CEO's Substitute Bride

Chapter 26

Alyssa went to the Moore Family Villa by a car. Her eyes flashed with annoyance and anticipation with every turn she had taken, glancing at her already silent phone. For so long, she had idly sat by as the other members of the family take advantage of her. She remembered the way they've sneered at her with every answer she had gotten wrong or the way they'd laugh whenever she 'messed up'. Now that the tables had turned, she'd guarantee that the house was filled with unconfined chaos.

As soon as the maid had seen her coming in, she immediately bowed her head. "Third Lady."

She could see the change in the servant’s attitude.

After all, Alyssa was now the daughter-in-law of Lawrence family while Skylar was now involved in the scandal, which was very harmful for her reputation.

She couldn't let them see the satisfaction on her face. After all, if she wasn't careful, then she'd lose her entire deck of cards. The only thing she could do now was to play the role of a guiltless fool.

“Where are my parents?” Alyssa spoke slowly, with a good temper.

"Everyone is here, Third Lady. They are all waiting for you in the study."

The maid’s voice became gentler as if the maid sympathized with her situation. After all, she may have the prestige of being a part of the Moore family, but she had never been treated as part of the family under the shadows of the public eye. In fact, her status here could be compared to nothing more than a maid.

"Thank you."

Alyssa stopped at the door of the study and didn’t go in because of the study’s conversation.

"Skylar, why can't you keep a level head? If you want to say something or you need to say something, then wouldn't it be better to call her home and tell her as it is? Do you know how troublesome it is to deal with all these reporters? Now that it's trending on social media, it's harder for us to pay off the press! What are we going to do now?"

It was Jason's frustrated voice that boomed from the study, bouncing across the walls.

The only reason he was angry was that his daughter was caught in the act, not because her actions were wrong. It had always been like this. Jason cared far more of their reputation rather than his children's character, which may be why his family had grown rotten to the core.

Instead of going in, she couldn't help but lean against the wall to listen in on their conversation.

Skylar said bitterly as if she had been wronged. It was as if she was the one who was being bullied. “How was I supposed to know that it would end up like this, Dad? It must have been designed by Alyssa in advance! That's why the reporter was there. Otherwise, isn't it too much of a coincidence that we were being filmed?"

“Skylar, if there's something I know for sure, it's that Alyssa couldn't plan this. She's far too stupid to even orchestrate such a thing!” Aurora hurriedly defended, waving her hands up in the air. Her voice was exasperated. "You've seen her failing marks in class, haven't you? The girl couldn't even pass the first-grade exam! How could she even manage to do this?"

“Stupid? Without using Dad’s connections, she could be admitted to Hoover Film Academy. And do you

still think her as a stupid?”

The Hoover Film Academy was one of the top art universities in the country. Everyone passionate about the arts–whether that may be creating movies, writing scripts, producing soundtracks–had dreamt of going there. However, it was also known for its rigorous application process. It was only known for accepting the best of the best, and Alyssa passed on her first try.

“She is just lucky. Don’t be angry anymore.” Aurora comforted.

At this moment, Alyssa could not help but agree to Skylar’s words. Aurora was indeed cheap.

In the video, Skylar had called Aurora, her own stepmother a bitch! Everyone would've expected that Aurora would call her out, being years older than her as well as the matriarch of the household. But not to mention falling out with Skylar, she still was trying her best to please her. If anything, she was just as much of a dog as much Alyssa had acted to be.

But Skylar was really angry about this incident. Usually, she would just pretend to keep peace with Aurora, but at this point she was too exhausted and panicked to even pretend.

She directly shouted. “Shut your damn mouth. You are mean and useless, so is your daughter.”

Alyssa was about to push the door and walk in, but she stopped after hearing these words.

Alyssa was about to push the door and walk in, but she stopped after hearing these words.

She wanted to know Jason’s reaction.

The room had gone silent for a while. Suddenly, Jason sighed and said in a deep voice. "Stop arguing already. What we need to do now is to settle this matter properly. Alyssa Moore should be here soon, so I suggest that both of you stop speaking and wait for her instead."

Turned out that her own father was too whipped to even care for his own wife! Ha! All of them were pathetic.

Although Alyssa couldn't see Aurora's face through the door, she could only imagine how shocked and betrayed her mother's face must be to have all of them turning against her.

"That's what happens when you reject your only biological daughter," She whispered to herself.

After Jason finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the room again.

Alyssa adjusted her expression well, slightly lowered her head and opened the door.

"Dad, Mom." She looked around, dropped her eyes and whispered, sounding like a child who was ready for a beating.

Then, she glanced at Skylar, taking in her flustered face and flashing eyes. "Sister."

“Hum!” Skylar snorted coldly, and the expression on her face was also very cold. “Why are you standing so far away? Come closer!”

"I..." Pretending to be afraid, she slowly moved closer to the woman. A part of her already knew what would happen next, and she could only clench her fists to ready herself from the impact. She gritted her

teeth. It had always been like this, and at this point, she had already grown tired of it all.

She glanced at Aurora out of habit, wondering if she'd speak up. After all, the woman had already been greatly disrespected by the family that she had defended every single day. Could she suddenly have a change of heart? Her eyes shone with hope and anticipation, and her fingers twitched in response. However, life tended to continually disappoint her.

As expected, Aurora turned her head, not even having the guts to gaze into her eyes.

Why was she so surprised? It was always like this.

Alyssa lowered her head and resisted her disappointment in her heart. After all, nothing was gonna change here.

When she reached near the sofa, all of a sudden, without hesitating, Skylar raised her hand and slapped her.

The crisp sound echoed across the study.

Alyssa's head swung to the side, and she could feel her own blood rushing up to her face. Her fingers trailed down her cheek to see that her skin had grown numb from the impact. She swallowed, suddenly tasting blood. A few seconds had passed, and the warmth still hadn't faded. She could still feel her skin tingling from the strong impact.

That hurt! Skylar was really cruel.

Skylar glanced at her expression and snorted coldly. Even then, it was still not enough to release her

anger. Raising her hand, she aimed to hit her once more.

This time, Alyssa narrowed her eyes and moved her arms to the side, planning to block her. She wasn't going to let this happen the second time around!

However, just as the two were about to get on it, Jason, who was silent, slammed his hands onto the table and shouted. "Enough! Let's get down to business first!"

“But Dad!" Skylar still refused to give up and continued to compline just like a child throwing a tantrum. "I just couldn't help myself when I saw her like this! If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be in this situation! Do you have any idea how much my friends have been texting me? It's all over the internet?"

'Is it my fault that you're a slut?' Alyssa wanted to retort, but she kept her head low this entire time. After all, the waiting game had already proven to be quite beneficial on her end. At least, no one suspected her actions.

However, just as Skylar was about to complain even more, Jason raised his hand, signaling her to calm down.

In this family, Skylar followed Jason’s words the most.

He was not only the head of the family, but also her father. Obviously she had enough common sense to respect him.

Frowning, the old man turned to look at Alyssa and asked, “Alyssa, What's with the video online?"

Alyssa just felt aggrieved. Whenever Jason had addressed her outside this household, he'd always use

her full name, as if she was nothing more than a stranger to him. But whenever he needed her to explain herself, or whenever he needed something from her, she was suddenly 'Alyssa' to him. How ironic!

This family was far too poisoned, to begin with!

Alyssa endured the urge to roll her eyes and raised her head, looked sad, and said with a soft voice. “Dad, I really don't know how that video was taken or even what it's about."

At this point, she sobbed and sniffed. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears, making her look all the more pitiful All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

However, she still tried to hold back her tears, as she turned to Skylar, looking wronged by the entire situation. ”Sister, please believe me. How could I do such a thing? Why would I harm you? We're a family, aren't we? Shouldn't we protect each other?"

Skylar stared at her suspiciously, trying to find any trace of deception in her features.

However, she couldn’t find a trace of lying in her face.

So she could only turn her head back to Jason.

He was also analyzing the apology, sizing it up with his own eyes. After being a businessman for around two to three decades, he knew how to read people like the back of his hand. There was no way anyone could lie straight to his face without him knowing about it. So he stared and stared, spotting anything off with her face or words.

Truthfully, he had a strong feeling that the daughter whom he hadn't paid much attention to, changed ever since she had married into the Lawrence family. There was something more sinister about the way she had phrased things, and it was something that he made sure to pay attention to. Even then, he still found nothing unusual about her actions.

But now, she was standing in front of him, still as ugly and cowardly as she had been all these years.

Even when Skylar had just slapped her and was about to hit her again, she didn't bother dodging. Any person in their right mind would've blocked that attack already. In fact, many of them would've grabbed her hand at a moment's notice. Alyssa must've really been stupid, and her mind was already far beyond repair.

In this way, Jason believed most of her words.

She's nothing but a fool who was very easy to control.

So Jason leaned back on the chair in a relaxed manner, and said to Alyssa in a serious tone. “Yes, we are family. So we have to think for our family no matter what happens. Those people on the Internet have misunderstood your sister's intentions, so it's your job to explain to them that all of this was just another misunderstanding–that we're a family. Isn’t it right, Alyssa?"

Was it a misunderstanding?

Skylar scolded her and Aurora as bitches and dogs. Not only that, but they had also forced her to marry into the Lawrence family. Was that really just a misunderstanding?

Truly, like most of the business man Jason was biased. He was very good at confounding black and

white.

In his point of view, everything that Skylar had done was right and justified, and all the rest were just mere troublesome details. If anything, they were the ones who were foolhardy enough to be manipulated by their own daughter.

She clenched her fists. A part of her wanted to scream at them, even punch them, but at this point, she could only be silent.

Alyssa pretended to be startled and looked at Skylar. “Really? I'll definitely explain everything to them, Sis. Don't worry."

Skylar smirked, with distain flashing in her eyes.

Alyssa truly was as obedient as a dog. No if one looked correctly she was even more obedient than a dog.

Aurora, however, wasn't as optimistic as the other family members. Instead, she couldn't help but stare at her daughter's back, finding her voice a bit strange. Even if she was apologizing and reassuring them, there was something about the way she looked and sounded that didn't make her feel right about the entire situation.

Jason showed a smile and his voice was also softer, “We’re going to have a press conference. You can say what we want you to say.”

"I will." She nodded obediently.

Jason was satisfied with her attitude. “That's good. Stay here and have dinner before you leave.”

Alyssa lowered her gaze to hide the mockery and sarcasm in her eyes. “OK, Dad.”