CEO's Substitute Bride

Chapter 45

Alyssa raised her head in surprise, gazing at “Justin” before glancing back at the phone in her hand. "You bought this?"

“Nice try. Cousin bought it for you.” Emmett rolled his eyes and began to eat.

Alyssa sneered at his words. "As if I'd accept it if it was from you."

Alyssa took the phone out of the small box. A small smile appeared on her lips as she analyzed it carefully.

As Emmett was the one who had bought it for her, she accepted it. After all, they were already married, so there wasn't anything wrong with giving and receiving gifts.

Alyssa noticed that there was a SIM card next to her phone. It was the number she had used before.

Once she had everything installed, she immediately dialed Hazel's number.

The phone only rang once before it was answered. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

“Alyssa." Hazel's worried voice sounded from the other end of the line. There weren't any background noises from her end, so her words were loud and clear. "Are you okay? You weren't picking up the phone earlier and I thought..."

"I'm fine. Are you filming already?" Alyssa tilted her head. She remembered Hazel saying that she'd be returning to the production team.

"After everything you've been through, you'd think I'd just let go and start filming? I'm heading out right now! We should meet." There were rustling sounds from the back, making it sound as if she was packing.

Alyssa also wanted to talk to Hazel about last night, so she quickly agreed. “Okay, I’m eating. I’ll go out in a minute…”

"No need. I'll go there instead. See you." Hazel interrupted her and hung up the phone.

Once Hazel hung up, Alyssa placed her phone on the table and gazed up at the man eating slowly in front of her.

“Justin” had always acted arrogant and rash, yet, his actions proved to be the complete opposite. In fact, he was very calm and cautious. Even the way he was drinking his porridge was eloquent.

The more she observed him more, the more she spotted how contrasting his actions were to his words.

"About last night..." She paused before saying, "Thank you."

“Thanks for what?” Emmett looked up at her, his pitch-black eyes flickering with an imperceptible smile. “Thank me for pushing you away at the critical moment?”

Alyssa understood his words and blushed. “Can’t you talk decently for once?"

As for the last bit of gratitude she had had for him, it disappeared without a trace.

Emmett had already finished his porridge. Taking out the towel, he wiped his hands while saying, “You said thanks so casually. Your gratitude isn't sincere enough."

Well, he wasn't wrong. Alyssa thought for a while and leaned back against her seat. "How about you let me treat you to a meal?"

Emmett’s eyebrows rose at her offer, and she slowly relaxed. Was that sincere enough?

“Dinner? Okay. Let’s go to the clubhouse I brought you to last time.” Emmett said seriously.

That place?

If she remembered correctly, that was the most exclusive clubhouse in Hoover City. For those in the middle class, it would take them years just to get a reservation in that place, and the prices there… Not to mention she didn’t have a job now, even if she had one, it would drain her salary for half a year if she wanted to reach the standard of young and rich “Justin”. Alyssa stiffened at the thought.

Was he doing this on purpose?

Was he doing this on purpose?

Alyssa shook her head and said straightforwardly. "It won’t do. I can't afford that one."

“Justin” looked at her in surprise. "Cousin didn't give you his card?"

"Why would he do that?" Alyssa felt that “Justin” was weird in every way.

In the next moment, “Niclaus” took out a black card from his pockets and handed it to her. "Cousin gave this to me. You can use it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Alyssa didn't take the black card right away, staring at the way it glimmered under the artificial lights. Even one glance from the card, and she could already tell that it must've had a line of credit that's worth millions.

"Emmett is really good to you." she said, unable to hide the envy in her words.

Emmett never showed his face to the public; as such, there had been rumors that he was a cruel beast who lived in the inner corners of his mansion. Yet...that didn't seem to be true, given his frequent travels. He even allowed his cousin to live in his villa, and he also gave “Justinhis credit card. Although they were just cousins, they acted like blood brothers.

On the other hand, she and Skylar acted as if they were enemies destined to hurt one another no matter which turns they'd go.

Hearing that, Emmett looked at her seriously and said, “If you are willing to try, he might treat you better than me.”

He deliberately emphasized the word ‘try’. And then he winked.

Alyssa flushed.

What an arrogant and shameless man!

Grabbing the card from his hand, she lowered her head and continued to take in two mouthfuls of rice.

There was nothing wrong with spending Emmett's money if she wanted to treat “Justin” to a meal, right? It was like greeting a brother-in-law. Of course, it wasn't her money, but...

He's the one who wanted to come to such an expensive restaurant! Alyssa would've been fine with treating him herself at a more low-key area, but since he purposely wanted to give her a hard time, so don’t blame her.

Once they were done eating, she headed up the stairs to deal with her bedroom door.

Even when Hazel had already arrived, she was still fighting with her bedroom door.

It was so strange that the door would not open.

A bodyguard came up and told her. “Young Madame, Miss Darwin is here.”

“Alright.” Right now, she could only go downstairs to see Hazel first.

Before she had even set foot in the living room, Hazel had already rushed to hug her. She gripped her around the waist and buried her head into Alyssa's neck. "You're fine! Do you know how worried I was? Are you sure you're okay?"

Alyssa smiled. “I’m fine. How about you?”

"I heard about the video you've seen..." Hazel quickly explained what had happened. The video that the blogger posted had gone viral that even her manager caught sight of it. "She's the one who showed me."

"Although I attended a banquet, it wasn't that banquet." She immediately showed her pictures of the gala she had attended. Her manager was terrified that the video would discredit her, so she immediately asked Hazel to find a couple of group photos and post them on Weibo. "It's just to prove that I wasn't in that club during the time of the video."

However, as soon as she posted the pictures, she saw that there were numerous missed calls on her phone. "I tried calling you, but you wouldn't answer. That's when I called Xavier. He's the one who told me that you went to Sky Light Club to look for me."

After hearing her words, Alyssa immediately understood what was going on. It was likely that this wasn't a coincidence. Someone must've known her friendship with Hazel and used that to their advantage, luring her over with a look-a-like.

And the only person she had offended recently was Skylar.

Since her and Skylar’s matter had spread rapidly across the internet, Skylar would do anything to push Alyssa into the spotlight, even if it meant defiling her in the process.

Moreover, Skylar also knew that Hazel was a good friend of hers.

It seemed that Skylar really spared nothing on her exploits.

Seeing that Alyssa was deep in thought, Hazel hovered over her. "What's wrong?"

"The incident last night, Skylar must be the person behind this," she slowly said. "I remembered her being a member of the club, but I didn't really pay much attention to these things. I wasn't aware of Sky

Light Club's reputation."

If she had known that Skylar had frequented in these types of clubs, she wouldn't have gone and had been tricked by the later.

Although Hazel was the type who'd rush into things head-on, she was still logical. She wouldn't have the right mind to attend these types of banquets, even if it was for a job.

Hazel frowned. Just as she was about to say something, a phone rang out.

She lowered her head and took out her phone, but it wasn't hers.

Alyssa pulled out her phone. "It's mine."

"You actually changed your phone?" Hazel's eyes widened. She had urged Alyssa to change her phone for ages, but the later had always refused, afraid that it would make Aurora unhappy. Because of this, she stuck herself with her basic phone for years.

At her words, Alyssa’s brightened up into a smile. It was clear that she was ecstatic about the matter. She whispered excitedly, eyes glittering in happiness. "Emmett was the one who gave it to me,"

It might mean that Emmett was gradually opening his heart to accept her.

Back when Alyssa had agreed to marry Emmett, she hoped that they'd be able to get along. Although he was a cripple or was scarred, she didn't think that he was any less human. That was why she was willing to open her heart to accept him.

Alyssa obviously had something else to ask. But Alyssa pointed to her phone and said, “Let me answer this first.”

However, as soon as she saw the Caller ID, her face darkened.

"Alyssa," Aurora's warm and gentle voice sounded as soon as she clicked the answer button. "I booked reservations for us in the Cafe. Why don't you have lunch with your Mom?"

A kind offer out of the blue? The older woman obviously had a motive.

Alyssa smiled tightly. "Just the two of us?"

There was a moment of hesitation before she answered, "Yes, just us."

She obviously didn't believe a word of what she had just said.