Chapter 45

Dante's pov

After breaking the kiss, we both turned towards the crowd who were watching us with curiosity, admiration, shock and some with bitterness.

Some of those reporters who were interviewing me a few minutes back are now standing with their cameras facing us. I smiled at them and pulled Crystal closer through her waist and posed a few pictures with her. They even asked me to give them a interview with Crystal but I denied them.

Maybe later. Right now I don't want to overwhelm Crystal.

"I hope you all are satisfied now" I said in a mocking tone and heard a few chuckles in response.

Shaking my head at them, I walked towards my family along with Crystal, all this while feeling everyone's eyes on us.

"Oh my god! That moment was so perfect" Sarah smiled happily and showed us a picture of mine and Crystal which she clicked when we were at the stage.

Nice picture.

"Exactly. The way you introduced and kissed Crystal was so romantic and dreamy. I didn't know that my son could be this romantic" Mom said teasingly to which I rolled my eyes at her.

"So Crystal, how are you feeling now?" Sarah asked softly to which we all turned towards her.

"Um.. Overwhelmed?" Crystal replied with a chuckle.

"Sure you are" Sarah chuckled at her.

"Okay okay enough now. Crystal, come with me. I'll introduce you to my friends" Mom said and caught Crystal's hand and took her somewhere along with Sarah.

As soon as they left, my dad came and patted my back a little.

"I'm so proud of you. Good job" He said to which I nodded.

"Although everything happened in a little rush but at the end it was all worth it" Ashton said to which I nodded again.

Yes it's true that we were not supposed to reveal Crystal's identity this soon but the incident which happened two days back made us question our decision. And that's when we decided that revealing Crystal's identity is far better than hiding her identity.

Flashback starts.

Crystal and I were happily talking about some stuff when I got a call from Martin.

"I'll be back soon" I said to Crystal and left the room.

"Yes Martin" I said after accepting the call.

"Mr knight, there's a slight problem" Martin said to which I whined angrily.

That's horrible. Every freaking day I have to deal with some new problems.

"Now what happened?" I asked annoyingly.

"Mr knight seems like Kingsley's were keeping an eye on Crystal" He said to which I frowned.

"From my sources I have got to know that Kingsley's are trying to contact Kate Collin, Crystal step mother. And if I'm not wrong, they might manipulate her to reveal Crystal's identity or maybe do something dangerous" Martin said to which I clenched my fists angrily.

"What the hell" I exclaimed in anger.

"There is a possibility that they might try to do something to harm Crystal or your family's reputation" Martin added.

I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

"Martin keep a close eyes on them. See what they are doing or who they are meeting. I want you to notice their activities closely. Am I clear?" I said in a stern voice to which Martin replied with a yes.

After talking for a few more minutes I disconnected the call and went inside my room where Crystal was waiting for me.

I'll protect you at all cost Crystal, I promise.

"Hey, you took so long" Crystal exclaimed in fake anger to which I smiled lightly at her.

"What happened?" She asked almost immediately to which I shook my head and went to sit beside her.

"Nothing" I replied softly but she didn't look convinced.

"Dante what happened? I can clearly see that you're worried about something" Crystal chirped softly and kept her palm on my shoulder.

"You know that you can share your problems with me, right?" She said to which I sighed heavily.

"Crystal *sighs*  it's about Kingsley's, Maddison family" I said to which she looked scared for a minute but soon composed herself.

"What about them?" She asked slowly and gripped my arms tightly.

"They-they are trying to contact Kate, your step mother. Apparently, they might try to manipulate Kate into revealing your identity as my wife or.. or as my mistress" I said and heard a loud gasp from Crystal.

"What?" She said shockingly to which I hugged her.

"Don't worry Crystal. Martin is keeping an eye on them. They won't be able to do something to you" I said softly but I myself doubted that.

We stayed in each others embrace for few minutes, thinking about all the possibilities.

"Dante.." Crystal broke the hug and looked deep in my eyes.

"Dante stop me if I say anything wrong, ok" She said to which I nodded.

Sighs.

"Dan-Dante I think now it's high time to reveal my identity to the world" Crystal said slowly.

"What? What are you saying?" I yelled shockingly to which Crystal shook her head at me.

"Dante listen to me carefully. If now we ourselves won't reveal my identity then someone else will do. Be it Maddison, her family, Kate or Ashley. And honestly if anyone of them reveals that to the media, they won't do it respectfully instead they'll defame me in every possible ways and will tarnish your reputation too. So I think it's better if we ourselves do the same. This way no one would be able to blackmail us regarding my identity" Crystal said raising her eyebrows at me.

"And by doing this, we can punish Ashley directly for hurting me instead of digging her past crimes to punish her" Crystal added.

She's kinda right.

Every other day, people are blackmailing us regarding her identity and if I myself do the same then no one would be able to blackmail us and will think twice before hurting Crystal.

"But would you be okay after that? You won't get scared after seeing thousands of people following your every move and judging you?" I asked to which Crystal looked lost for a minute.

"I don't know how my future is going to be Dante but the problem in the present needs a permanent solution and to me this is the only solution which I can think of" She chirped slowly.

"Besides you and our entire family is there to protect me. I guess I would manage" She added with a smile to which I once again hugged her.

Flashback ends.

After that I talked with my entire family. At first they were shocked and angry that we didn't inform them about Crystal father's doings but later they understood and got ready to reveal Crystal's identity.

I sighed and looked around to see that Maddison was glaring at Crystal. I clenched my fists tightly at that and decided to look away from her.

Can't spoil my mood.

"Martin" I called him to which he came towards me.

"Maddison is there staring at Crystal. Keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't hurt Crystal like before" I said sternly to which he nodded and went back to his place.

Nobody can ruin my Crystal's day.

Crystal's pov

Oh my God. I can't believe that I finally showed myself to the world.

Not gonna lie but at first I was a little scared about the whole process but now I'm feeling great.

Dante really made everything easy for me. And for that I'll be forever grateful to him.

As I was talking with some of mom's friend, I heard a familiar voice calling me. I turned around to see that my boss Mr jenner along with my few colleagues were calling me. I smiled at them and waved my hand.

"Excuse me" I said to the ladies and walked towards my boss.

"Hey" I said softly once I was near them to which they looked surprised.

"Cryst- I mean Mrs knight we didn't knew that you are Dante sir's wife" One of my colleague said to which I grinned.

"You never mentioned it. You are our boss wife and we treated you so casually like any other employee" Another one said with a pout to which I laughed at her.

"Yes Mrs knight. I'm so sorry for scolding you yesterday for a minor mistake" My boss said to which I shook my head at him.

"Mr jenner please don't. You're my boss and you were just correcting my mistake. You don't have to apologize for that. Instead I should be grateful to you that you're my boss" I said with a smile to which he smiled back at me.

"And guys I'm so sorry for not telling you this before. I was actually trying to cope up with everything and if I would have told you, you guys wouldn't have treated me like a friend instead you would have been uncomfortable around me so I decided to keep this as a secret. I hope you all are not angry with me" I asked with a slight pout to which they chuckle.

"Of course not silly" Trina, my colleague said with a wide smile.

"And one more thing, no need to call me Mrs knight. You all are my friend and my senior. So better call me with my name" I said to which they nodded.

Soon Mr jenner excused himself from our group and went towards dad.

"Hey, a month ago we heard a news that Maddison Kingsley was arrested because she tried to harm you. Was that true?" Trina asked to which I nodded

"That bitch. She was always like that. You know when you were not in the picture, she used to come in office and used to clinge to Mr knight even though he asked her to not to disturb him at work. And also she used to threaten all the female employees who used to talk to Mr knight even if it was for work" Jessica said to which I looked at her surprisingly.

"What? Really?" I asked to which they nodded.

I shook my head in disbelief and imagined Maddison threatening the girls for talking with Dante.

She definitely needs some help.

"But I'm so happy that you're Dante sir's wife and not that plastic barbie doll" Trina chirped to which we all laughed at her statement.

"But honestly she is right. If she would have actually Dante sir's wife, everyday she would have fired girls because of her own insecurities" Jessica said shaking her head.

I know right.

"Leave Maddison. You tell me, where did you and Dante sir met?" Trina asked excitingly.

"At the wedding" I said quickly and widened my eyes at my own answer.

"At wedding?" Trina frowned looking at me.

"Uh.. Yeah actually... Yeah actually, our mutual friend was getting married two years back so we both met each other at his wedding for the first time and then started dating" I said with a smile to which they nodded, and looked convinced with my answer.

I sighed mentally.

"That sounds so interesting. Now I'm going to attend each and every wedding. Who knows I meet my soulmate too" Jessica said with a grin to which we all rolled our eyes.

Well, Jessica is a big time flirt and she's always desperate for boys. For her, age doesn't matter. This girl has the talent of flirting with everyone. Be it her senior or junior. And lemme tell you a secret. She has a big fat crush on Ashton.

I shook my head at them and decided to drink something.

"Excuse me" I chirped softly and went towards the bar and grabbed a mocktail.

As I was about to take a sip from my drink, I felt a presence behind me.

"One strong drink" I heard a shrill voice and instantly realised that Maddison was behind me.

But surprisingly today I didn't feel scared in her presence instead I felt confident to face her and her fake ass attitude.

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