Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Andrew could not believe what he had learned. He recognized the names of the reporters on the tabloid articles about Crystal’s ex-convict status as those of Lisa’s classmates, and he connected the dots immediately. He would not let his daughter besmirch Crystal’s name like this, not to mention possibly cost the woman her job.

He had just hung up with the final tabloid after demanding that they take down all articles related to Crystal’s jailtime. Since he was the Alpha King, they

However, Andrew feared that it might be too late to undo any damage that the articles might have already done, considering they had been up for an entire day before he saw them.

and the other tabloids would have to 1.

He knew what he had to do, even though it would not be pleasant.

“Celeste!” he called for one of his maids.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” the middle-aged woman asked as she stepped into Andrew’s home office.

“Can you please bring Lisa here for me?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Celeste hurried off to search the mansion for Andrew’s daughter. She returned five minutes later with the princess.

“Your Majesty, Princess Lisa is here to see you,” Celeste announced.

Thank you, Celeste. That is all.”

Andrew smiled at the maid as she closed the door behind her. Then he turned his attention to Lisa, and his smile disappeared.

Lisa, please sit.”

Lisa obeyed her father’s command.

omething the matter, Father?”

Liss, I would like to think that I raised you to respect

10:37 Tue, 2 Jan.

Chapter 35

Lisa nodded.

“Yes, Father, I would say so.”

“Then can you tell me why you invaded Crystal’s privacy and disrespected her by giving very personal information about her and her past to the local news?”

Lisa swallowed against the knot in her throat, but she did not lose her

composure.

“Well, Bob and I thought it would be best to make this information known to the public. She is a convicted criminal, after all-a murderer, at that.”

“It was manslaughter, and you don’t know her side of the story.”

“You are not honestly defending her, are you-”

“Do not take that tone with me, Lisa.”

Andrew glared at his daughter until she submitted to him, diverting her gaze from his.

“I’m sorry, Father.”

At the sound of her defeated voice, Andrew’s face and tone softened.

“Lisa, it’s not up to you to decide who needs to know about someone’s past and who doesn’t. That’s their decision to make.”

“Yes, Father.”

“You could have ruined her life if I hadn’t stepped in.”

Lisa risked looking up at Andrew through her eyelashes.

“What do you mean, if you hadn’t stepped in?”

Fortunately for you, I was able to call all the tabloids and convince them to fake down the articles. They should be gone by now.”

fisis curled in her lap, but she kept her tone even.

“Lisa, is something the matter?”

you

“I..I know that you and Crystal are getting close, and I don’t think that you should be. She’s not a good influence, Father.”

Andrew’s l*ps curled in an amused smile.

“Sweetheart, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“But-”

“But nothing. I’m the Alpha King. You need to trust that, as such, I know how to handle myself around everyone, including women.”

Andrew stared Lisa straight in the eye, and she was forced to submit once again.

“Yes, Father.”

“Very good. You can leave now.”

Lisa nodded and left the room.

Andrew sighed and shook his head. He knew that this was not the end of this conversation.

Even a day later, I could not wrap my mind around everything that was going on in my life. I had been kicked out by my landlord, my reputation was ruined, and the accountant with the answers regarding my previous company was missing. It was taking all my self-control to keep myself from melting down entirely.

At work, I tried to not let on that anything was wrong. My coworkers didn’t treat me any differently, except for a few side-glances throughout the day. Fortunately, we also only got one cancellation related to the article as well (and)

didn’t like the couple anyway).

orldn’t escape the fact that, after work, most of my possessions

Be the back of my car

couple nichts at his house but falian w

Chapter 35

my luck, so I swore to be out after that night. It didn’t matter that I only had my car to go to. He wouldn’t let me talk him out of letting me keep some of my stuff at his house even after I left.

We were sitting down to a simple spaghetti dinner when I got a text from Lily.

What did u do? she asked.

What are you talking about? I replied.

All the articles r gone.

What?! That wasn’t me.

I returned to the link she had sent me before. When I clicked on it, I got an error. I searched for the other articles, and none of them appeared.

Then who??? Lily asked.

I stared at Noah sitting across from me. He had been unusually quiet this entire dinner. Did he have something to do with this?

“So, Lily just texted me something interesting,” I said, twirling some spaghetti around my fork.

“Oh? And what is that?” Noah asked without looking up from his plate.

“The articles are gone.”

That made Noah’s eyes dart up to meet mine.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do you know anything about that?”

Luh…”

Noah, it’s okay. I’m really, really happy about it.”

grinned broadly. He smiled back.

You are he asked,

66%啬

10:37 Tue, 2 Jan 13

Chapter 35

I stood up and walked over to Noah’s side of the table. I brought him in for a hug, pressing his head to my chest. When I pulled away, Noah’s entire face was crimson.

I laughed.

“You’re red as a beet!”

Noah didn’t respond. In fact, he seemed a bit distracted.

“Earth to Noah, are you in there?” I asked as I waved my hand in front of his face.

“Yeah, yeah, I am.” He looked up at me, a bright expression in his eyes. “I have something very important to ask you.”

“Okay?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking, even with our relationship being on the backburner, I feel that we have grown very close since we first met.”

Noah dug into his pockets and pulled out a small, hinged box.

Oh Goddess, no, I thought.

“And with everything that is going on right now, I think that you-that we both-need someone in our lives, someone stable who will love us and respect us for as long as we both shall live.”

He got down on one knee in front of me. In one smooth movement, he

popped open the box to reveal a princess cut diamond engagement ring set in rose gold.

Da mmit, he remembered that rose gold was my favorite.

“Crystal, will you marry me?”