CEO's Substitute Bride
Chapter 65

Chapter 65

There were a lot of women in the marketing department. And as they say, if women were to gathertogether, if they don't talk about themselves, they'd naturally talk about other people. That small theoryhad been proven right today.

What had happened in the morning spread throughout the entire company in just a mere few hours. Bythe time they were having their lunch break, Alyssa was already the center of attention. She'd feel eyesfollowing her direction everywhere she went.

Her face was still swollen from the slap, but she continued to keep her head high. Halfway to thewashroom, she could hear a bunch of her female colleagues discussing their opinions as to what reallyhappened.

"What's going on? I heard that only one woman applied for a leave today. There wasn't any man!" Oneof them whispered.

"Isn't it obvious?" One of them arched up an eyebrow. "Skylar and Dawson must've worked together toset Alyssa up! Why else would there be this mysterious male colleague that suddenly disappeared?Ugh, the nerve of them!"

"But she's just been here for a few days! How could she offend Manager Black?"

"Everyone knows what kind of bastard he is, feeling up the women whenever he gets the chance. If Iknow any better, I'd say this little matter had been addressed by Alyssa herself! That's why he hadgone to the hospital." The colleague gritted her teeth in disgust.

"Could she really be that ruthless?"

"What are you saying? If anyone's ruthless here, it's Skylar," the other intercepted. "Have you seen theslap? I could hear it a mile away! They're sisters or stepsisters, but still! How could she beat her ownfamily so mercilessly?"

Alyssa leaned against the wall, not bothering to say a word. It was only when they had left did she stepinto the washroom.

Standing in front of the wash basin, she gazed at the mirror.

Her reflection was awful. While the left side of her cheek was pale and pristine, her right cheek wasdark blue. It looked like it had been painted on given the large splotches that danced across her skin.Her fingers slid down her cheek, and she looked scary.

Skylar really hit her hard.

It was even worse than the time Skylar had slapped her back at the Moore Villa. Skylar must've reallywanted vengeance this time if she really thought of damaging her reputation just to get back at her.Alyssa slowly drew her hand away.

"Wait and see. Let's see who gets the last laugh."

While it was still lunch break, Alyssa went out to eat. This time, no one invited her for lunch, far toobusy gossiping about her and staring at her from afar, but she couldn't care any less. After all, shewasn't exactly in the mood to socialize.

Just as she had gone out, her phone in her pocket rang out.

It was “Justin”.

Why he was calling her? She frowned and picked up. "What's the matter?"

"Let's eat together," Emmett responded, sounding as if he didn't hear the impatience laced around hertone. "I'll wait for you at the entrance of Moore Group.”

He didn't even wait for her to reply before he hung up the phone.

Alyssa gazed at her screen, tugging her hair in annoyance. "Great, just great," she murmured to herselfas she sighed. Seeing as she had no other choice, she grabbed her phone and went out of the office."Just what the day asked for."

After exiting the Moore Group’s entrance, she immediately spotted the black Bentley by the side of theroad. In the morning, when she had gotten off that car, she secretly checked that model on the internet.

The starting price was about ten million dollars! And that was the base price! It's still dependent as tothe owner's customization, and by the looks of it, “Justin” really spared no cent in beautifying hisvehicle.

That was just too grand.

If Skylar wanted to buy a car worth ten million, Jason would've refused. That was how expensive andunreasonable it was!

There were already a few of her colleagues discussing Justin's car. Not wanting to garner any moreattention, Alyssa ducked her head and moved towards the car's direction. Hopefully, nobody wouldnotice her like this.

Just then, another car came by the road. She had planned to wait for the car to pass, only to see it stopright in front of her.

The driver stepped out of the car and opened the door to the back seat. Out came Aurora.

A long time ago, Alyssa tricked Aurora into the restaurant and she didn’t show up. Since then, theyhadn’t seen each other.

"Take two thermal food boxes." Aurora instructed the driver. Looking up, she immediately caught sightof Alyssa.

She frowned and was completely shocked. She looked at Alyssa in disbelief and asked uncertainly,“Are you Alyssa?”

The corners of Alyssa’s lips inched upwards, but her eyes still remained cold. Her voice was filled withmockery as she spoke. "Do you think I'm Alyssa?"

They had lived under the same roof for more than twenty years, yet her own biological mother couldn'teven recognize her! Was her make-up really that good?

Aurora only noticed how Alyssa’s looks had changed, but ignored the swollenness of her cheeks.

It was unknown whether it was Alyssa’s or Aurora’s sorrow.

"You had plastic surgery? Was that the reason you didn't come when I called you last time?" Auroraapproached and looked at Alyssa carefully.

This time, the smile on Alyssa's face had faded completely. Bitterness appeared across her face as sheglared at Aurora. "I looked like this ever since I was young. But you've always said that I shouldn't beprettier than Skylar. So the older I grew, the uglier I made sure I look."

"How is this possible? You’ve been so ugly all these years…" Aurora repeatedly shook her head. Howcould Alyssa have pretended to be so ugly for so many years? All under her watch?

Alyssa gazed at Aurora steadily and said in a voice filled with sorrow, "I wanted to be a good daughter.I wanted to make you happy, so I had been doing it all my life ever since I was young. Because thathad always been what I did. Whatever you want...I'll always oblige."

Now, the old woman was at a loss for words.

Now, looking back, Aurora remembered how obedient her daughter has been all these years and howbeautiful she was. Her grades had also been brilliant. Yet after she had scolded her, saying that sheshouldn't be better than her older sister, her grades became worse. And her complexion became darkyellow. Back then, Aurora had thought that the fates were listening to her...unaware that her daughterwas doing it all willingly.

"You've done that to yourself. You can’t blame me!" Aurora said defensively.

Alyssa blinked for a while, stunned by her response. After all these years of abusing her position, shewas going to deny everything she did? Her eyes turned red as she looked at Aurora. "Mom, am I really

your biological daughter?"

"You…"

"Let's go and eat."

A male voice interrupted Aurora’s words abruptly. When Alyssa looked up, she saw that “Justin” hadalready appeared at her side. Had he been there this entire time?

He was tall and muscled that he had to lower his head when he looked at her.

Her bright eyes were bloodshot as she gazed up at him. Those beautiful eyes that once held so muchflame and happiness had now filled with tears and dullness as the same pair of eyes he had seen whenshe first arrived at his home. She looked pitiful.

As soon as he saw the side of her face, he could feel the air being pulled out from his throat. His eyesdarkened completely, and the vein under his forehead stood in attention. However, within a fewseconds, he concealed to his indifferent self and expressionlessly pulled her away.

Huh? Aurora stared up at him, surprised. Wasn't he Justin? Why would he pick her up?

Could they be together?

Thinking of what had happened back at the car, the older woman interceded, "Wait!"

The two of them turned around in response, and Aurora continued, "Alyssa, I brought a lot of food foryour father and sister. Do you want to join in?"

Just as Alyssa was about to refuse, Emmett replied, "Sure, I haven't eaten yet."

But... She had only prepared food for three people. Aurora fidgeted. However, even if she wanted tosay otherwise, she knew that “Justin” was still Emmett's cousin. Although he may not have been theYoung Master of the Lawrence family, it wouldn't bode well for her to offend him.

Alyssa also furrowed her eyebrows in response and looked up at him in confusion, nudging him subtlywith her elbow slightly.

The man didn't say another word in response. Instead, he tightened his grip on her forearm and shother a calming look, a stark contrast from his usual cold gaze.

As soon as Alyssa met with his gaze, she could feel her nerves untangling and her shoulders relaxing.It was a weird feeling. Not saying anything more, she stood quietly beside him.

Aurora had been a full-time housewife. Other than spending money on her appearance to please theMoore family, she was also knowledgeable as to how to handle difficult guests. Knowing that “Justin”wasn't the type of man to be neglected, she shot her driver a look. Immediately, the man went up toinform his boss.

Jason came down very quickly, and Skylar soon followed.

As “Justin” was here, Skylar’s face had been caked with thick make up. Although she still lookedbeautiful, everything about her features seemed forced and fake, especially as she gazed up at him.

She was watching him as if she was staring at the most expensive bag at the store.

Noticing this, Alyssa stood in front of “Justin”, wanting to block Skylar’s line of sight.