CEO's Substitute Bride

There were other people around, so Jason couldn’t reject Alyssa just like that. After all, even if they were all on bad terms behind closed doors, they were still considered 'family' or whatever that meant nowadays. He had a faint smile on his face and nodded at her. "Why don't we eat together?"

"Sure." After she said that, Jason’s expression changed slightly. Although it was barely noticeable to the other bystanders, Alyssa caught it. She smirked. "But not today. I plan on eating with my colleagues, so how about another day?"

The father and daughter duo obviously disliked her. From the moment she was brought into this world, they already wanted nothing to do with her. Naturally, that didn't stop now even if they were working under the same company.

Hearing her refusal, his expression relaxed and his smile became less stiff. "All right. Some other time."

Just then, Skylar suddenly turned her head and picked some food for her father. "Dad," she insisted, placing the vegetables on his plate. "Try this! I heard that the dishes were well prepared today, so try to eat as much as you can!"

"Ha!" Jason shook his head with a smile. "You eat, too. You've lost a lot of weight recently."

It was obvious that they were harmonious.

As they were moving away from them, Skylar shot her a contemptuous smile as if to say, "Not only does your mother not care for you, but also your father. You poor thing!" She bet that if they weren't in front of such a loud crowd, Skylar would've said it right to her face!

Skylar knew her where to poke her insecurities, and she knew for a fact that she was succeeding.

Alyssa had thought that she had hardened her heart throughout the years. How could she not? After everything the Moore family had done to use her, she was continually slapped with the reality that they'd never love her as their daughter. However, she couldn't help but feel a slight pain in her heart as soon as she saw their retreating figure.

Even when Alyssa had found a seat with her colleagues, her expression still had a cold tinge to it. Her eyes were more hooded, and the brightness of her features slowly receded. With a sigh, she gazed from afar, not noticing that her colleagues were exchanging looks.

The matter between her and Skylar had caused quite a stir on Weibo, so all the female colleagues were aware of their sisterly matters. They didn't get along, and their little stunt today had proven that.

Even Jason seemed to dislike her.

Feeling uneasy, one of them pushed the menu towards Alyssa. "What do you want to order?"

Alyssa smiled, pushing the menu back. She said softly. "I'm not that picky when it comes to food. You guys order first. Besides, I've never been here before, so you guys know more about the dishes here than I do."

"Sure!" The other colleagues followed.

Within a few minutes of talking, the others felt that Alyssa was quite easy to get along with. So someone tilted her head towards her and asked curiously. "Do you know why Dawson asked for a leave today? What happened in the Chairman's office?"

"Nothing happened. Perhaps he's done a lot of shit in the past that God's already punishing him Himself," Alyssa said jokingly, making up a bunch of nonsense in the back of her mind. She didn't want word to get out of what she had done.

The others didn't mind. Instead of pushing the topic, even more, they laughed and started talking about their past experiences with the manager.

She'd join them from time to time, laughing along with them. Her colleagues were quite nice, and Alyssa couldn't help but feel more at ease in the company. She relaxed against her seat, and the smile on her face became much more genuine.

The atmosphere was light and free from tension, until someone had asked the inevitable.

"Alyssa, you're already the Young Madame of the Lawrence family, aren't you? So why did you come to Moore Group to work instead of Lawrence Group?" One of them tilted her head and asked.

Although the person didn't have any malicious intentions, it was really hard for Alyssa to answer.

There was a short pause before she turned around. "It's complicated."

Knowing that Alyssa probably didn't want to talk about it, her colleague interrupted, "If we eat quickly, we may have the chance to rest for a while. You know how the HR gets if we overstay our welcome." The others giggled in agreement.

And the woman who had asked Alyssa quickly turned away with a nod.

Everyone had felt that Alyssa wasn't welcomed in the Lawrence family.

Although the disfigured and inhumane Young Master of the Lawrence family was the successor of the Lawrence fortune, his physical condition made him unsuitable to take over the Lawrence Group. Many had suspected that the successor would be replaced, but there wasn't any definite news of the detail.

If that was taken from him, then Emmett was nothing more than a cripple. As such, it may be enough reason why Alyssa had to start working.

Honestly, working was fine, but for her family to give her such a tedious job of being a market researcher...They couldn't help but pity her. The woman may look like she had the world on her shoulders, but in reality, she may have been in a deeper slump than any of them.

Alyssa rubbed the back of her neck as she glanced helplessly at her female colleagues as they kept adding strips of pork on her plate, gazing at her with sympathy and pity. "You should eat more. You look so thin!"

She didn't need to be smart to know what's going on.

From the perspective of an outsider, she seemed rather pitiful.

"Thank you," Alyssa slowly said with a sigh.

…

Emmett had stayed in the company for the entire day. He made sure to check all the documents that needed to be checked over and signed any contracts that were beneficial to the firm. It was a tiring day, and he was just about ready to go home.

As he was walking out of the building, Xavier excitedly ran over. "Why don't we go to have a drink?"

As Emmett had returned to the company, Xavier's work had gotten a lot easier. As such, he was in a better mood compared to the last few weeks he spent with towering paperwork and yapping executives. That's why he wanted to celebrate.

"I'm not going." Emmett refused without raising his head.

"But it's so early!" He rolled his eyes. "When you have nothing to do, you just stay at home. Go home after work and don’t participate in any activities. With the way you're living now, you're following the steps of my old man!"

"That's the way life is when you have a wife," Emmett said softly.

"Ha-ha." Xavier shot him a glare. "Shove your wife on our faces, why don't you?"

Just then, Arthur walked in.

He wasn’t aware that Xavier had just been rejected by Emmett. He glanced impatiently at the two men. "Can we go now?"

"Let's go," Xavier said as he walked out.

Arthur looked at Emmett and asked. “Are you not going?”

"I was told that people with wives don't spend the night outside.” Xavier answered coldly as he crossed his arms over his chest. If outsiders were to see them now, they would've doubted that such a childish man was actually the CEO of one of the largest companies in Herton City.

"What did you just say?" Just as Xavier had expected, Arthur blinked in surprise and asked.

"Who cares?" Xavier placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder and dragged him even farther away from Emmett. "Just because we don't have wives don't mean we can't have fun! Let's go and grab a drink on the way!"

Arthur grinned, pulling himself from Xavier's grasp. He turned his hand to Emmett and said sympathetically. "So what if you have a wife? You can do nothing but only watch her from afar anyway."

The two erupted into snickers. After all, Alyssa still thought of him as her husband's cousin. Ah, it was just tragic.

Emmett sneered. "If that's what you think, then don't bother coming over to the house for dinner."

"On another note," Arthur’s expression changed immediately as he backtracked. "I actually envy those who have wives to take care of them. Don't you, Xavier?"