyebrow and glanced at Star. The two were on the same page. This time, Lin spoke for both of them. "Star and I will look into it a little more."

She smiled at them. It looked like a much needed chemistry was brewing between them. It did a lot to lighten the mood.

She shook her head. "Actually, you don't need to. I found out who Storm's lawyer is. I have contacted her and will meet up with her later."

"That's awesome. Do you need company? Lin and I will accompany you just in case." Star looked at Lin as he spoke for both of them.

She once again smiled at the dog food they didn't know they were shoving in her face. She knew that they were merely workmates and just happened to work well with each other but she needed a distraction to make work more interesting. Not that it was boring.

They were looking at her and wondering why she was smiling so widely, so she cleared her throat. "Thanks for offering but I will be alright on my own."

"But…" Lin was worried. "You know that many people don't like reporters. Especially not people whose reputation has been tarnished by the media. What if his lawyer is waiting to attack you?" If anything were to happen to Lanni, they all knew that Xiehan would kill Lin Jian, and he would kill all of them before dying.

"Relax." She chuckled.

Letting them proceed with their tasks, Lanni went to meet with Storm's lawyer.

Xu Fangyang was much younger than Lanni thought, she looked to be in her early twenties. As expected, she was not happy to see Lanni after learning that she worked in the media industry. The two of them had met at a cafe and Xu Fangyang looked like she was ready to leave as soon as she learnt about Lanni's occupation.

"I'm not here to get you to say something that I will twist and publish for sales." She tried to convince the other. "I only want to know the truth."

"Which you will publish at the end of it all." Xu Fangyang crossed her arms sarcastically.

Lanni didn't deny the claim. She ordered coffee when the waiter brought the menus. She took a sip when their drinks arrived, glad that the latter had not stormed off. "The thing is, I'm Storm's fan. I know this has nothing to do with anything and might appear as baseless crap meant to convince you but have you taken a look at past records? There are many stars who were forced to retire from the entertainment industry for similar reasons. There would be a scandal about them and by the time it was discovered that they were innocent, the public would have long forgotten about them."

Xu Fangyang flinched and Lanni grabbed the chance.

"This is why you need the media on your side. Most of the media agencies don't care about the truth. They only care about what sells best and lies are usually more dramatic which makes them sell better."

She had stricken where it hurt most and Xu Fangyang looked displeased. "What's your point?"

"Lin Media group cares for the truth. And well, uncovering conspiracies sells better than lies do. We will make sure the truth is let out to the public before it's too late for Storm and in return, we will get our explosive headline. It's a win-win situation no matter how you think about it."

Xu Fangyang took a small sip of her cappuccino before she looked at Lanni. "You are wasting your time. It's not going to be easy. Your explosive headline might be outdated."

Lanni smiled. That kind of statement meant she had caved. She slid a portfolio on the table to Xu Fangyang. "There are many private investigators who are affiliated with Lin Media Group. If you let us, we can help out and make it easier."

Seeing that she was hesitant, Lanni added, "You love him, after all. Can't you do him this favor?"

_______

AN

My keyboard arrived, yay! Daily updates will resume immediately and I will update an extra chapter every other day to cover for the promised 10 chapters a week.